.223 Remington Varmint Ammo, Compared

Picking a weight

Bullet weight is the first decision and it is mostly a decision about wind and distance, not about killing power. A coyote is not hard to kill. Hitting one at 400 yards in a crosswind is hard.

Light bullets leave fast and quit early. Heavy bullets leave slow and keep going — up to a point, and in .223 that point comes sooner than people expect. The 62 grain load here has the most drop on the page, 58 inches at 500, more than the 38 grain hollow point. Heavier is not automatically flatter, because the .223 case cannot push a 62 grain bullet fast enough to make its better shape pay.

The band that actually wins is the middle.

35 to 40 grain

The lightest bullets are the flattest thing you can put in a .223 inside 250 yards, and they come apart on impact, which is what keeps a pelt whole. Past 300 they fall away fast.

Watch the spread inside this band, because two grains of bullet weight is hiding a much bigger difference in shape. The 38 grain Winchester hollow point and the 40 grain Federal Ballistic Tip are 480 feet per second and fifteen inches of drop apart at 500 yards. That is the ballistic coefficient talking — 0.156 against 0.221 — not the two grains.

50 to 53 grain

This is the band that does everything, and the 53 grain loads are the best ammunition in .223 for shooting past 300 yards. Both of them — the Hornady Superformance and the Nosler Varmageddon — carry more energy to 500 than any 55 or 62 grain load on this page, and they get there flatter.

The reason is the ballistic coefficient. At 0.290 and 0.303 these are the two most aerodynamic bullets in the caliber, and they leave at 3,465 and 3,350 feet per second, which is quick for their weight. High BC plus high velocity is the whole game and this band is where .223 gets both.

55 to 62 grain

Fifty-five grain is the most common .223 load in the world, which is why there are eight of them here and why they are the cheapest to feed. For coyotes at ordinary distances they are entirely adequate.

But do not buy weight expecting reach. The 62 grain Varmageddon leaves at 2,950 feet per second and drops 58 inches at 500 — the most drop in the table. The heavier bullet needs velocity it is never going to get out of a .223, and the 53 grain above beats it by 23 inches and 162 foot-pounds at the same distance.

There is one thing the 55s do that the 53s do not, and it is not on this chart: they are everywhere, and they cost half as much.

The full chart

Every load, every published figure, velocity and energy and drop from the muzzle to 500 yards. It scrolls sideways.

Notes on the data

These are the manufacturers’ published figures, not chronograph readings of mine, and where a maker publishes nothing the cell is empty rather than guessed. That is why the HSM and Remington rows stop at the muzzle. Sources: Hornady, Nosler, Winchester, Remington and Federal.

Three loads carry no published BC — the Nosler 40 grain Ballistic Tip, the Nosler 55 grain E-Tip and the HSM 40 grain. Their trajectories are published, so the loads are still comparable; the coefficient just is not printed.

Two rows are identical and I have not been able to confirm they should be. The Winchester Varmint X 55 grain and the Hornady Varmint Express 55 grain V-MAX carry the same figure in every column from 100 yards out, and the Winchester row publishes no muzzle velocity at all. Same bullet weight and the same 0.255 coefficient makes that plausible. A row filled in from its neighbour would look exactly the same. It is being checked.

Test barrels are 24 inches where they are stated. A 16 inch AR will not make these numbers. How much you lose depends on the load, so chronograph yours rather than trusting a rule of thumb — the shorter the barrel, the further under the published figure you will be.

Know a load that should be here? Tell me and I will add it. And check your state’s rules before you go — a few states put a floor or a ceiling on caliber for predators, and two of them restrict what you may use at night.