Hornady's new 70gr .223 GMX Bullet

[PaulS]

Mike, you are absolutely right. A light constructed light bullet will do the job only if it is placed in the neck or the right spot in the head. It will not work for a body shot. That is the reason I prefer big bullets when hunting. I don't use head and neck shots like my brother, John, does but I did try it and can place my shots well enough to take that perfect shot. I just prefer not to.
Paul

[MRFixIT]

while out hunting with a friend he put 2 shots in the lungs of a deer at 75 yard with 55gr from his mini 14. Deer took off at a full run for about another 60 yards,he stopped and I hit him again in the lungs with a .280 he dropped in his tracks. Bother of Glenn's shots hit ribs and deflected. Not with the old .280 in one side out the other. My way of thinking is why are there so many different calibers? Every one has there own preference for both large game and small game. If someone thinks their skill level is good enough to hunt deer with a 223 who are we to say they shouldn't. Me varmint rifles are for varmints and the same with big game. Just my 2 cents worth

[slimjim]

slimjim wrote:

After seeing what a .270 Win with a 130gr bullet does to an elk, I am not hesitant to use a 60-70gr monolithic bullet on the small statured Texas deer at 100 yards.

I don't disagree with you MRFixIT. Contrary to what I said before, I did hesitate to use a .223 to hunt deer when I got invited to hunt on a small tree farm. The land owner wanted as many deer gone as possible but didn't want the deer running off his property to die. The field we hunted in was 200 yards long and 100 yards wide at the edge of his property. Without more room to track a deer down if it ran off after being shot, I left my .223 in the truck and carried my .270 Win with Hornady 130gr GMX bullets. The .270 has as much energy at 700 yards as the .223 does at 100 yards. The result was 3 deer dropped in the field boundary.

[slimjim]

PaulS wrote:

A light constructed light bullet will do the job only if it is placed in the neck or the right spot in the head.

If I had carried my .223 with the Barnes 62gr TTSX bullets, I was only going to attempt neck shots. That was the only way I believe that the deer would drop in their tracks.

[Aloysius]

slimjim wrote:

PaulS wrote: A light constructed light bullet will do the job only if it is placed in the neck or the right spot in the head. If I had carried my .223 with the Barnes 62gr TTSX bullets, I was only going to attempt neck shots. That was the only way I believe that the deer would drop in their tracks.

but then you don't need such an expensive bullet. In the ear or right under the head in the neck you can even do with a FMJ (if allowed). But when you're afraid of hitting something else in the neighbourhood, then use a varminterbullet. If that goes trough, the pieces that are leaving the animal cann't hurt anything else anymore.

[Elvis]

loaded up some 50 grain TTSX tonight with 25.25 grn of AR2206h behind them ...will find out how they group this weekend...may just have to put solid block of wood behind target to have a squizz how they are going to penetrate/open up.
SWMBO says they look like pencils...cant say I disagree.

[Vince]

Elvis wrote:

...may just have to put solid block of wood behind target to have a squizz how they are going to penetrate/open up.

I think you will get a better idea of expansion if you use a couple of wet phone books mate. A solid piece of wood will not give you a realistic idea of how much the bullet will expand.

[slimjim]

Wait a minute guys, I have an articule that shows how to do terminal performance testing.

www.huntingnut.com/ind...cle&sid=84

I haven't updated it to show you only need to reuse a plastic milk jug filled with water and a box of paper behind it. In the front of the box, position a phone book that is about 1500 page thick then put the magazines behind it. I use 15 magazines as a standard. I predict your bullet will penetrate around 1000 pages of the phone book. If your bullet goes through the phonebook and a couple of magazines, that's a bit of overpenetration. If it goes 10 magazines deep, that is basically just a pass through. Using GMX bullets, a .270 can out penetrate a .300 Win Mag even though it has less energy because the expanded bullet has less frontal area.

[slimjim]

Elvis, there is even a picture in the article to show you what your TTSX should look like.

[Vince]

Ahh, I forgot all about your hard work Slim...apologies mate.

[slimjim]

Thanks, Vince. There is hardly a time that I don't take a couple water jugs and a bullet trap with me to the range. I've been testing loads of 6.8/.270 and been doing .243 and soon .308 to see if what I've learned with the 6.8/.270 applies across a broader caliber range.

[Elvis]

awesome article on the trap....Ive got some really big plastic bags that hold 30-40 litres of water...only work for one shot but bullets dont go through them Ive also used 3-4 bottles in a row that stopped projectile and just tipped it out of still full but leaking bottle...I could wait till SWMBO is not looking and knock over one of the sheep...however the bullet hole in forequarter roast would probably give me away.

[Vince]

Here is an interesting throw on using wood as a testing medium.

I must give credit to the Mountain Molds Forum for this link.

Cast bullet penetration testing - wood as a test medium?

[slimjim]

Interesting, but its for lower speed, heavy, cast bullets. A medium is need to cause the hydraulic action required for expansion of modern bullets. That is what the gallon jug of water does.

[pete4d]

Vince wrote:

Here is an interesting throw on using wood as a testing medium. I must give credit to the Mountain Molds Forum for this link. Cast bullet penetration testing - wood as a test medium?

Vince interesting article,,,,, Reminds me of the 1884 Springfield trap-door manual , Don't have the manual here with me , The U.S. government used white pine in all its test on penetrations , because 1-inch of white pine was equal to 1-inch of human flesh.