Pelt bullet for .224

Murphdog

Beginner
Nov 28, 2005
134
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I have an Armalite match grade rifle that love the 69 grain HPBTs. It makes me look very good in that I am thumping coyotes on a regular basis. As of yet they haven't gotten a single calf this calving season. The issue becomes that the bullet is testing my sewing abilties (large holes in the pelts on the exit side). If what I am reading is true and that furs are on their way back, is there any plans to produce a pelt friendly bullet? I was thinking along the lines of an accurate bond bullet in as heavy as they will fit.

I would use the partions except that Armalite says not to use lead tipped bullets in their rifles. Has any one out there use the partions in an AR 15 style of rifle?

The rifle also seems to like the 55 grain ballistic tips but I doubt that they will solve the overly large exit holes. The half dollor size holes I can live with, it is the golf ball size ones that become too much.
 
If your rifle shoots them well, try the 55g FMJ sierra's. I am currently shooting them in my swift at 3900fps. They should still wack yotes pretty good for being a FMJ. Only problem some might say is expansion, only way to tell is to try them. I havent had a chance to shoot at a yote since I've loaded these up and got them zeroed. When I do though, however, I will be posting the pic and performance of the bullet. Another alternative is to load up a heavier bullet, at a slower velocity. This will help aid in the expansion, since the velocity is low, the bullet wont blow up as bad making big holes. Dont load them down to much though, them yotes are tough bastards.
 
If you didn't care about price I'd say use the 60 Partition. But I'd hate to waste such a good bullet on a coyote. But if you're selling the pelt it might be worth it. If not I'd go with the 55 FMJ. I use the one's made by speer. My pistol will group them almost as good as the 55 ballistic tip.
 
Sorry, should have read your entire post first. Can't shoot the part. If you want bonded I think swift makes one, but they're ridiculously expensive. And heavy, over 70 grains I think. May be too long to stabilize in your gun unless it has a tight twist.
 
The 40 grain ballistic tip will probably not exit most of the time. Make sure you have a clear shot though, because hitting any vegetation will cause pre-expansion and make a much worse entrance wound.

There really is no optimal solution to finding a bullet that kills really quickly yet never damages a pelt. I've got a bolt action, so I can slow the 40 grain bullets down to 2800 FPS and that does the trick, but I suppose you need pretty close to the full velocity to cycle the semi-auto.

Michael Courtney
 
Ive shot two coyotes wth the 55 gr. BT, exit both times


hell, Ive had the 55 NBT whistle through a 80 lb wolf broadside :oops:
 
Murphdog

I use the 50 gr BT in my 22-250 with 36.0 grs of Varget.
In every case the bullet has left an exit hole about the size of a dime, nickel size at most. All hits were through the ribs behind the shoulder.

Regards,

JD338
 
Murphdog,

I've used most everything I can think of on yotes to not tear them up. I'm not a huge FMJ fan only due to the tracking issue once in a while. I've used the B-tips, and as posted elsewhere, changed to the blitz kings in a 55gr. using Viht N140 powder. I'd say 80% of the time there is massive bullet fragmentation........without an exit wound.
 
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