Federal ammo. New .223 for Whitetail

T

Tertullian

Inactive
Aside from anyone that would prefer not to use .223 for Whitetail, I see Federal has a new load for deer. It is the Federal Vital-shok .223 60gr. Nosler partition.

Considering the velocity to be 3160 @ the muzzle and the bullet being a Nosler Partition, does this type of bullet (Partition) now give this load a greater advantage over the standard soft point ammo. that is commonly used for whitetail deer at reasonable distances?
 
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Okay, I'm not a big fan of .223 for whitetails. :)


That said, I don't see much real difference between a .243 80g with a non-partition bullet at 3100 and a .223 partition load at 3100 fps. So long as you take your shots with care, and pass on moving shots and quartering shots, I don't see a problem. Surely, it's a better kill likelyhood than most handgun hunting.

Since there're a lot of people hunting deer with .223 anyway, I'm glad that someone is finally coming out with a load that's more likely to actually do the job effectively.
 
I was just curious if this Nosler Partition bullet would make a noticable difference and enhance the damage capability of the .223 on Whitetail at reasonable distances over everyday soft point rounds
 
http://www.nosler.com/partition.html

See above for best explanation. basically, it's a bullet with two seperate cores to prevent explosion or case separation, and give better penetration.

Swift A-Frame bullets are pretty much the same thing. Dunno if they're available in .223.

Winchester accomplishes the same thing with it's FailSafe line by putting the lead core in a steel cup, but it's not available in .223.
 
O.K., when most folks think of Whitetail, their not thinking of the Coues deer here in the Southwest. These critters rarely dress out to more than 150 lbs..

While I personally take to the field with a .270 in pursuit of any deer, .223 is my back up when pursuing this rather diminutive variety (I'll tell the story of "back up" guns on a hunt in another thread ):o .

In short, this could be a round a lot of hunters can take advantage of; I'll give it a serious look.
 
.223 is illegal to hunt deer with here in Wa. and quite
a few other states. minimum cal here is .243. I lugged
one around for 20 years in the US army, I guess thats
why I ENJOY levers so much. I wouldn't put it up against
a big Mule deer or whitetail for that matter. Don't want
to stir up trouble but "we" use to test .223 rnds in calves,
pigs, etc. the round had alot of problems, rarely did
one round bring anything down quickly or humainly.
 
Sure, the .223 is not an effective round for all game at all distances. I do have first hand accounts of Mule-deer (ranch) taken with a .223 at 175yds. It did the job but, (perfect placement, no wind etc..) I feel that it should not have been used at this distance or at all. Others may disagree and I respect that.

But, the .223 has enough penetration and damage capability on Whitetail up to a certain yardage. Im not sure what that is, so I keep below 150yds.

If the partition can improve upon this, Im all for it.

I have an uncle that used a .300 win mag on 2 whitetail and lost 1 of them (both shot at distances below 75yds) using a soft point (core-lokt I think). Massive blood trails, we found one 300 yds away still alive, the other we never found.

Not sure what to think except, to much gun may be??? Wrong type ammo???

Im sure though that given only 2 choices for whitetail, most, if not all, would choose the .300 win mag. Im not making any judgements about the caliber being effective, just passing on first hand info.
 
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Its a helluva lot more accurate than my beloved 30-30.
I'll give it that. 400 meter shots were part of our
range firing. a 30-30 at 400 meters? I have never
fired my ol winney at ANYTHING over 150 yards!
 
Federal ammo.response to my email:

My email:

Of the Three, Which is considered to be the most effective round on Whitetail deer at distances of 30-150 yards: Premium V-Shok 55gr. Sierra Gameking, Power-Shok 64gr. Softpoint, Premium Vital-Shok 60gr Nosler Partion
Click to expand...

Federals' response:

The new P223Q load is listed at 3160 ft/sec.Using this tougher and better penetrating bullet should be a big help.The caliber is still pretty small
but in the hands of the right shooter it will work fine.
I would go with the Partition for optimal penetration and weight retention
Click to expand...
 
For me, its a moot point, considering that no .22 caliber cartridge is allowed for deer in Fla.
If that were to change, I would not use one. I have had too much success with the .44 Mag Marlin 1894, my .270, and 7mm Ackley to bother with a .22
 
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