223 How far?

S

sixxgunnernick

New member
What's up fellow gunners? I have 2 Miles of cornfield behind my target/backstop..100 yards to my target/backstop. So 2miles and a hundred yards..I have a sixteen inch barrell..55grain fmj pmc rounds..my target is six to eight inches of solid wood. I took one shot and part of my target blew off into the cornfield! The bullet went upward out of the wood! I got scared and stopped..would a lighter hollow point like forty some grain help slow it down? I was thinking of twenty some grains of titegroup as well. It's just twenty five yards at the range gets boring..How far does a 55gr fmj round travel?
 
I doubt it makes it two miles but I would get a dump load of sand put behind my target, better safe then killing a farmer out looking at his corn crop.
 
I'd be safe rather then sorry and put some kind of better backstop behind you traget and several yards of dirt that exyends well above the target would be the best.
 
If you pointed your barrel at a 45 degree angle and shot the load you have the round could easily go a mile or more. However shooting a target that would require the barrel to be held at a relatively flat trajectory the round would be on the ground well before it reached a mile even if it penetrated no barrier.

However you should always have a decent backstop that you have confidence in before shooting.
 
I have read that the maximum effective range for the .223 is 3600 meters. That is about 2.2 miles. You would have to have your muzzle pointed up in the air to achieve that kind of range but it is worth remembering. Your rifle could kill someone at the far end of your 2 mile cornfield range.

You should shoot in Hocking county. The hills there make better back stops than corn.
 
Please, by all means build a good backstop. If you read the label on a box of 22lr, it states the the bullet can travel 1 mile. Some high power rifle bullets will carry up to 5 miles.
 
Make a pile of sand or dirt with a front end loader if you have access to one.

If not I'd order a dump truck in full of dirt and have him dump it exactly where you want the target. 1 dump truck load will be enough.
 
Or you could put one of those big, round hay bales behind your target. Just don't give it to the cows after you fill it with lead.
 
Yeah I saw that too, I just assume he meant MAX range. Have to subtract about 3000 or so meters for that 3600 to be correct.
 
There is a differance between max effective range and max range.

The max effective range use to be discribed as:

THE MAX RANGE 50% OF THE SOLDIERS CAN HIT THE TARGET 50% OF THE TIME.

Now I'm old school so that defination may have changed.

So to get back to the orginal question, Max Range. I think the 3600 yards will be pretty close. The energy at that range being enough to cause damage is another story. I would chance it.

You are talking about a fair to middlin farm, so I would assume, you have tractors. Most full size farm tractors have loaders. Find a spot for your back stop and push the dirt up to make your back stop.

Find a bal. table for the round you shoot, then compute the distance you want to shoot, figure the trajectory and build your back stop accordingly.

Meaning, figure out how far you want to shoot, 200, 300,. 600 etc, then look at the trajectory table and deside how far away, and how high you need your berm.

If you only want to shoot relatively short distances, like 100 yards and dont want to jump through hoops, consider shooting cast bullets.

I have really cut down the cost of my HP practice by shooting cast bullets in my AR using NRA 100 yard reduces HP targets at 100 yards. I do this for convcience, I have a friggin mountain for a back stop so thats not a problem.
 
not so sure that a round bail of hay would do anything to slow down a bullet. i have shot through cut of pieces of micro-lamb and cut off pieces of rail road track (the inner part) with my AR-15 in .223. if that didnt stop it, a bail of hay aint going to. dirt, or tires filled with dirt are the best. though, tires filled with dirt arent that attactive..... but they do work well.
 
maximum range 223

Hello, just thought i would let everyone know that the 223-5.56mm max range is 3,600 meters, the maximum effective range is 300 meters. The maximum effective range is the range a person can fire the weapon effectively in order to hit the target. The maximum range is that of which the bullet can travel. Hope this helps.
 
Another solution is to elevate your shooting position slightly. Here in flat FL we raise our stands 4 ft.+ so that everyone is shooting at a downward angle.
 
Thank you Kraigwy. You were correct, what I was referring to was the absolute distance that the lil 55grain bullet will kill.


The .223 should drop 80 to 100 inches at 600 yards.
 
I have an OLD box of .22lr shells and stamped in bold print on the box is the following "DANGEROUS TO A DISTANCE OF 1.5 MILES" Something similar is on an OLD box of 150gr 30.06 shells I used to have, I believe it said 7.6 Miles (or 7.9 Miles, I forget which)

Now I'm not sure what thier description of dangerous is..perhaps that is the maximum distance you could poke out an eye, penetrate skin, or simply expect the bullet to travel (harmlessly or not once it got there)

But I know this, Mythbusters (and I know I'm asking for a whole can of worms by mentioning them) did an episode on bullets shot straight up, and while it seems a bullet falling at terminal velocity is not very dangerous a bullet fired at virtually Any angle other than straight up will return to earth with a ballistic tragectory and be capable of causing a surprising amount of damage.
They actually had interviews with specialized doctors who had treated patients with bullet wounds (some of which were lethal, or near to it) from bullets fired into the air and thier determination was that the shooters were firing at less than straight up angles and causing injury (or death) to people often at extreme distances from where the shots were fired.
 
maximum effective range of the .223/5.56

I know my memory is not what it used to be, but we were taught in basic training in the early 70's, that the maximum effective range for this round in a M-16 was 460 meters. Has this been recently changed?
 
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