I've been doing some serious cleaning and found nearly a full case of this that I had forgotten I had. I've got better stuff (62 grain bonded JHP). But, any reason why it wouldn't be a good backup to my heavier load for home/self-defense?

Nothing wrong with it, not better but use whatever you can in a "situation".

Here’s the self-defense sequence that became apparent to me long ago:
1. Locking one’s doors and obvious situational awareness will deter many thinking of a home invasion.
2. The possibility that the residents have guns will deter some of those left from number 1.
3. If not deterred by 2, actually seeing a gun will deter most of the rest.
4. If not deterred by 3, a gunshot fired in any direction will deter almost all of the remainder.
5. Being hit by a gunshot of any sort on any part of one’s body will deter almost all of those not deterred by 4.
6. For the tiny, tiny fraction of attackers who continue their assaults after number 5, then it’s important that the gunshot be fast, accurate, and that the projectile’s terminal ballistics be adequate to shut down the attacker’s physical ability to continue his assault.

Only number 6 is important for your question, but if things get to number 6, then I’d want something that I had confidence would be more effective for the purpose than a 50 grain 0.224 hollow point bullet. Although I’m not familiar with that particular load, I suspect it was intended for fast expansion and shallow penetration on varmint animals. It might not, therefore, be capable of the penetration necessary for stage 6 of my sequence. There are plenty of much better loads, so if I were concerned about home defense, I’d pick up a box of one to use rather than relying on something even as a backup just because I had it lying around.

To me the question is like asking if we should use an expensive gun for self-defense because we might lose it after an incident. I cannot imagine anything more significant in life than defending myself and family against a deadly attack. I doubt that will ever occur, but if it does, I will want all the reasonably possible advantages I can get.

Wouldn't be my first choice.

quote:

Originally posted by sigfreund:


Only number 6 is important for your question, but if things get to number 6, then I’d want something that I had confidence would be more effective for the purpose than a 50 grain 0.224 hollow point bullet. Although I’m not familiar with that particular load, I suspect it was intended for fast expansion and shallow penetration on varmint animals. It might not, therefore, be capable of the penetration necessary for stage 6 of my sequence. There are plenty of much better loads, so if I were concerned about home defense, I’d pick up a box of one to use rather than relying on something even as a backup just because I had it lying around.

To me the question is like asking if we should use an expensive gun for self-defense because we might lose it after an incident. I cannot imagine anything more significant in life than defending myself and family against a deadly attack. I doubt that will ever occur, but if it does, I will want all the reasonably possible advantages I can get.

Absolutely. And it’s a cousin to “which round is best to miss with”

That's a varmint load, intended for small critters. I'm thinking this load would run great risk of giving you inadequate penetration. The bullets would fragment at shallow depth in the human torso.

Just a WAG on my part.

As with all things Federal, though, it's certainly quality ammunition.

^^^^
Thanks!!!

Can't speak to the terminal ballistics. It is a varmint load. However, I can mention its accuracy. It is twice as accurate as Federal's 55-grain FMJ. In fact it shoots so well out of our Minis that all of our Accu-strut testing was done with this cartridge.

^^^^
Thank you for this report too. I'll keep it on the off chance I go varmint hunting and in my I'm out of the good stuff and need something for HD as everything else is gone. I've got nearly 400 rounds but for the life of me I can't remember when or where I bought it or what I was thinking when I bought it.

It's not the same as the JHP, but I have shot a lot of coyotes with the Hornady 50gr vmax.

It is absolutely nasty. IF it exits on a coyote, the exit wound is the size of a baseball. The mess inside could best be described as mush and paste. It would certainly lack the penetration that you can get from a more solidly constructed bullet, and that may indeed be a problem. The fact that it doesn't always exit on a coyote standing broadside means that it doesn't always penetrate more than 8 inches, roughly the width of a coyotes chest excluding the fur.


It would be very low on my list of bullets to be shot with because of the carnage inside. But a coyote is a fairly small, fairly fragile creature. Humans have thicker ribs, some of them are wrapped in fat, and some of them wear leather coats. I wouldn't feel under gunned with a 30 round mag full of varmint bullet 223 ammo, but there are better choices.


That being said, I would favor it over any handgun round.

quote:

Originally posted by kkina:
Can't speak to the terminal ballistics. It is a varmint load. However, I can mention its accuracy. It is twice as accurate as Federal's 55-grain FMJ. In fact it shoots so well out of our Minis that all of our Accu-strut testing was done with this cartridge.

Whenever I load varmint ammo for 223 with the 50gr vmax, I get significantly better accuracy than I get with Hornady 55gr FMJBT loads. I even prefer it for 3 gun unless distances start to get long enough for the lighter bullet to be significantly affected by wind.

quote:

50gr vmax

I use that as well. Another great round.