Hornady .224 55gn SP Projectile experience

[Oldbloke]

G'day boys,

I purchased some Hornady .224 55gn SP Projectiles at a very good price earlier in the week. And the salesman assured me they would be OK for foxes etc. I intend using them when I start reloading my .223.

However I'm now unsure if they will be suitable for my purposes. I am using the rifle for hunting only, mainly foxes out to say 250 meters and perhaps the odd rabbit or perhaps even a small goat or two.

I generally go for chest shots. But the Hornady web site indicates they are "explosive" even at low velocities. What has been your personal experience with these projectiles?

+ Was there enough penetration?
+ Or did they disintegrate on the hide?
+ Were they achieving respectable accuracy?
+ What are they OK for? Foxes, goats, small pigs?

[bigfellascott]

I'm sure they will work fine - one way to find out for sure but! go shoot stuff with em and let us know.

[Baronvonrort]

The Hornady catalog i have lists your projectile as a traditional Varmint bullet,should be fine for the smaller stuff.

Ballistic coefficient - .235

[yoshie]

55 is great allround weight, I use Noslers and Sierras myself. If you're going to use it for goats and pigs I'd recommend head/neck shots. 40 is great for small animals like rabbits and foxes but not so good for larger animals. I get excellent accuracy out of my weatherby. It has 1:12 twist ratio. What are you shooting then in?

[Bills Shed]

The 55 grn will do fine. I have never had any issues with them. I have put down more than a few pigs with them but you will need to put them in the right place. Foxes will not be an issue no matter where you hit them.

Bill

[Oldbloke]

Thanks boys, that gives me a little more confidence. I recently purchased a Marlin XS bolt action. I was looking for a light weight rifle but didn't want to spend too much as my use will be low. I purchased an Marlin XL in 3006 a couple of yrs ago and have found it shoots moa with my mild reloads, happy with that. So took a dive and got a 223. It has a 1 in 9 twist. The S&B ammo I purchased isn't great so getting organised to reload soon. One thing I noticed today is the S&B projectile has to jump about 3 mm before it hits the lands so that is an area I can easily improve on.

[Bills Shed]

There can be few factors that will govern the amount of projectile jump. The projectile shape is one, how the chamber was cut and magazine length are a few. If you are going to feed the rifle with a magazine that is often the governing factor. After that if you already have the projectiles you do not have much room to move.
I would not get to wrapped up in the amount of projectile jump. It is not necessarily a drama as you can often develop excellent hunting loads that have considerable projectile jump. When you find something that works stick to it. A fox shot at 120m does not care if the pill shoots 1MOA or .5 MOA.

Bill

[Oldbloke]

Thanks bill. Magazine length will not be an issue. I have set up the die to give me about 0.025" off the lands.

[Gregg]

+ What are they OK for? Foxes, goats, small pigs?

Up to 250m they'll do rabbits and foxes all day long.

Shot placement on goats will be more important, but still very doable.

Pigs... Shot placement and limiting yourself to sensible sizes. 'Babe' yes, 'Big Uncle Warthog' no. I'm sure you'll have common sense enough to judge this after you've done a little shooting with them.

[sha]

I generally go for chest shots. But the Hornady web site indicates they are "explosive" even at low velocities.

I think you might have misread that?

The blurb on the Hornady website says "Explosive expansion, even at low velocities".

Not explosive as in fragmenting bullet and lost energy and weight retention.

I'm sure Hornady know how to make a bullet stay together for hunting

[Press]

even at low velocities.

Even at 250m, you should probably be getting somewhere around 2,200fps at that distance with your .223.

Not exactly a snails pace

[Oldbloke]

I generally go for chest shots. But the Hornady web site indicates they are "explosive" even at low velocities.

I think you might have misread that?

The blurb on the Hornady website says "Explosive expansion, even at low velocities".

Not explosive as in fragmenting bullet and lost energy and weight retention.

I'm sure Hornady know how to make a bullet stay together for hunting

Thanks Sha, glad you pointed that out, I have misunderstood it. Should be OK then. Loading up a few test rounds tomorrow.

My intention is to limit it's use to mainly foxes, cats etc, but as mentioned above neck & head shots for small goats (as expected) should be OK too. Good to know as one of the spots I hunt has the odd goat. Beats going back to the car for the 3006.

[Wilso1994]

I used them for 12 months with no issues. They perform really well at long ranges (100-400 yards) but not so great at 50 yards. I have watched foxes take one in the shoulder and run like buggery never to be seen again. Dead fox but not as dead as I wanted it. Good luck with it

[sha]

Thanks Sha, glad you pointed that out, I have misunderstood it. Should be OK then. Loading up a few test rounds tomorrow.

Glad to help. Makes a change from just sponging info of you blokes

[huccl]

not so great at 50 yards. I have watched foxes take one in the shoulder and run like buggery never to be seen again

Turned to shrapnel when hitting that close?

[yoshie]

Because of the twist rate, I'd also buy a box of heavier projectiles. Maybe some 65s or 70s and see how they go. You might find that they shoot really well. 1:9 is a really handy rate that lets you really use a wide range of bullets. But back to you're original question, 55s will work great with what you want to do with it. With a 1:12 you are pretty much limited to under 60 grain.

[headspace]

Like Yoshie says, those 40 grainers may not stabilise well in that twist barrel. 1:9 should be fine for 55's but you may find the 40's a problem, particularly as the range gets out a bit. If you already have them a powder like 2206H might be better than 2208.

JD

[lowb]

You're saying they might not stabilize because that's too fast for the 40gr, Headspace?

(edited post: talking to the person Headspace, not asking about rifle chamber headspace)

[yoshie]

You're saying they might not stabilize because that's too fast for the 40gr headspace?

That's not what head space is.

They will be spinning to fast, they will be stabilised but accuracy will be not good. There is a sweet spot, and 40s aren't in it with that rate. 60s to 75s will be great, 55s will be good, 80s maybe. 75s and up need a 1:7.5, 40s to 55s need 1:12, 1:9 is good for everything in between.

[yoshie]

Just to clarify, bullets need a certain amount of spin to stabilise, the longer a bullet the more spin it needs. Heavier bullets are longer and that's why you need a twist ratio that is faster, (1:12 is one twist every 12 inches, 1:8 is one twist is 8). You can shoot short bullets is fast twist. More energy goes into spinning them than needed, and their performance is usually lacking. Over stabilised bullets (spinning too fast) shoot better than unstabilised bullets ( sometimes don't even hit the target) but not as good as perfectly stabilised ones.

[lowb]

That's not what head space is.

No, I was asking the person 'headspace'.

Above my original reply there...

[yoshie]

Ha ha! That's embarrassing.

[Oldbloke]

silly sausage. LOL

[lowb]

he he .

All good, better to explain in if someone might have misunderstood and is about to do something stupid

[headspace]

Ha ha! That's embarrassing.

I wondered when my username would create a drama. The trouble with all this is that no one twist rate is going to do it all. I have a 223 with 1:12 and it loves 50 to 55gn Sierra's However bring a Nosler into it and being a slightly longer bullet even though it's still 55gns it just doesn't work.

Sierra 55gn Game Kings have surprised me by shooting just over an inch at 100m and yet strayed only to an inch and half at 200m. Clearly that bullet stabilised better at a longer range.

I'm still experimenting with Hornady 50gn Vmax and Sierra Match Kings in 52 and 53gn. So far my best is 5 rounds into .4 inch at 100m with the 53gn MK's.

Regardless of all the info you get here, your rifle still has the final word. Load development is one of the great things that keeps us coming back for more.

Factory ammo will get you only so far, the real rewards come when you start cooking them up yourself.

JD

[Monty]

I wondered when my username would create a drama.

We can always change it if you like.

(no pressure, just saying)

[headspace]

I wondered when my username would create a drama.

We can always change it if you like.

(no pressure, just saying)

Thanks mate but no, I'll stick to it. I'm sure it may be cause for head(space) scratching here and there, but we're all pretty switched on here I reckon.

[Monty]

No worries. Just mentioning the option

[not shore]

Hornady sp 55gr are a basic allround projectile the explosive bullets are the hornady sx sp 55gr the more for foxes

[kurl]

We can always change it if you like.

Sorry, OT here...

Can we change it or mod has to change it? I couldn't see an option?