.223 for bear, deer, elk and moose.

[Tahr]

Nice follow up!

I needed to redeem myself because I rushed that first shot. I wanted to get one before they went over the fence and likely ran out into the crop paddock. The wind was too strong for an any longer shot.

 

[PNWGATOR]

Got any ballistics data? I’m skeptical but interested to know more.

The more I think about this statement…I get it.

Thank you for having an open mind and wanting to know and learn more!

It‘s SO tough to sort through and figure this sh!t out on any online platform!

Precisely why this thread exists.

 

[Chris_in_Idaho]

I'm sure many of you have had your eyes on the 77 TMK market longer than I have. Is there any rhyme, reason, or pattern to when it tends to become available?

Is it on some sort of seasonal run?

Does it tend to come back every few weeks or can it be months and months in between?

How much disappointment am I in for?

 

[wind gypsy]

I'm sure many of you have had your eyes on the 77 TMK market longer than I have. Is there any rhyme, reason, or pattern to when it tends to become available?

Is it on some sort of seasonal run?

Does it tend to come back every few weeks or can it be months and months in between?

How much disappointment am I in for?

I don’t understand the question. Component bullets and ammo have been fairly available recently. Buy enough to last you a while and then you’ve nothing to worry about. Personally it’s hard to justify shooting that much of it at targets when elds are significantly cheaper.

 

[Chris_in_Idaho]

Buy enough to last you a while and then you’ve nothing to worry about.

Yup that's exactly what I want to do, but they're not available anywhere. Hence my question.

For those of you who have been paying attention for a while, does Sierra produce runs of this bullet with regular frequency or when they're out do they tend to stay out for a long time?

 

[wind gypsy]

Yup that's exactly what I want to do, but they're not available anywhere. Hence my question.

For those of you who have been paying attention for a while, does Sierra produce runs of this bullet with regular frequency or when they're out do they tend to stay out for a long time?

My bad. Seemed like they’d been available for a pretty good stretch there. They have definitely had some dry stretches in the past.

 

[fwafwow]

Yup that's exactly what I want to do, but they're not available anywhere. Hence my question.

For those of you who have been paying attention for a while, does Sierra produce runs of this bullet with regular frequency or when they're out do they tend to stay out for a long time?

Maybe you are looking only to reload, but otherwise Black Hills and Stand 1 are available.

 

[roosiebull]

I don’t understand the question. Component bullets and ammo have been fairly available recently. Buy enough to last you a while and then you’ve nothing to worry about. Personally it’s hard to justify shooting that much of it at targets when elds are significantly cheaper.

tmk’s are for critters, 73eldm/77gr smk for practice. When I get around to reloading, everything will be tmk, but for now, there are some very solid factory options for just shooting

 

[ShootOkHuntWorse]

tmk’s are for critters, 73eldm/77gr smk for practice. When I get around to reloading, everything will be tmk, but for now, there are some very solid factory options for just shooting

What’s the OAL difference on the 77smk vs tmk? I’d like to stop eating away at my TMKs but they sure fly nice out to 800 yds. Do the SMKs fit in the tikka mag just fine?

 

[chamois]

Entry and exit holes on a roe doe's rib cage shot at 417 yards.
75gr ELD-M at 2,925 fps from my 5,6x50R. The offside lung presented more damage than the onside due to the long neck in the expansion cavity by a bullet that slipped in between the ribs. Nice exit hole, good blood spoor, and a 35yd dead run.

 

[chamois]

Same gun and load. Entry hole is on the right side of the picture. The bullet went through the shoulder muscle and scapula, the difference with the previous post being obvious. Both lungs were much. Was dead on its tracks.

 

[Juan_ID]

What’s the OAL difference on the 77smk vs tmk? I’d like to stop eating away at my TMKs but they sure fly nice out to 800 yds. Do the SMKs fit in the tikka mag just fine?

Don’t recall the exact difference between the 2 but the smk is shorter than the tmk and has no problem fitting in a tikka mag.

 

[Lawnboi]

What’s the OAL difference on the 77smk vs tmk? I’d like to stop eating away at my TMKs but they sure fly nice out to 800 yds. Do the SMKs fit in the tikka mag just fine?

The smk is much shorter.

Get 73 eldm for practice. They are cheap and have nearly identical BC at ranges that the 223 is adequate.

They shoot good at mag length and tikka chambers seem to like them.

 

[ShootOkHuntWorse]

The smk is much shorter.

Get 73 eldm for practice. They are cheap and have nearly identical BC at ranges that the 223 is adequate.

They shoot good at mag length and tikka chambers seem to like them.

Have you tried the 75 bthp? Can get them for almost 17c per.

 

[ResearchinStuff]

I've shot a bunch of 75 bthp. They're OK for targets.

 

[Lawnboi]

Have you tried the 75 bthp? Can get them for almost 17c per.

They are a good bullet. Iv loaded them for a few factory chambers and they shot okay. Not quite what the 73 has done overall, this is over only 3 tikka factory chambers though.

My current barrel on my 223 really likes the 75s, it’s a good cheap bullet if they shoot.

 

[SamsonMan22]

Have you tried the 75 bthp? Can get them for almost 17c per.

For me the 73s are the most accurate bullets I have used in a factory chamber at mag length. That being said I use the 75 bthp for practice and 77 tmk for hunting. The 75s shoot well enough to work with and aren’t far behind the 77tmk for me.

 

[ShootOkHuntWorse]

For me the 73s are the most accurate bullets I have used in a factory chamber at mag length. That being said I use the 75 bthp for practice and 77 tmk for hunting. The 75s shoot well enough to work with and aren’t far behind the 77tmk for me.

Perfect. That’s what I was looking for. Affordable training rounds. Tried them over TAC?

 

[bojangles808]

Perfect. That’s what I was looking for. Affordable training rounds. Tried them over TAC?

The 68 grain frontier isntbad either for training. I use it when I'm sighting in (save eldms til I'm close and finetuning) and kind of surprised at this 3 shot group I got a couple weeks ago when boresighting. Online it's pretty close in price to 73 g eldm so it might make more sense just to get eldm but I can't order online and my lgs has this for substantially cheaper so I'll shoot it from time to time.

 

[SamsonMan22]

Perfect. That’s what I was looking for. Affordable training rounds. Tried them over TAC?

Yea I have tried all 3 over TAC, the 73s and TAC went together very well for me. The 75s shot pretty good using it too, it’s not my pick for the 77s though. 23.5-24g is a good spot to be, I know there are people running hotter charges but after 24g my groups started to open up, I always seem to get better accuracy with TAC closer to 223 pressures. Once I use up this last jug of varget I will be switching back to TAC for a while with the 75bthp.