# Nosler Custom Competition Ammo Test



## rhammer (Dec 6, 2012)

Well here are the results of my impromptu ammo test. A few days a go I posted asking what folks thought of using this round for hunting purposes. I have found that these bullets are great for target shooting, but wondered how they would work on coyotes. Opinions were mixed. This is what my tests show.

My load was incredibly accurate on paper, with a group at 400 yards measuring at .595 inches. My recipe is 25 grains of CFE-223 and the nosler custom competition 69 grain bullet seated at 2.235", just like the Hogdon's manual shows. It's not a max load, but is .8 grains under max. My test media was constructed with a cardboard box, a water filled gallon jug, surrounded on all sided by towels and rags, and a piece of cowhide on each end of the box. I have not chronographed the load, but my math suggests the velocity to be around 2900 FPS. Both tests were conducted at 100 yards.

The first round, unfortunately, I missed the jug, almost. I hit right near the handle. The bullet went through the box, as evidenced by the hole I found in the cardboard sheet behind the box. The bullet did come apart, and left some jacket material in one towel. The leather on the back had a good size exit hole in it.

The second target was a different story. I hit the jug cleanly in the middle, and there was no exit. The back piece of leather had a decent stretch to it. There were many pieces of jacket all through the towels, and the lead core had a main body weighing 23 grains. There were also several pieces of lead found in other parts of the target. This jug was torn up badly. The jacket measured at about .4 inches average, and over .5 inches at the widest point. All of the lead pieces I could find added up to over 40 grains.

I will be trying the load on a live coyote hopefully this weekend and will report what I find. Here are the pictures of the results.

Photo one is the first round, there is still some fragmenting.

Photo two is where I hit the first jug.

Photo three is the second jug.

Photo four is the fragments from the second round.

Photo five is the bullet I am using.

Photo six is the bullet next to a 50 grain z-max.

I think this round would be devastating, and has proven to be ultra-accurate in my rifle. I hope this round works well on real world hunting, it look promising so far. Please feel free to comment.


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## sneakygroundbuzzard (Nov 1, 2012)

with those results on jug of water

i dont see why they wouldnt do some serious damage on a yote


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## Beerman069 (Nov 20, 2012)

+1 sgb...especially if you hit any bone


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## youngdon (Mar 10, 2010)

.595 at 400yds, You need to be shooting competition


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## fr3db3ar (Aug 6, 2011)

youngdon said:


> .595 at 400yds, You need to be shooting competition


That's what I was thinking. Is this a benchrest gun? That's close to 1/8 MOA


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## rhammer (Dec 6, 2012)

Thanks guys. No this is a Savage Axis .223. I bought it off the shelf at Wal-mart last week. It is bone-stock, factory trigger and stock. I was absolutely stunned when I saw my first group at 300 yards, which measured 1.4 inches for three shots. I thought it must be a fluke. When I moved back to 400 and did it again, I knew I had a keeper in this gun, and this round.

Back to the test, I'm optimistic about this bullet, especially when I saw that the first target had fragments and I just barely managed to hit the jug. I cannot wait to see what happens in the real world.


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## youngdon (Mar 10, 2010)

What do you attribute the tightening of the group to ?


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## hakly (Jan 3, 2013)

After seeing your results, I would not worry about trying that bullet for coyotes.


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## rhammer (Dec 6, 2012)

I attribute the tightening of the group to luck. It was snowing and a slight breeze, and blah blah blah. Probably just dumb luck. It does show that it's a good load, however lucky I was. 

Hakly, what exactly do you mean about not trying it on coyotes? do you mean it's fairly obvious that it's going to work, or that it won't?

I do intend to find out what will happen, but I suspect I already know.


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## Scotty D. (Feb 23, 2012)

Wow--great results for that type of bullet...the 1:9 twist seems to work excellent... I went to the opposite side of the bullet weight spectrum, shooting the 35 gr Hornady NTX...

I sighted in my Axis the other day w/ an 8-10mph ½ value crosswind...This load worked well in my 1:9 AR...It did equally well in the Axis...Sub-MOA at 100 is the best that I can shoot personally & the Axis did that.. (Three 3-shot groups that fit inside a dime is all I can expect for my personal shooting ability)

It's good to know that if I decide to switch to the other end of the bullet weight scale, I can expect outstanding results as well... thanx for the info.. :teeth:


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## rhammer (Dec 6, 2012)

Well, finally I have results on this bullet. This bullet dropped three coyotes on Saturday morning absolutely, 100%, DRT. They dropped so fast I wasn't sure if I hit them. After recovering from the recoil they all seemed to have disappeared, because I didn't see any of them spin even once. They all went down faster than I have ever seen any animal hit the ground. As soon as Nosler gets these bullets back on the shelf, I will be buying a thousand of them.


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## dwtrees (Mar 5, 2012)

Do you have any photos of those yotes to show us?


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## rhammer (Dec 6, 2012)

yep!


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## knapper (Feb 5, 2010)

I am trying these bullets and find that they shoot pretty good out of my AR also, wiht the cfe223 powder.


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## dwtrees (Mar 5, 2012)

Post that photo on the coyote record book thread too.


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## Bigdrowdy1 (Jan 29, 2010)

Congrats on yo results. knowing your gun and how it shoots is key to success. HP bullets is what most of us grew up shooting anyways. FMJ will kill with proper placement of the bullet DRT AKA headshoot but a little off not good. Lung or chest cavity means lost dog for most part I think they can run 5 minutes after they can't breath and blood has stopped pumping on adrenaline. Blow them up internally and they don't move. I would not hesitate to hunt with those rounds for sure. .595 @ 400yds you missed your calling if you aint shooting comp.!!!


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