I (we) wanna make a 223 hog and small deer hunting round in 223/556. Please give me suggestions, especially on bullet choice/performance, for making a good hunting round.

Should I go something like 50-60gr fancy and/or all copper type bullet going as fast as i can accurately make? Something like Barnes TSX of some sort. Or should I shoot the heaviest bullet I can, something closer to 70-80 grains?

It will be out of the 16" 1:7 barrel AR. The nephews and my brother do hunt fairly regularly so can and will probably be used throughout the year.

Primers/Cases:
i have some Wolf pre-primed cases as my first choice. I also have a bunch of pull down military and starline brass that i can prime with cci 400 or 450. I also have some standard

Powder I have are: Varget (my go to), cfe 223. Ramshot Tac, shooter world precision, shooters world match rifle, Benchmark, H322 and RL 15. I don't load for autos much.

Bullet: OPEN. ones I'm current considering are Barnes 62 or 70gr TSX BT, 60gr Parition or any Sierra gameking/tipped gemeking. Apparently Sierra lists their 69 tipped match king as a hunting bullet.

Any all comments/suggestion based on the above are welcome. thanks in advance

Any of the heavy options first. I have used the 70 grain Accubond with great success. It's my favorite hunting bullet for the 223. A close second is the Nosler 64 grain bonded bullet. The Barnes in about 60+ weight would also do well. I was displeased with the 65 grain Sierra Game King due to lack of penetration, but it was effective on multiple deer. I have had very poor performance with the 68 BTHP, 69 SMK, and 75 BTHP as a hunting bullet. Since the 223 is a little light for big pigs, having a tough bullet is a must, IMO.

In addition to Chads suggestions, 60gr Partition, 62 or 75gr Swift Sirocco. For less expensive bullets the 70gr Speer Hot Core has worked well back when I used it in a 22-250 and 223. Rarely exited with the 22-250 though.

If I had to pick, it’d be a Speer 75 Gold Dot.

You could likely do better handloading, but if you try 62gr Fusion or 75gr Gold Dot factory loads you may not ever get around loading something better.

No need to hold off on larger deer.

77gr TMK Sierra Tipped Match King

https://rokslide.com/forums/threads/223-for-bear-deer-elk-and-moose.130488/

My rifle likes 55 gr bullets. I've had good luck with the Sierra Game King 55 gr. I've picked a perfectly musroomed bullet out of the skin on the far side of a 150# hog.

I’m about to do some testing….

On game, white tail deer and/or hog? Then i would love to hear your results.

Also, these 70gr accubonds are hard to find. I do see some 70gr Barnes TSX for a decent price. leaning towards this but 77TMK might be nice to serve dual purpose better and it's a cheaper bullet.

All the above. I wanted to get the rifle threaded first so I could get a few doubles but doesn’t look like I will be able too. I’ve got 7 tags left for my lease, and buddy just called with 20 doe tags he thinks he will need help with. Last time I was there I killed 8 hogs in a weekend too.

I’ll take pics, videos and post at end of the year.

Generally getting an exit on deer?

Bad A, dude. I truly look forward to hearing a follow up on this. I've had very good luck 75 and 77gr bthp match bullets on other bolt rifle.

Redneck, you have already got some good advice. I have shot a pile of deer with a .223 though mostly with a bolt gun. Tagging on to what Chad said, the 70 grain Accubond is the best I have used. 65 grain gamekings are what I’ve used the most. The Gamekings may or may not exit. Up close the jacket and core may separate but I’ve never lost a deer with them. The 60 grain partitions are also pretty darn good they just don’t shoot as tight in my 3 .223/.556’s or I would have used them more. Of the brass you mentioned, if the military brass is Lake City that is what I would use. As for powder: after extensive loading and shooting, Varget is my favorite for heavies in .223/.556. There will be plenty that say you don’t need to but out of an AR I would taper crimp them if you load a bullet without a cannelure.

I hate to recommend something I haven’t used, I’ve killed a pile of MLD deer with 22-250 w/tsx and ttsx but twist to slow for bigger bullets. We shall see,

64 Nosler Bonded are available on SPS website right now.

https://www.shootersproshop.com/22-caliber-64gr-bonded-solid-base-100ct-blem.html

Have you tried any of these blems? I am not opposed to blem and such, just gotta ask more questions.

For anyone who cares, I think the first try will be Barnes 70gr TSX, Starline brass, CCI 400 and good ole Varget. Barnes even publishes free load data,

Only used once on deer. Yes on the exit.

My experience with TSX is faster the better, I’m not sure you will be happy with the 70 gr in the 223. 22 CM probably but I don’t know if the 223 will have enough velocity to really make it thump

Not those specifically but almost all my Nosler bullets were bought as blems on SPS website. Never had an issue or could tell the were blems.

Thanks for the feedback. A small revision from earlier and I bought the 62gr Barnes TSX. But i think I will buy some of these Nosler blems. To me, the best part of reloading is that it's easy to find an excuse to shoot for "testing" purposes. At least that excuse works from my woman,.

The blems I have bought from there were a little tarnished or had the wrong tip color in ballistic tips. I have read that some have had accuracy issues but haven't seen that myself. Last load I did with Blems were 129gr Accubond LR and cheated a little and just used the same load as the 130gr Hybrid which is a little under max in the Grendel. Bergers shoot under half MOA while without working with it a bit the 129gr some groups were a little over half MOA. Good enough for hunting to 300 yards or so which is my longest possible shot these days hunting.

I have had good results with the Barnes 70 g TSX and then tried the 78 TSX in a 22-250 AI that I really like, but have not ever found these available since.

I’ve bought probably over 3,000 of them over the years in different calibers. You are correct. At worst they may have a slight tarnish. Many are just overproduction for certain ammunition runs. Ballistic tips or partitions will come with a cannelure because ammunition’s company requested it. I’ve also seen a lot of gray tips as they were made for the Winchester Ballistic Silver Tip but never received the black coating. Never had an issue with performance. If fact 75% of what I’ve killed over the the last 12 years have been with Nosler overruns or blems. SPS used to be a little great place to stock up and save money but has been a turd since the ammo and complement shortage. Nosler seems to have abandoned even trying to keep up with demand on their hunting component bullets.