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Author Topic: 5.56 full metal jacket vs varmint rounds  (Read 6767 times)

Offline ThomMedic

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5.56 full metal jacket vs varmint rounds
« on: June 18, 2017, 07:30:09 PM »
I keep hearing about the varmint rounds/zombie bullets. Are they more effective in providing one shot coyote kills? :dunno:
« Last Edit: August 05, 2017, 06:18:16 PM by carpsniperg2 »

Offline crabcreekhunter

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Re: 5.56 full metal jacket vs varmint roeunds
« Reply #1 on: June 18, 2017, 07:51:31 PM »
Yes and far less likely to richochet!
"Courage is simply fear that has said its prayers"

Offline PNWWARRIOR94

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Re: 5.56 full metal jacket vs varmint roeunds
« Reply #2 on: August 02, 2017, 09:26:28 PM »
Are you talking zmax? I know they make lead core 223 as well

Offline dmv9

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Re: 5.56 full metal jacket vs varmint roeunds
« Reply #3 on: August 03, 2017, 01:07:58 PM »
I was at a wilderness first aid class and one of the topics was getting shot. And he demonstrated by putting a side of pork in a pair of jeans and shooting it with a traditional 223 fmj and a 223 fragmentable / varmit round.

IT WAS IMPRESSIVE. Basically fmj just went straight through and generated a very small wound channel (maybe 1/4"). The varmint round just EXPLODED and caused a crater in the meat.

Offline Hilltop123

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Re: 5.56 full metal jacket vs varmint roeunds
« Reply #4 on: August 03, 2017, 01:47:28 PM »
Well you didn't need to ruin a perfectly good piece of pork, to know that information.  :chuckle:

Offline Jerry malbeck

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Re: 5.56 full metal jacket vs varmint roeunds
« Reply #5 on: August 03, 2017, 03:16:20 PM »
Best round for coyotes is a hollow point. Sage rats and rock chucks, V-max or B-tips. Full metal jackets result in runaways and ricochets.
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Offline theleo

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Re: 5.56 full metal jacket vs varmint roeunds
« Reply #6 on: August 03, 2017, 03:53:51 PM »
Well you didn't need to ruin a perfectly good piece of pork, to know that information.  :chuckle:
He might be veagan. :dunno:

Fmj's poke holes with relatively minimal wound channels, taking a long channel to transfer the bullets energy into the target. Varmint bullets are designed to transfer the bullets energy as quickly as possible. A FMJ bullet that penetrates 20" is expending energy well past the 8"-10" of penetration you need (ruff guestimate) to thoroughly wreck the insides of a coyote. The more damage you cause inside the body cavity of the animal the quicker it will go down.   

Offline Okanagan

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Re: 5.56 full metal jacket vs varmint roeunds
« Reply #7 on: August 03, 2017, 04:32:05 PM »
I used to hunt fur way back when.  A friend and I tried FMJ in .30 and we would file off a smidge of the bullet tip to expose lead (our attempt) to make them legal.  (self deprecation erased).  We lost coyotes that ran off with what we were confident were well placed hits.  We quit using non-expanding bullets and both went to small bore, high velocity calibers.

If you have no interest in salvaging the fur but merely killing the coyote as quickly and decisively as possible, go for a high speed light weight fast expanding bullet, as others here have recommended.  Dead quick, may have a BIG hole in the hide, maybe not.

If you want the fur, the theory of a good fur bullet splits two directions once you abandon FMJ or non-expanding equivalent.

1.  Shoot a high velocity very frangible bullet with the intent to have it expand almost explosively inside the coyote and not exit.  Excellent when it works.  Frontal shots into the chest are ideal, with the full length of the body behind the entry point giving plenty of distance for the bullet to stop before exit.  If you do get an exit it will probably be huge. Light for caliber hollow point bullets usually fit this category.  Depending on where hit of course, not counting fur a good many coyotes are less than 6 inches through skin to skin broadside in lower chest. The bullet needs to stop quickly.

2.  Shoot a heavier bullet that expands little with the intent to get a pass through with a relatively small exit.  That works well with Nosler Partition bullets as long as the bullet does not hit major bone.  If it hits a large bone, the exit will almost certainly be large, maybe very large.

With any of those bullets, if the coyote is broadside a hit in his short ribs will probably do minimal/acceptable fur damage.  An observation based on a lot of skinning.

Offline ThomMedic

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Re: 5.56 full metal jacket vs varmint roeunds
« Reply #8 on: August 03, 2017, 05:59:52 PM »
great info, thanks everyone

Offline AWS

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Re: 5.56 full metal jacket vs varmint roeunds
« Reply #9 on: August 04, 2017, 09:51:06 AM »
My two goto fur bullets are the 40gr NBT in my 22-204(3900+fps) and in my 5.6x50R Mag, the 40gr NBT is a pretty tough bullet and rarely causes damage to the fur but wrecks them internally.  On the other hand the 40gr V-Max tends to splash upon hitting coyotes with little penetration but is spectacular on GS & PD's.  My next favorite is the 52gr Speer FBHP this is a great bullet performing in my 222 Rem as well as my 22-250 and it has been a very accurate bullet as well.  I used it in my 5.6x50R for awhile but went to the 40gr NBT when I started hunting down south (much smaller coyotes and more bobcats).

A little story on FMJ's, while I was stationed in Vietnam one of my jobs was to shoot feral dogs on the base(rabies problem) body shots were the rule and with the 223 FMJ most of the time it took multiple hits to put a dog down one critter seven in the chest.  I swithched to a 308 with FMJ's and it worked considerably better.

In the 1960's I did a lot fur hunting for fox and used a Savage 99 in 300 Sav with 170gr cast bullets with a large flat nose on it, they put down fox nicely with two small holes one in-one out.  These were only traveling about 1200 fps.
« Last Edit: August 04, 2017, 09:58:31 AM by AWS »
After the first shot the rest are just noise.

Make mine a Minaska

Offline dmv9

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Re: 5.56 full metal jacket vs varmint roeunds
« Reply #10 on: August 04, 2017, 09:56:31 AM »
I'm definitely not a vegan :) I'm veggie-curious.

Yeah, it was a v-max now that I remember.

Offline hunter399

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Re: 5.56 full metal jacket vs varmint roeunds
« Reply #11 on: August 04, 2017, 10:10:13 AM »
Don't use fmj,if you want less pelt damage just use a softpoint 223 cal,less expensive,still gets the job done without runoffs . :tup: :twocents:
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Offline carpsniperg2

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Re: 5.56 full metal jacket vs varmint roeunds
« Reply #12 on: August 05, 2017, 06:19:26 PM »
Best round for coyotes is a hollow point. Sage rats and rock chucks, V-max or B-tips. Full metal jackets result in runaways and ricochets.

Yup my preferred as well. SMK'S in most all my yote guns.
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