After reading this thread over the years and having my doubts about me personally being able to kill elk with the 223 and always needing a magnum, I finally bought one and practiced and practiced over the past year. This gun is stupid fun to shoot and I couldn’t tell the difference from the TMK wound and the 147 ELDM wounds on this mature cow my buddy shot today (didn’t get any pictures of the wound channels on the cow) she was shot at 500 yards, impact velocity was 1966 FPS
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The day before this we found a little 4x4 trying to get lucky with a group of 8 cows and I was able to put him down right at 400 yards and impact velocity was 2119 FPS. Put the first one right behind the shoulder. He hunched a bit and then took a few steps back. He was dead on his feet. But I keep shooting elk until they’re down. I’ve had and seen hard lessons learned from not doing that and I’m sure most of us have. So I sent two more his way and he took a tumble down the hill and landed on an old logging road. The combination of a 223 and the Ultra 9 suppressor is such a good mix. The cows he was with could not care less about the shots and just walked away after he fell and he never made an attempt to run after the first shot.
I should also mention, this all happened in a hurry. I had seen the cows first and was making my way to them, bumped some mule deer which in turn got the bulls attention and he all of a sudden appeared and was heading up the mountain and for the tree line. I threw my pack down as a rest, got behind the gun and he stopped and looked back right before he went out of sight. I had maybe 15 yards left of visibility. Right when he stopped that’s when I sent one. Saw it hit in the scope too which was pretty awesome. Then sent two more and my season was over.
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After this season and personally witnessing the absolute distraction this little bullet does, I’m a true believer. I need a 22UM now pushing the TMK. Here are a few necropsy? Pics of my bull. Two exit wounds and found one jacket in the lungs. Can’t wait for next year! Thanks
@Formidilosus and
@PNWGATOR for showing me the light!
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