Quote Originally Posted by warbucks View Post
On my learning curve with fox shooting i started off with 223, what i found was that i was getting "runners" with 40g Nosler, and Hornady factory bullets, this was with some times perfect shot placement.
In my case i found that 50g, 53g, and 55g was stopping them a lot better, now the lads that have heavily put the 39/40g 204r will know exactly how good or bad they are for runners -------but i dont know.

I then moved up to a 243 using 58g bullets in the belief that this would stop them better at range if shot placement wasn't perfect -----and it does to a certain extent but the saying "Ive never had any runners with ANY calibre if you have shot enough just isnt true, the shot placement has to be reasonable and this isnt easy at times when on foot in field conditions at night, although the 1035 foxes ive shot in just under 5 years suggest im not too bad at it ?

I personally like the flat fox shooting calibres 204r, 22-250, 243, it just makes point-n shoot in the dark so much easier, suppose with the 204, and 22-250 you are using a lot less powder for SIMILAR range, which can be a good thing.

Dave (warbucks)
Firstly well done Elliot on the group, good shooting. I knew you would come to the dark side eventually and get a 204.

Dave don't ask me why because the answer will simply be "i don't know", however i had far, far more runners with my .223 than the .204. Whether i used 40grn or 53grn it made no difference. After trying my current night vision equipped Supervarmint in 204 for about a fortnight i realised the 223 would remain in the cupboard, so i sold it and bought another Supervarmint for day use. I did briefly try my 243 at night but didn't like the fact that i lost sight picture due to recoil so gave up on it. I use 32grn bullets and rarely get a runner, certainly not if they have been hit in the engine room. They don't often leave any marks on the fox, you sometimes struggle to see an entry wound but on recovery of the carcass it sounds like a bag of jelly.