Lead free .223

[PLhunter]

People around here tend to prefer bullets that “blow stuff up”. I don’t get it, personally.

FWIW the bullet I’ve lost the most animals with is the sierra game king.

 

[Q_Sertorius]

FWIW the bullet I’ve lost the most animals with is the sierra game king.

How many animals? Which animals? And what caliber and weight?

 

[PLhunter]

How many animals? Which animals? And what caliber and weight?

1 elk, 2 deer, and a couple that weren't lost, but the bullet performance was very poor. Keep in mind that it has been a long time since I have used that bullet. I haven't hunted with that bullet in more than 15 years now. I know a lot more and have a lot more tools available now for determining velocity and distance. So they could be fine bullets that were misapplied.

Calibers were 30-06, 25-06, and 243. Elk was lost at an unknown distance hit location had bright foamy blood. Tracked 2.5 miles before losing the trail. Unknown if bullet or poor placement/too far. Probably early 00's.

Deer was 25-06 hit twice in shoulder. Must not have penetrated. Unknown distance. Early 00's.

Deer .243 quartering away. I was a kid so I was handed a gun so no idea on what grain. Unknown distance, late 90's. Hit, not recovered. Tracked for several hours.

Poor performance:

Elk 30-06 165 grain bullet hit the front shoulder and the jacket separated, didn't penetrate into the body cavity. HIt shoulder a couple more times and bull was still up. Finished up close. Bullets were splashing into the shoulder with poor penetration.

Deer 25-06 117 hit from above going up opposite steep canyon. Hit in the back, separated from jacket with poor penetration.

Deer 25-06 117 hit front shoulder twice. Found under the entrance side shoulder. Deer was recovered. Unknown distance, this one could have been a case of shooting that bullet too far. Early 00's.

 

[Gourmet]

I get wanting wide wound channels for quick kills and some forgiveness on shot placement. However, even with the hammer mono’s there have been a couple kills where I was like, “that’s too much..” but all hammers aren’t the same. My 25-06 with the 121’s seems to not result in bloodshot but killed well. The 6.5’s even in the old HH lineup definitely were more splashy. We’ve found fragments with a lot of the grooves in them meaning more than just the tip blew up. A couple deer and a couple pronghorn have had what I would call excessive damage. That’s out of a lot of animals though.

I’ve used Barnes as well. Much cleaner wounds and they all died. Wound channels were “narrow” but a 50 cent sized hole through the lungs or heart seems to kill things pretty quick.

Have you tried the DRT Terminal Shock? I'd like to strike a balance between too much and 50c piece in 6.5CM. Feeling around for answers on forums is tricky! I may just need to get out there and test.

 

[coyotekilla]

Put together a 50gr barnes ttsx load for my 223 this summer. Used it on several coyotes from 85 to 285 yards and a possum at 420 to good effect. The barnes are spendy little guys, but did their job. At the end of the day I'm back to my Ole 55gr softies.

 

[PLhunter]

Have you tried the DRT Terminal Shock? I'd like to strike a balance between too much and 50c piece in 6.5CM. Feeling around for answers on forums is tricky! I may just need to get out there and test.

I have not. All I really know of them is that they tend to run slow for weight class. I’m sure they are devastating. I think those will likely be more on the too much end of the spectrum than the hammers. The hammers are also remarkably easy to load for.