American Eagle Hollow Points Not Dropping Foxs ¿

[Deker 3,478]

Make of this what you will.....................

 

AE223G, American Eagle .223 50g HP.

 

I have a few boxes but can't remember the last time I used them, favouring SP or Ballistic tips generally for the field.

 

But I was at Bisley yesterday so I thought I would give them a try, they need using up.

 

Tikka .223 T3 Lite Stainless, 19.5" barrel, 1-12 twist, P8 Compact calibre specific mod, Harris Bipod, Prone, Short Siberia 200 yards, wind NIL, 10 shot string, ammo taken from 10 shot plastic ammo insert in box as it came with no sorting of any description.

 

Rifle is Zeroed at a TRUE 200 yards with PRVI 55g SP.

 

All shots fired at centre dot with no scope/aim point adjustment, this presented a group 3" High and 2.5" left. 9 shots within 1.9 inches, 3 of those shots inside 1" and 1 shot 3.5" out altogether; I was surprised that one even made the black as the bipod moved in the gravel as I squeezed the trigger, so a 9 shot string within 1.9", which of course means 9 shots within 0.95" of aim point.

 

These are my results on a given day with my rifle and ammo, other rifles, shooters, days, ammo batches, etc., may well produce different results.

 

The ammo looked terrible on the face of it, the HP was a noticeably different size on each bullet and looked like it had been chewed out, very rough, and the bullet seating height varied by just over 1mm across the string, very poor I'd say, so I was more than a little surprised that it actually performed as well as it did. (As an aside the ammo is quite clean, showing a good burn in my rifle and leaving little deposit in either barrel or mod compared to PRVI.)

 

Now, this is still far from quality match ammo/rifle performance but from my point a view that ammo/group would not give me a problem in the field, BUT, as I say, SP/Ballistic tips are still my preferred choice for the vast majority of situations in the field!

 

Edited June 3, 2013 by Deker

[Deker 3,478]

 

 

was using hornady ballistic tips for foxing but got 60 american eagle hollow points for £30 so thought i would give them a go.

 

rezerod 1.5" high at 100yds as per usual .

 

the last 4 foxs i have shots have disappeared i thought i was missing them but after the 4th so call miss i went and had a good look in the field for blood and yes found abit of blood so it hit.

 

also checked zero tonite also tonight and it was fine.

 

last few fox's have been to 120 yards away and bullet does not seem to fragment very well at that range.

They will NOT fragment very well, they are Jacketed HP, they will peel back and expand mushroom fashion, or go clean through depending where you hit the fox, possibly both.

 

Just exactly where do you think you were hitting these foxes, because whatever you may think, if you put one of these in the right place the fox will fall down!

 

"rezerod 1.5" high at 100yds as per usual" WHY, if you are shooting foxes -120, why are you not zeroed at 100 yards, and just where is the zero if you are 1.5" high at 100 yards??

Most of my fox's are shot between 100 and 300 yards if i hold crosshairs on center mass i will hit the fox from 100 to 300 yards no problem with this method of zeroing. All my friend set .223 1,5" high at 100yards and there .22-250s at 1" high at 100yards. THIS IS THE NORMAL PROCEDURE FOR A FOXING SETUP. this thread was talking the American eagle not expanding enough for a instant kill at around 100yards.

 

The one fox i did manage to get at around 170yards the bullet had fragmented reasonable well and dropped the fox on the spot but im not happy with a bullet that will not kill out right at 100yards, take that with a pinch of salt as im comparing them to hornady ballistic tips which basically explode at 100yards compared to American eagle's.

 

 

Chap, you can shout as loud as you like about what is a Normal setup for you and your pals, but nobody who shoots professionally or in competition zeroes anywhere except where they know the ammo will hit centre crosshair. And why do you do this, if you and your pals are shooting quarry between 100-300 yards then you can zero at those distances as well, so why don't you?

 

I may well play the game backwards and perhaps check a 100 yard bullet flight position AFTER I have zeroed at 200 yards, BUT I would also have to do that after I changed the ammo to another type/brand/weight/etc!

 

You may well be able to adjust the flight path of a 35g V-Max and an 80g A-Max to both be 1.5" high at 100 yards, but they sure as hell will not end up in the same place at 200 or 300 yards.

 

You do whatever you want and whatever you like, but AE223G stops foxes if you hit them in the right place, whatever I hit foxes with they fall down, and that is commonly a .22lr HP with under 100ft lb at the muzzle, and not a .223 HP which starts at over 1,200ft lb and delivers 447ft lb at 300 yards according to AE!

 

I am not for one second suggesting there may not be more efficient types of ammo, but AE223G is perfectly adequate for the job!

 

[rimmer 33]

Geoff i think you may find if you zero at 1.5 high at 100yrd with that ammo your zero wont be 220yrd, which may be why your missing, you can take 20yrd off that. and at 200yrds 20yrds will make more of a difference than you realise. Thats if your missing them at that sort of range.

I once shot a fox with 2 barrels of a 12g from 15yrds and it still ran on !!!!!

Edited June 3, 2013 by rimmer

[GEOFF.223 83]

Geoff i think you may find if you zero at 1.5 high at 100yrd with that ammo your zero wont be 220yrd, which may be why your missing, you can take 20yrd off that. and at 200yrds 20yrds will make more of a difference than you realise. Thats if your missing them at that sort of range.

I once shot a fox with 2 barrels of a 12g from 15yrds and it still ran on !!!!!

1"off poi is not going to matter with the correct bullet this thread was started because of the difference in dropping power against a ballistic tip bullet nothing to do with zeroing or poi

 

1" off target on a fox's chest with a ballistic tip will drop them on the spot but bye ae don't as most made it to cover and i only found half of the one's i shot

Edited June 3, 2013 by GEOFF.223

[rimmer 33]

Non your right i was just thinking if you were taking them on at distance then that inch can grow. but i think your right the hollow point will not expand like a soft point or BT this will be even truer at longer ranges. and the beastie could well run on if it gets a through and through.

Deker is right about the Zero thing, quiet a few people seem to have caught the fashion bug rubbish about an 1" high zero at 100yrd, for the life of me i cant see the advantage of that, i do contract work for defra and none of the other contractors that i know zero any of their rifles at anything else than dead on. But with said if it works for you then thats good enough.

If i were you i would bin the AE and get some soft points they are cheaper than Bt and do a better job than hollow point.

[GEOFF.223 83]

The high zero at 100is great for shooting a fox when there a tricky one and you don't have time to without hoe far away it is.

 

Its nice to point at center mass quick and pull the trigger and knowing it will hit a vital area from 100 to 300 yards

 

As i said before i click scope down 6 click when rabbiting with it on the rare occasion

[rimmer 33]

with 100yrd zero i can aim mid shoulder out to just over 250 and drop em every time. but if the truth is known 70 to 160/70 is the normal ranges i take them at if i think i may be taking long shots i will zero at 200 but its not my favoured zero cos i find it hard it a f**ker to get an inch group at that range. My ammo is home loaded so i have the advantage of changing the load to suit my needs.

Ditch the 1" high rubbish mate it will make you a better rifleman.