.223 Ammo and Tips

[Singlepopper]

Hi there. Great to find a forum on the HR. I have owned the rifle five years, bought used, and I have a long list of saved up questions. Some were answered in the FAQ or scrolling thru the forms, thanks to all, but here are the ones that are burning a hole in my brain.

Rifle: "M" serial number in .223 (which is a bummer because it reduces my barrel options I learned here), but it has a "Limited Edition" badge in the stock. I bought it for a varmint rifle... mostly groundhogs (I live on a farm and they are NOT tolerated here) and have made a couple of 300+ yard shots with it. I have a bipod on it but I'm kinda so-so about it, but I can't do 300 years without SOMETHING that I can set up quickly. It has a Tasco scope, power unknown but pretty strong.

1) I have tried several brands of ammo and have found accuracy to be highly variable. IMO, the best so far has been the Remington 50gr JHP, which is what I now use for groundhog. The worst has been the military ball stuff. I continue to experiment but I'm a busy man so some hints would really shorten my search. I gather mine will have the 1 in 12 barrel. With that in mind, are there recommendations anyone would like to make for the following situations;

A) Groundhogs, mostly 100 yards or longer.
B) Target
C) Whitetail deer. I have had two rounds recommended to me; Wnchester 64gr Power Point (X223R2), and Federals with a Triple Shock X-Bullet in 55 gr, or the Federal with a 62 grain Fusion bullet. (Note: I understand the .223 isn't the ideal deer rifle but I may need to use it as such when doing off-season nuisance patrols on the farm)

2) My trigger pull is somewhere around 6-7# (as measured by a fish scale). How does that stack up in the realm of "normal" and can a gunsmith that's never worked on a HR do an adequate job reducing it? I don't want a hair trigger but like them generally around 4#. What's realistic for the HR?

3) What's with the "Limited Edition" badge and is it rare.

Thanks gents!

Jim Allen

[montveil]

For deer. you might want to look into the Nosler bullets also

[spikehorn]

For ground hogs and targets many on here including myself swear by winchester white box 45gr HP, Can't give you an answer for deer.

[Singlepopper]

For ground hogs and targets many on here including myself swear by winchester white box 45gr HP, Can't give you an answer for deer.

I presume that's best suited to the 12 twist barrel? Thanks!

PS WHoops- I was going thru the FAQ again and ran across the .223 thread listed there, which answers that question.

[Sourdough]

I strictly reload everything for all my guns.  With the .223 I use the factory duplication loads in the Hogden manual using all Winchester componets.  I get the best results with those loads.  For longer ranges I use only the 55gr bullets.  But for close range I also load 80gr bullets, don't remember off the top of my head the make of the bullet.  Accuracy suffers beyond 150 yards, but I run the risk of having a Bear or Wolf come in to my calls.  To me that extra omph makes me feel better.   

[moorepower]

My 1-12 loves the Fiocchi 40 grain V-Max ammo and it is cheap. I have a box of the WW white box, and really want to compare it for giggles. As good as it shoots the Fiocchi, I almost don't even want to work up a load.

[snapcrackpop]

You say you've read the FAQs...what tricks have you tried?

Trigger work is covered there....I took mine to the gunsmith.
My first step is to sand the forearm barrel and reciever grooves till the action closes easily/amost falls open.
Second step is the silly O-ring fix....sometimes I'm a slow learner and I should have done that earlier.

After that you can start messing with bullets.

[Singlepopper]

The rifle is more tool and less a hobby, so I haven't really done any tinkering, other than to try four types of ammo. I think I've talked myself out of the trigger work... at least with the one local gunsmith I spoke with who didn't think much of the HR. I can't believe anyone who talks down a guy's rifle to his face would do a good job on it. Nor does he deserve my business for being so crass. As much fun as it might be to try all sorts of ammo, I'm simply too busy to do it, so feedback from people with the same rifle really helps narrow my search and tryout parameters... for which I am grateful. This forum seems chock-full-o-nuts... Handi-Rifle nuts, that is! ( : < ).

FYI, the reason I bought it was very thoroughly noodled. While I live on a farm and can largely shoot when and where I want, I do have to be careful. I had some groundhogs that my .22LR wasn't killing (hit three times, comes back for more, sheesh!), so I borrowed a neighbor's Mini-14 .223 because it reached out farther and hit harder. I took an offhand 120 yard shot at one well out in the open in the field... missed... but because I had 19 more, I just started blasting away. I hit him on the run with number six (which was really good for me) but scared the feces outta myself because I had been so focused on playing "machine-gun Kelly" and blasting away at that critter that I didn't notice I was swinging out of my safe backstop area. Decided then and there to get a bolt action or a single shot so I was FORCED to think clearly about what I am doing. Because a groundhog is usually under cover by the time I get the HR reloaded, I have to think about every shot and only take the ones I can make. Good lesson for me... Quigley, I ain't! I had a .30-30 version about 30 years ago, liked it but but traded it for something-er-other.