Fur saver Bullets for 5.56

[venatic]

Best bullet I have seen for DRT and saving fur in the 223 is the 60 gr VMax. Black Hills even has factory ammo. Light bullets will let you down on occasion but most folks have to try anyway.... same folks that have to pee on the electric fence to believe it's hot.

 

[Cold Trigger Finger]

have you Chronographed them ?

 

[venatic]

Yes from 18 inch barrel they run 2900+

 

[Dean2]

Best bullet I have seen for DRT and saving fur in the 223 is the 60 gr VMax. Black Hills even has factory ammo. Light bullets will let you down on occasion but most folks have to try anyway.... same folks that have to pee on the electric fence to believe it's hot.

We aren't talking 100 grain versus 180 on Elk, we are talking 40 grain versus 55 or 60. I have killed a pile of yotes and Alberta yotes are fairly large by most standards. Bullets of 40 grains is more than enough in a .224, and in fact in the 204 so is 30 grains. If we were shooting larger bodied animals I might buy the SD argument but not on yotes were the game is to keep the bullet fully inside the animal so you have a usable hide. The lighter bullet is the better choice. I have never had a 30-40 grain 204 or a 40-50 grain 224 fail to penetrate adequately.

 

[Pdvdh]

Saving fur on coyotes is easy, compared to preventing blowouts on red fox.

 

[Cold Trigger Finger]

Venatic; thanks for the chrono data. As I'm shooting a 16" I imagine my vel will be at least 50 fps slower.

Like Phorwath I also worry about blowing up the far side of a beautiful fox pelt.
Where I hunt I'm just as likely to call in a fox as a coyote.

 

[Dean2]

Venatic; thanks for the chrono data. As I'm shooting a 16" I imagine my vel will be at least 50 fps slower.

Like Phorwath I also worry about blowing up the far side of a beautiful fox pelt.
Where I hunt I'm just as likely to call in a fox as a coyote.

We have very few foxes and the few we have are usually pretty freindly. I have had them sit at the edge of where I am shooting gophers and move in for the free lunch when I move over a couple of hundred yards. One of them got so he would sit about ten yards behind me and a bit off to one side so he could watch the action. I have never shot a fox so can't offer any suggestions.

 

[venatic]

Our coyotes around here run on the large side too....these four shot on two stands about 1/2 mile apart all weighed mid to upper 40 lbs range because I weighed each one thinking they might go 50 lbs.
I have had several blow-ups with 40gr VMax on shoulders and that soured me on them but I admit most of the time the lighter Bullets are adequate but the 60 seems to have the best of both sides.

For Fox not many centerfire combinations work. I had some luck with 33gr Hp in the 221Fireball slowed to 2800fps.

 

[Cold Trigger Finger]

The best result I've had so far on fox and coyote combined . Is the 144 gr Lapua fmjbt @ 2500- 2550 mv from my 6.5 Creedmoor 18.6" barrel. Behind the shoulder broadside. Thru and thru , but the exit is usually not much more than caliber size.
I "think" the 17 Hornady Hornet would be good for fox also.
Otherwise, my plan is 55 gr FMJBT in the 5.56 at not over 3,000 mv.
I may get a runner sometimes but with the 1 in 7 twist my hope is straight line penetration.

 

[Cold Trigger Finger]

We have cross fox here that have absolutely gorgeous pelts sometimes . I would rather let them walk off than destroy it with the wrong load.

 

[FIGJAM]

View attachment 118422 Our coyotes around here run on the large side too....these four shot on two stands about 1/2 mile apart all weighed mid to upper 40 lbs range because I weighed each one thinking they might go 50 lbs.
I have had several blow-ups with 40gr VMax on shoulders and that soured me on them but I admit most of the time the lighter Bullets are adequate but the 60 seems to have the best of both sides.

For Fox not many centerfire combinations work. I had some luck with 33gr Hp in the 221Fireball slowed to 2800fps.

I have never had a Vmax let me down yet - I have used them in 204,223, and 243 in various weights and they always perform. Those were the first bullets I tried in my 223 when I got it for coyotes and I haven't ever felt a need to experiment with anything else.

 

[venatic]

Which VMax? I agree the 60 is good maybe the best for 223 but the 40 VMax I would not use again. I shoot the 75 and the 80 gr Hornady as well and they are very good even up to deer size animals.

 

[FIGJAM]

Which VMax? I agree the 60 is good maybe the best for 223 but the 40 VMax I would not use again. I shoot the 75 and the 80 gr Hornady as well and they are very good even up to deer size animals.

I have shot the 40, 50 and 53gr vmax in the 223. 40gr in 204 and 75vmax in the 243. It would be close between the 53gr and the 40gr, but I am betting i have killed the most with the 40gr in 223.

 

[Pdvdh]

I "think" the 17 Hornady Hornet would be good for fox also.
Otherwise, my plan is 55 gr FMJBT in the 5.56 at not over 3,000 mv.
I may get a runner sometimes but with the 1 in 7 twist my hope is straight line penetration.

I've read 17s are a good fur saver cartridge for fox, and believe a guy could find a bullet that wouldn't exit.

I'll share my .222 Rem experiences on Michigan red fox. They weighed around 12-14lbs. Unlike the 25lb porkers running the beaches on Kodiak Island.
I shot a number of 50-53 gr bullets in the 3,100fps range. All would blow out a minimum tennis ball exit on the far side. Some close to softball sized exits.

I shot a number with a Sierra 52 or 53 gr match bullet. Can't recall for certain as this was 45-50yrs ago. At the time I didn't think they would expand. I slowed them down to around 2,800fps. Same result on broadside shots. Baseball to softball sized exits. I got pretty good hand sewing them back together prior to sale. We'd get $60 - $65 per hide, which was nice for a teenager back in the late 60s to mid 70s.

Perhaps those Sierras were expanding? I was just a kid. I don't recall seeing shrapnel while skinning the fox. My belief at the time was the velocity alone, even with a FMJ .224 bullet hitting them at 2,500+ fps would cause blowouts on the far side. Just not enough substance to a fox to absorb the hydraulic pressure wave.

We shot quite a few fox with the .22 WMRs. 40gr JHP WW rounds were a perfect combo for killing the out to 120yds. Very little fur damage with those bullets at 1925fps MV. But too hard to guess holdover for good hits past 120-125yds.

Which is why I moved up to the .222 Rem. And learned how to sew!

About 1yr ago I decided to develop some reduced power fox fur loads for my AR15. A 9-twist 16" barrel. I purchased 2 boxes of Nosler Varmageddon bullets. 40gr and 55gr. I tried a few different powders and settled on H4895 as the best. I wanted a MV in the 2,100-2,200fps range. The 55gr loads will cycle my AR in semi-auto mode. The 40gr bullet turns it into a single shot. Have to work the bolt carrier manually for each shot.

BUT - I've not shot a fox with either load. There aren't any fox on the Kenai Peninsula where I live, and I haven't got down to Kodiak after fox.

If you think you'd like to try these reduced .223 Rem loads, PM me and I can share my load data via e-mail or text message attachment. The loads should also be equally good with Hornady V-Max bullets of same weights. I was just looking for the most frangible bullets available. The 40gr would likely be the better fur bullet on 12-14lb fox.