223 Remington Recommended Bullet Head For Tiny Ten In Africa

[geraldhawaii]

Happy Holidays To All! Need some advice on the selection of a bullet for the Remington 223. I will be hunting the Tiny 10 in Africa, and was going to take my Tikka T3 Lite in .223 Remington for these animals. Would like to use a bullet that doesn't expand much so it won't create a large exit hole; this is to preserve the cape for mounting. Was looking at Barnes Triple Shock 70 grain or 62 grain. Also was thinking of Hornady's 55 grain and 62 grain full metal jackets (Although I read that these bullets were made for AR 15 and M4 type semi automatic rifles). I have two Tikka T3 lites; 1:8 inch twist and 1:10 inch twist. I have Remington 7 1/2 primers, and H335, HVarget, HCFE223, HBL C(2), Alliant Power Pro 2000MR, VIHT N135 powders to choose from. Would appreciate any opinions on bullet choice, and load choices.
Aloha!!!

 

[Hand Skills]

Aloha, Gerald!

I have a Tikka .223 1:8 also, I carry it just about every day and use it for pests and predators around the farm. I've killed a handful of deer with it too.

When it comes to saving pelts and hides, it's been my experience that it's best to avoid making an exit wound if possible.

At .223 Rem velocities, I really like the 60gr Nosler Ballistic Tip. Rarely do I get an exit, and typically animals drop at the shot.

There are a lot of good choices out there, so I'll take no offence if you choose something else!

Good luck in your quest - sounds like a lot of fun!

 

[geraldhawaii]

Wow, Hand Skills, I never thought about that idea. Great idea though. I will definitely consider this, when I digest others input. Do you have a load that you use for it?

 

[memtb]

Welcome to our little piece of "hunting heaven"! Good Luck with finding the "magic bullet"! memtb

 

[Coyote Shadow Tracker]

My favorite .223 bullet for PD to Deer. GREAT on Yotes!
We use 65 gr SGK with H-4895
Good luck on your trip to Africa!

 

[adam32+P]

50gr V-Max will usually stay inside a coyote so only one hole to sew up.

What does the Tiny Ten consist of?

 

[Bret GRAVELINE Graveline]

I'd go with the 62 gr barnes, having taken a few of the tiny 10, I understand the need to try and preserve capes, you can certainly make a FMJ work for you however a little more care need to be taken to insure proper bullet placement that sometimes can go beyond field hunting opportuniy, that plus the you draw blood you bought it rules that apply to a African safari might mean you have to pass on a shot that you may not get again, a Barnes bullet won't do much damage to a cape plus will hold together and penetrate should a opportunity present itself at a larger animal, I take a 257 Ackley for a light rifle, one evening while trying to call in a few jackals or whatever else might respond to a predator call I ran into a very nice and wide kudo that was on my list, a had a 338 for that, however the 257 was in my hands, I had a perfect broadside shoot at about 100 yds, the 120 Nosler partition took him down within 50 yards of where he stood from a double lung shoot, Barnes didn't offer a 257 slug at the time of that safari or I'd have been using them, a few years latter under the same circumstances same rifle same bullet failed to break the back of a exceptionally large waterbuck, I know the bullet failed as it was recovered 2 days later after I put him down with the 338 and recovered the failed bullet, a local here owns a large vineyard where he fills both deer tags every year plus the occasional hog and a black bear have fallen victim to his 222 Remington loaded with 62 gr Barnes, his he was up over 20 deer the last time I spoke with him, only one required a second shoot but was down and only the bear was a head shoot, and he has only recovered 1 62 gr bullet, a few years ago he tried a 52 gr tsx bullet that he recovered on a large bodied black tail at about 75 yards it dropped the buck, but he didn't like that he found the slug under the hide on the off shoulder,

 

[memtb]

50gr V-Max will usually stay inside a coyote so only one hole to sew up.

What does the Tiny Ten consist of?

Some pretty darn small stuff…..some of which makes a coyote look like "big game"! memtb

 

[Hand Skills]

Wow, Hand Skills, I never thought about that idea. Great idea though. I will definitely consider this, when I digest others input. Do you have a load that you use for it?

I do hand load heavier bullets for that rifle (64gr and 68gr Hammers, 75gr Berger's) but the 60gr Nosler Custom ammo shoots so well for me that I just use the factory stuff. This provides a constant supply of once fired brass which I quite enjoy as I find brass prep tedious even for 'normal' sized cartridges.

Of the powders you listed on hand, N135 is a great candidate to start with. Not quite as temperature stable as Varget, but burns a little quicker and can be used to good effect with bullets as light as 40gr. Varget has great temperature stability but seems to shine with 70gr class bullets in the .223. It is a touch slow for the 55gr class bullets.

 

[sp6x6]

I wouldn't want a bullet that might pencil.I shot a number of game with arrows and you just sew it up.When the get out in the bush over there, everything has a thorn on it.Although I would guess many classes have tracking dogs.I don't know what the tiny ten is but I arrowed a Steinbeck at 62 yard and there about 8''

 

[fordy]

Gday Geraldhawai
Love to hear your chasing the tiny ten
Which ones are you after first or you going whole hog & try all in one

On pill selection This indeed is one can go a few different ways & on the above posts gives you some insight

Here's another couple options for you to consider & overall will give you a good outcome for full mounts & minimal cape damage

First is take a look @ impala bullets as their CFN solid in 224 does a good job @ giving little hole in & out but ( these type of projectiles give bigger permanent wound channels than a penciling pill ) here's where you'll run in to trouble with them as you need to adjust your velocity to ideally no more than 2500 ( preferably 2400&below I like 1800 to 2000 & use to use dual loads ) impact as once you get to the likes of the impacts above this the likes of the suni , blue & grysbok as a example once you get above these velocities impacts you have a higher chance of significant cape damage but sometimes all goes well

One of my mates I think has now switched to the perigine 224 solid but still uses those velocities it has a bit bigger meplat I am told .
so as long as it feeds would be a good option imo personally not shot that one

The other option is to use one of those bullet in 224 that have a good boat tail & grab some of those & turn the pill backwards & shoot that & stay with the velocities above

The reason I used dual loads was if your critter is out a bit you use a range card to predict your impact velocity & choose the appropriate bullet ( I colour coded ea load 3 were max I had but 2 works well ) just confirm impacts & use a drop chart as normal

If your after the likes of klipspringer also be aware that their hair has issues of blowing patches off @ high velocity impacts & once again moderate to low impact is way safer but ranges can also get fairly varied depending on your hunting area so dual loads work well once again

The best thing you've already considered is using the 223 &another great option is the humble 22lr or 22mag with solids even hp in 22lr these work well & no real cape damage

Shot placement turn a 4x4 to a 4x2 & game over fairly quickly with these solids (22lr I'd be cautious on te bigger ones but it will work if it's a good pill )

Hope that help's & whatever way you go please report on how your trip goes

Cheers

 

[geraldhawaii]

Memtb, and Coyote Shadow Tracker thank you. adam 32+P, the tiny 10 consists of 10 small antelope species in Africa. If you google Tiny 10 Africa, it will provide a list of all the tiny 10. Bret Graveline, thank you very much. Thank you sp6X6. fordy, thank you much. Took a look at the impala bullet on line, as I have never heard of them before. Looks like that would be the best, as the ph's like using solids for the tiny 10. Some of them recommend using a 375 with solids. Too bad the impala's are in South Africa, or I would order some and try them. I already have the steenbok, gray duiker, and oribi. Currently negotiating with an outfitter, on which ones should I go after next year. Again, thank you all for all the info.
Aloha!!!

 

[memtb]

Memtb, and Coyote Shadow Tracker thank you. adam 32+P, the tiny 10 consists of 10 small antelope species in Africa. If you google Tiny 10 Africa, it will provide a list of all the tiny 10. Bret Graveline, thank you very much. Thank you sp6X6. fordy, thank you much. Took a look at the impala bullet on line, as I have never heard of them before. Looks like that would be the best, as the ph's like using solids for the tiny 10. Some of them recommend using a 375 with solids. Too bad the impala's are in South Africa, or I would order some and try them. I already have the steenbok, gray duiker, and oribi. Currently negotiating with an outfitter, on which ones should I go after next year. Again, thank you all for all the info.
Aloha!!!

Along the lines of using solids in a .375…..couldn't you bring both solids and expanding. Assuming that you could get both to hit same aim point…..use the solids on the small stuff and the expanding on any larger game you may decide to take! memtb

 

[geraldhawaii]

memtb, yes, I thought about that, but wanted to stay away from the 375, as I've taken all of the larger african animals that I wanted. So didn't want to take a large caliber. Although that will be my last resort. I have solids and expanding bullets loaded for the 375, and both have very close point of impacts at 100 yards. Thank you for the suggestion though.