So a friend and I have been passing around ideas on how to shoot fox with my .223 without ripping the pelt in half by either shock of the hit, or the exit wound all in itself. Would it be better to buy a larger grain bullet, say 55gr-68gr to slow down the velocity (3200fps range), or go the smallest bullet we can get (40gr, 3800fps) with a ballistic tip and hope it goes in and doesn't come out? I shoot a model 25 savage, and it has a 1-9 twist, so shooting the heavier rounds won't be an issue. Would the larger gr bullets cause more damage just due to the weight, no matter how fast they're moving? Also, what is everyones opinion on bullet style, is it best to just stay with ballistics or hollow points? I've heard some people actually stating that shooting a solid like a FMJ would only create a small entry and exit hole, but now how far is it going to run? I've shot 45 gr hollow points from the winchester white box stuff at hogs and had them go in and not come out at even close range, and used a 55 gr pointed soft point at the same distances on hogs and pretty much gutted them. Now, understandably i'm sure the 55gr is due to the mushroom i'm sure the soft point created. If its a loose, loose situation, then i'm either just going to buy a .17 rem or a .204 and leave the .223 for shooting coyotes. I'm already going to buy a .17 HMR, just shopping around and i'm pretty sure that will do the job on foxes at well at distances belown 200yrds. Anyone got any ideas?
