.223 FMJ gopher shooting.
- Thread starter pharaoh2
- Start date
Performance is unremarkable. You can hear the riccochets pretty frequently, accuracy is generally crappy, and terminal ballistics are intermittent at best. They work, but, basically, you get a rifle with the 'splatter factor' and accuracy (and therefore limited range) of a 22lr, but with a lot more noise and heat.
For the tiny price difference between white box hollowpoints (or better yet, handloads), it's really a no-brainer.
For the tiny price difference between white box hollowpoints (or better yet, handloads), it's really a no-brainer.
I think its hard to know for sure how often a bullet ricochets, they don't always make that telltale sound.
I friend had a few boxes of FMJ 223 tracer and it was quite disturbing seeing how many ricocheted back into the air when they hit the sand backstop. Atleast 1/2 of them went back up in the air, most without that classic ricochet sound.
That said I find FMJs very disappointing for gophers. I went though 1000 federal 55gr FMJ 223s last year. Atleast 80% of the hits cleanly passed thru them often just leaving them wounded. The odd lucky shot would send them flying but not very often. It made it hard to tell if you even hit them from a distance.
I friend had a few boxes of FMJ 223 tracer and it was quite disturbing seeing how many ricocheted back into the air when they hit the sand backstop. Atleast 1/2 of them went back up in the air, most without that classic ricochet sound.
That said I find FMJs very disappointing for gophers. I went though 1000 federal 55gr FMJ 223s last year. Atleast 80% of the hits cleanly passed thru them often just leaving them wounded. The odd lucky shot would send them flying but not very often. It made it hard to tell if you even hit them from a distance.
You are better off with a proper varmint bullet. The light jackets avoid ricochets (one of my big selling points when getting landowner permission) and the results are more spectacular-kind of like they ate a 
"...ricocheted back into the air when they hit the sand backstop..." That's just the trace element coming off. Also why most ranges don't allow tracers.
Any bullet can ricochet if it hits something hard. FMJ's aren't made to expand or break up though. Hit 'em in the wrong spot and they'll die very slowly.
Any bullet can ricochet if it hits something hard. FMJ's aren't made to expand or break up though. Hit 'em in the wrong spot and they'll die very slowly.
I find thousands of intact 5.56 projectiles still intact here within the Wainwright ranges and thats after passing thru targets and impacting burms, sandbags, and railroad ties. Some are disfigured, but others looks as pristine as the day they were shot (expect for rifling marks). If they can endure to even a small percentage of that kind of abuse, then a 400g critter ain't gonna slow it down.
All the energy has to go somewhere if it isn't dissipated upon impact.
I was givn a number of .22-250 loads with 55 grain FMJ's a frind had used for beaver culling. They would rip ground hogs apart. There were three different loads and all performed flawlessly. Since My intention was to reclaim the brass I never tried them again.
