Best .223 bullet for short-barrle terminal performance?

[Jeff Olsen]

I recently bought a new toy, an AR15 in the M4 configuration. This has a 14.5" barrel, so obviously velocity will suffer but boy, what a sweet, light little carbine! Anyway, I am toying with the idea of creating a "tactical", for want of a better term, load for the carbine. I live in the woods in Oregon and could in theory have to kill anything from a racoon up through cougar and large dogs all the way to a meth-addled freak kicking down my door. I own many other guns so this is hardly an emergency, but tinkerer that I am it would be fun to come up with "the load" for this rifle for this application. Currently, my go-to rifle in my safe is an M1a Bush rifle loaded with factory 150-gn Corelokt ammo (what can I say, it loves that stuff!)...

This load would need to be effective from very close range out to about 100 yards tops. 10-50 yards is by far the most likely.

How about the heavy Partition (69-grains IIRC, or maybe 62)? I like the penetration that would have. Expansion would the issue I suppose. I don't know what kind of MV to expect from the short barrel.

Thanks for any suggestions!

-jeff

 

[rick smith]

The Partition is 60grs. I would trust that bullet better than all the varmint bullets on the market. Twist will come into play. Standard 223 twist should stabilize the bullet. Good luck.Rick.

 

[old #7]

I moved from Eugene to Coos Bay. I know what you are saying

all the way to a meth-addled freak kicking down my door.

I also have an AR-15 A3 flat top with a 16"bbl. great guns. I like 52gr hollow points. They are a little destructive.

 

[wingnut]

Give the 60g Partition, the 55g BT, the 55g V-Max and the 60g V-Max a try. The Part may not upset enough on the smaller prey. On the other hand, I'm sure the BT and V-max's will get the attention of your larger prey.

 

[Jeff Olsen]

Thanks for the advice, guys!

The 60-gn PT has real appeal to me. I love and truct Partitiions. I'm not a varmint hunter per se; I just live in the woods and have chickens and goats, so I do have to whack the occasional racoon or possum. I've come real close to shooting a couple dogs over the years. Anyway, I'm not so concerned about the PT not performing on a prairie dog or whatever; and it sure seems like the soft front end of the Partition is going to open on anything of any size. OTOH, I don't know yet what kind of speeds I'll be getting from the little barrel. On yet another hand, since my ranges will be short I'm not sure it even matters!

Any advice on powder? The AR is it's own specific beast. I know there are powders that present the right pressure curve for the action... but I forget what they are! I think H335 is one of them.

-jeff

 

[Powerstroke]

Look into the 50 and 55grn Blitz-Kings if you wan massive destruction.

 

[Jeff Olsen]

Look into the 50 and 55grn Blitz-Kings if you wan massive destruction.

How's the penetration, though?

-jeff

 

[Bruce Mc]

Most of the M4 type rifles have a rate of twist of 1 in 8 or 1 in 7. They shoot much better with heavier bullets and heavier bullets are much better projectiles when the velocity is dropped. I'd opt for the 77 or 80 gr Nosler Hollow point bt match bullets. I think they'll serve your purpose well in both accuracy and stopping power.

 

[Powerstroke]

Jeff,

I use the 55grn Blitz-Kings out of my 22-250 and 50's out of my AR.
I use my 22-250 much more, but don't belive I need " penetration " on dog / coyote size game. 2 to 3in of penetration puts me well past any vital area. I've personally found these bullets much more consistant than the B-tips. I'll post the pic again in the hunting section of the performance / end result.

 

[Jeff Olsen]

Well, I'm not hunting with it, so that changes things a bit. If I had to shoot a dog or cougar (both very unlikely) I wouldn't be able to choose my shot, probably, the way you can when you are hunting. I might need more than a few inches to get to the vitals. Also, if I did decide to usurp my M1a Bush rifle as my home/property defense rifle then penetrating an... uh.... human-sized animal adequatly would be an issue. So anyway, that's the reason that penetration even matters at all.

I go in a total "loop" with AR's; did it with the last one, already starting to do it with this one! I buy an AR to screw around with, have fun, then I start thinking how it'd be a great grab-me gun. I don't truct the .223 for self-defense, yet the platform is so appealing with it's low recoil and short, light carbine format. So then I start wishing it was a heavier caliber.

I may mess with a 6.8 SPC upper at some point, but I think the recoil would sort of negate any advantage that the AR might have over my M1a with that round...

-jeff

 

[.260 Handgun]

I have a 15" encore barrel. I get 2700 ft/s with 22.5 grains of benchmark. Not max load, but best group. I usually figure on 40 ft/s loss per inch. More loss with slower burning powders and large volume/diameter cartridges. Hope this helps.

 

[Jeff Olsen]

How heavy of a bullet is that with?

-jeff

 

[2ndtimer]

If you would like to see some comparisons of .223 loads with progressively shorter barrels, check http://www.accuratereloading.com/223sb.html

It has some good information and even shows what kind of accuracy they got. Of course they used 3 powders that I never load my .223 with, but nothing is perfect!

 

[Jeff Olsen]

Very cool! Thanks! Boy, did that rifle look funny at 10" or what? And did they really have to wreck a brand-new Sako? They couldn't have done that with a beater of some sort? Oh well...

-jeff

 

[.260 Handgun]

My last post is with the 60 gn part

 

[Jeff Olsen]

Have you ever shot "meat" with the 223, 60-gn Partition?

-jeff

 

[.260 Handgun]

Nope. I reach for the 260 when I'm after meat. But a buddy has used the 60 gn part on hogs. Complete pass through broadside on a 200lb hog out of a 14" contender barrel. Unsure of his MV.

 

[old #7]

I don't truct the .223 for self-defense, yet the platform is so appealing with it's low recoil and short, light carbine format. So then I start wishing it was a heavier caliber.

Bushmaster is or has released an Ar15 in .450. The round was developed with Hornady. I don't know the dimentions of the cartrige but it looks like a 45-70 adapted to fit in the ar platform.

 

[jicko]

Most of the M4 type rifles have a rate of twist of 1 in 8 or 1 in 7. They shoot much better with heavier bullets and heavier bullets are much better projectiles when the velocity is dropped. I'd opt for the 77 or 80 gr Nosler Hollow point bt match bullets. I think they'll serve your purpose well in both accuracy and stopping power.

I don't think you can seat 80gr bullets to max OAL which will fit AR magazines.... and I don't think the original poster intended to shoot his M4/AR in the single round fashion.... so, 77gr seated to 2.260 or 2.255 would be the heaviest you can/should go... it does perform VERY WELL.... you can try to duplicate US Military's MK262-like load...