.223 for bear, mountain goat, deer, elk, and moose.

schmalzy

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Oct 1, 2014
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What's everyone's tikka liking for training ammo? Mine hates the green tip pmc stuff, to the point that I'm hesitant to buy a case of anything factory right now. 4 moa isn't useful for training myself or my kids.

75 grain Frontier

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Antares

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Jan 13, 2021
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Best value to accuracy I’ve found so far is Hornady frontier. Mine really likes the 68g and 75g BTHP’s and they can be found for around $13/box in Montana where I’m at.

This was a 10 shot group out of mine with the 68g BTHP.

Whew. I'm glad to see that! I bought 7 cases of Hornady Frontier 68gr BTHP Match because it was $11.50/box. Haven't have a chance to shoot any of it yet though, other than a box for a rough zero and drops.
 
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BLJ

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If they made good shots they would have showed where the “good” shots actually hit on the carcass.


I watched the same guy shoot a grizzly in the ass to keep it from making the brush. A 460 yard Hail Mary to slow him down.
“Had to shoot him in the butt, big caliber though”.
I would say that there is a chance that shot placements from the RUM in the video mentioned above may be lacking as well.
 
Joined
Dec 30, 2014
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What's everyone's tikka liking for training ammo? Mine hates the green tip pmc stuff, to the point that I'm hesitant to buy a case of anything factory right now. 4 moa isn't useful for training myself or my kids.

[Edit to add: the new lot of ADI 69 SMK shot like hot garbage out of my t3x lite last weekend.]

I’ve shot a fair bit of ADI 55 Sierra blitzking (formerly sold as Australian outback) and it shoots as well as hand loaded 77tmk in my tikka @ 100 yards. ADI is the manufacturer of the hodgdon extreme line of powders and makes high quality brass too. They also make 69 smk ammo.

Last week the 55 SBK stuff was $0.60/ea and the 69 smk was $0.65/ea. very tough to beat.

I’m planning on shooting groups with both ADI rounds and comparing to AAC 77tmk and 75bthp which is also cheap and comparing soon.

[Edit with further info: Austrailian outback (by ADI) 55 SBK shot best, AAC 75bthp second best but seemed a little hot on some rounds, AAC 77smk wasnt pretty, and ADI 69smk was the worst of the 4.. was not an encouraging range trip]
 
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cod0396

FNG
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Jun 22, 2019
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Question for those who have used TMKs in various calibers on game: is there something special about the 77gr version that does not apply to TMKs of other calibers? By that I mean, are all TMKs constructed similarly in terms of relative jacket thickness, relative hollowpoint size, minimum expansion/fragmentation velocity, etc.? I am well aware of how devastating the 77gr TMK is, but I don't hear as much about the performance of TMKs in other calibers.
 

Spoonbill

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Jan 15, 2020
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Question for those who have used TMKs in various calibers on game: is there something special about the 77gr version that does not apply to TMKs of other calibers? By that I mean, are all TMKs constructed similarly in terms of relative jacket thickness, relative hollowpoint size, minimum expansion/fragmentation velocity, etc.? I am well aware of how devastating the 77gr TMK is, but I don't hear as much about the performance of TMKs in other calibers.
There have been a few posts about tmk’s in other calibers. If you do a search some info should pop up
 
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the 6.5mm kill thread has some 130 tmk info

 

MEdude

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Jan 12, 2023
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I did a thread search 👀 but no bueno!
Is the 52 grain ELD Match viable for deer inside say 150 yards? Looking to minimize recoil as much as possible for a 10 year old. He’s so thin he can get out of the rain by standing under a clothes line.
 
Joined
Feb 25, 2012
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I did a thread search 👀 but no bueno!
Is the 52 grain ELD Match viable for deer inside say 150 yards? Looking to minimize recoil as much as possible for a 10 year old. He’s so thin he can get out of the rain by standing under a clothes line.
I’ve used the 52 ELD a lot on coyotes. If it’s a straight on or shoulder shot it explodes. If it’s behind the shoulder it’s hard to find the entrance and there is never an exit.

Also I’ve had a few hit the target in random spots sideways. 22-250 with a slow twist.
 

11Justin22

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Jun 19, 2020
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I did a thread search 👀 but no bueno!
Is the 52 grain ELD Match viable for deer inside say 150 yards? Looking to minimize recoil as much as possible for a 10 year old. He’s so thin he can get out of the rain by standing under a clothes line.
The 62 grain fusion is, though I can't imagine there being much felt recoil difference between the lower grain options and 77gr tmk. I can't tell any difference anyways
 
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Dec 20, 2019
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This thread has been hard to keep up with... but I shared my success experience early on with the 75gr Swift Scirocco ii and only have a few left.

The 77 tmk seems to be the winning bullet, but curious if anyone has experience with the 64gr bonded solid base from Nosler?

I have but one kill with the BSB. It wrecked tissue. I load them for my grandkids in both 22-250 and 223. They almost always get pass throughs. LOTS of DRTs. Never have lost a deer they hit with one, and that is in thick tangled hell. They are killing machines too, to the tune of 2-3 deer per year or more. Hearts are turned to mush. Lungs demolished. Shots are all within 100 yards, so velocity is high. Accuracy is decent.
 

N2TRKYS

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I would love to try some 70 grain Accubonds and some Scirocco bullets. Until those bullets and/or gold dots become available, I’m gonna hold off on my load development for my 223.
 
Joined
Mar 28, 2020
Messages
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I did a thread search 👀 but no bueno!
Is the 52 grain ELD Match viable for deer inside say 150 yards? Looking to minimize recoil as much as possible for a 10 year old. He’s so thin he can get out of the rain by standing under a clothes line.
The 55 grain ballistic tip is a far better choice
 
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