# hunting ammunition



## Aussie shooter (Dec 6, 2003)

I've got a mate who's father is a police officer who can get his hands on a whole lot of free .223 ammunition. The problem is, it's probably all FMJ. My mate wants to hunt using it. Now obviously there's no way I would allow him to shoot anything with FMJ rounds, but I'm wondering if maybe we could just nick the tips of them all with either a hack saw or a chisel, to expose the lead underneath so that they would expand sufficiently when hunting with them. Maybe this is naive but I'm only kinda new to centrefire still! 

Cheers


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## Militant_Tiger (Feb 23, 2004)

i would probably not try it just for fear that it wont seat in correctly, a lot of semi auto guns use the tip of the bullet to start it into the chamber so it might not work. there are some hollow point tools which might allow for enough front to load it, but enough expansion to kill without problems


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## Aussie shooter (Dec 6, 2003)

Cheers mate I'll look into it! I'll check out the local gun shop and see if they have one of those tools you're talking about, you're right it's better to be safe with these kinds of things. Have a good one.


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## huntin1 (Nov 14, 2003)

I am no expert in this but I do know that the jackets on hunting bullets are designed differently than those of FMJ's in that hunting bullets are designed to expand in a predictable way. I am not sure that FMJ's that are converted to hollow points would expand in a predictable manner, you can try it but you may spend more on the tool to make the hollow point than what it would cost you to just buy a batch of hunting type bullets, pull the FMJ's and replace them with the hunting bullet, that is assuming that you already have a bullet puller and reloading equipment. If you do use the converted FMJ's for hunting, just don't hunt anything dangerous in case they don't work. 

:beer:

huntin1


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## Aussie shooter (Dec 6, 2003)

Now that's a really good point. A friend of mine has the equipment to pull bullets so maybe I'll just go buy some 55gr soft points and replace em all. Much better plan. Do you think the powder in the cases will be sufficient for hunting? I've heard that military and police ammunition is somewhat different to hunting ammunition in some regards. The biggest thing I'll be shooting will be a fox or a wild dog so hopefully it will perform OK. Thanks for that


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## Stealth (Jan 15, 2004)

Shoot Mark,

If your gonna be usin a .223 it otta have the accuracy to make head shot just fine. I tell you one thing mate, light jacket or FMJ that bugga is goine down if shot in the brain. It seems tiring to pull all the bullets and replace them, but if you reall are that concerned then I guess thats the way to go. Good .224 caliber bullets are only maybe $15-20 for 100 so I guess you could do that

Good luck and good hunting

Stealth


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## dlip (May 16, 2004)

read what i said in the what 223 should you buy thread, metal plated fmjs are not good on the rifling, they dont have enough give, only shoot copper plated, if you dont, youll lose your rifling, what you should do is stick a magnet to the bullet and if it sticks, dont shoot it, if it doesnt stick, its ok


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## Stealth (Jan 15, 2004)

Hmmm, good thinking. I got some 7.62X39mm for my dads SKS that I should do that on


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## Aussie shooter (Dec 6, 2003)

Sounds like a really good rule of thumb. My birthday is on Monday, so hopefully I will get a packet of bullets! That's what I'm gonna ask mum for... :wink: I'm really looking forward to this hunting trip, thanks heaps for letting me know about the magnet trick, I could have shortened that barrel life no end! I'll let you know if the magnet sticks or not. Have a good one


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## sdeprie (May 1, 2004)

I have to voice some disagreement here. FMJ bullets are only going to hurt the bore if they are not copper or brass covered, and most, even military rounds are copper jacketed. It's fine if you want to check the composition with a magnet, but I think the only time that will be significant is if the whole bullet is steel. If you find one that reacts to a magnet, pull a bullet and cut it in half to check. If it's not solid steel with a copper plating, it will most likely be safe to shoot. Now, as to hunting with FMJ's. Many pelt hunters only use FMJ's because they don't tear up the pelt as much. Indeed, a FMJ to the brain is gonna hurt, but not for long. Expanding bullets are necessary for some hunting applications, but I'm not sure they are for varments. Also, if you go around making modifications to those bullets you are gonna have to do mighty fine work not to get them out of balance. If you are uncomfortable with using them, pulling bullets and replacing with soft nose, hollow points, TNT's, etc is the way to go. And if you use the same bullet wt as the original, the powder should be fine to use. More important to keeping the barrel from damage is to keep it clean and cool. If it gets too hot this could damage it or if it isn't cleaned regularly (as in right after you are done shooting) it will wear more quickly. Some benchrest shooters clean the barrel after every 5 shots. I think that's a little excessive, but who am I to say.

I do say cut one of those bullets in half and if it isn't solid steel, shoot away.


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## Plainsman (Jul 30, 2003)

Aussie Shooter

Don't worry about shooting the full metal. As often as you hear it there is no such thing as a steel jacket bullet. There are steel core bullets that the army uses and call a metal pearcing. All have copper jackets. Also, the full metal (guilded copper) jackets are thicker than soft point bullet jackets and will not expand well even if you make them a hollow point. If you buy .224 bullets by the 1000 lot you can get your price down to $6 for a hundred. In North Dakota when fox pelts were $50 and up I always shot full metal so the hide would not be damaged as much. If you shooting fox they will go down easily with a full metal, head or chest shot. Good shooting.


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## dlip (May 16, 2004)

i think you are right sdeprie, which, you might have said this, i dunno, im really out of it, if a magnet sticks to it, i refuse to shoot it, just because i dont know enough about it, so carry around a little magnet with you when you go shoppin for ammo, they might look at you funny, but you will be the one being safe


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## huntin1 (Nov 14, 2003)

Aussie,

I would trust in what Plainsman says, I know him and I know that he hunts alot of fox and coyote, so if he says FMJ's will kill em fine I'd believe it. Heck, give em a try before you spend any money.

:beer:

huntin1


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## Aussie shooter (Dec 6, 2003)

Yeah that sounds like sound advice

I haven't really hunted much before so it's really good to learn from the experience of others. I mean, if I just went for head shots with the foxes it should be a pretty safe bet. Maybe I will saw a bullet down the middle just out of interest but if you guys think it will be OK for my bore that should be great. I mean, if the copper is the same as hollow point rounds that I also shoot, there shouldn't be a huge problem. Thanks for clearing that up fellas, much appreciate it!

Have a good one


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