.223 55gr. fmj vs soft points

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NewLife2626

New member
After watching predator nation today fred was using his rra coyote ar and using 55 gr. fmj and he had almost all animals shot run with none dropping on the spot so my question is it because he was using fmj that the bullets were just zipping through with not much of a wound cavity and would they have dropped on the spot if he was using soft points or is the .223 just not that big to drop them on spot.
 
I was thinking the exact same thing. They emphasized that he was using fmj multiple times and I couldn't help but think that wasn't the best choice for the job.
 
While I do not advocate using FMJ to hunt Big Game and I do not use them on small game either, they can work just fine.
Shot placement is key.

Even with good quality hunting bullets if the bullet is not put in the right spot the animal can run off. Even if a good quality bullet is put in the right spot they can run off a way.

Again I do not advise it or condone it but if you put a 55 grain FMJ from a .223 .22-250 or similar through the heart and lungs of a Coyote at even 200 yards that animal will be very dead very quickly.
 
A FMJ in my opinion is not a trustworthy round for hunting. You have seen Im sure that even Hunting ammo that expands sometimes has difficulty bringing an animal down. Compile that with a poorly placed shot and No expansion' the problem gets worse. There is a post already in the Pred Hunting section on this. Its hard to figure why he would use that ammo. Hopefully someone will get a good answer.
 
I noticed the same thing. He has to use a follow up shot on almost every coyote he shot or watch it run. The soft point is good for dropping the animal but what if you're trying to save the pelt? The soft point is going to destroy the pelt or is it not?
 
Having a bullet that opens up will always inflict more damage, you can go to far the other way to though, there are some bullets made primarily for prarie dogs and squirrel hunting that will splash on a thick hide or not penetrate a shoulder or a rib. Out of 223 I like 55 grain polymer tipped bullets, my favorite being the Blitzking but the most effective bullet is the Sierra 65 grain Gameking or a Berger 64 grain Match Varmint. Some of the 40 grainers come apart to easily and frag on impact. Its no fun watching a coyote run away biting at bullet holes. Shot placement is key to, I have noticed that 90 % or so of my kills have not traveled anywhere if at all if i place one in the boiler room of the lungs and heart.
 
I first saw this in the late 50's shooting J-rabbits with a 30 M1 Carbine w/FMJ. You would shoot them and they would just sit there and look around and try to see were the noise came from. At the same distance they would go down with 22 rimfire HP's.
 
in the late 70's and early 80's, hides would bring good money, we were hot on the fmj's in 22 and 6.

one of our favorite sayings became, "we got him, but we did not get him".
 
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