Not long ago I decided to "go for broke" and loaded the Hornady 80 gr. A-Max for my DPMS carbine with 1:9 twist. It was the longest and heaviest bullet I could find so I decided to try it, just to see what happens. In order to get the rounds to fit into the magazine I had to cut off the plastic tips of the bullets. I tried a couple of different loads and while accuracy was not spectacular they all produced round holes at 100 yards. The best load gave about 3" at 100 yards, evenly dispersed with no evidence of stringing. Nothing to brag about, but still decent service rifle type accuracy for something that isn't supposed to work at all. A friend has a very expensive LWRC rifle with (I believe) a 1:7 twist and it couldn't do any better, much to my friend's surprise and disgust. It just goes to show that you never know what will happen until you try it. My barrel will stabilize everything from the 35 gr. .223" Hornet bullet to the 80 gr. A-Max.

If you want to shoot deer or similar size game with a .223, the Barnes 62 gr. X Triple Shock is probably the best thing going and dramatically increases the effectiveness of this cartridge.

Dave Sinko