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

[MEdude]

I’d kinda like to see pics & vids of the “88” in action. Link if possible plz….

 

[MEdude]

So far seems to be about 20+ inches of penetration with a hole almost the diameter of a pop can bored through the rib cage. Bear and moose rib cages pictured. Exit hole in the bear hide was *maybe* 0.3”. Wouldn’t have left much of a blood trail. Entrance holes on the bigger stuff I don’t think a person could find, but on a coyote where you immediately hit bone under the hide there is definitely a blood trail from the entrance.

88’s are not exactly fur friendly as exits less than 10” from the entrance look to be around 6” or so through hide. (Sample of 4 though. 75% had big exits, the other had 20” of penetration and exited with a 1/2” hole).

https://rokslide.com/forums/attachments/5883bb8d-2167-4ed5-a36d-27090513f34d-jpeg.473797/

https://rokslide.com/forums/attachments/a5c79762-d279-474e-97ea-c7ca21594476-jpeg.473798/

Found it…. If anyone else wants the link.

 

[Jake Leibke]

I may or may not have posted pics and video of the 88 inserted into not-ballistic-gel type stuff at moderate velocities….

What caliber? Maybe 223ai judging by the case in one of the pics?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[KHntr]

What caliber? Maybe 223ai judging by the case in one of the pics?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Correct.

 

[KHntr]

https://rokslide.com/forums/attachments/5883bb8d-2167-4ed5-a36d-27090513f34d-jpeg.473797/

https://rokslide.com/forums/attachments/a5c79762-d279-474e-97ea-c7ca21594476-jpeg.473798/

Found it…. If anyone else wants the link.

Missed the video though.

 

[rabbithuntr]

I read the entire thread took me about a week. I’m planning on selling my 700 30/06.
I killed a mulie doe in the fall of 22 with a 77 SMK @ 200 yds did the job ran 60-70 yards but didn’t see as much damage as the TMK. I guide for rifle season and get to see and help skink and quarter a couple dozen deer a year. Lots of guys with 300 mags and tough bullets that don’t really any more damage thank in these pictures. There was one hunter with a 28 nosler killed a couple does at 400 yds with a 180 ELD baseball to softball size entry and exit holes in the rib cage.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[N2TRKYS]

I just got some 64 grain Nosler Bonded Solid Base bullets to try in my 223. I hope they shoot well in my rifle, cause I really want to try them out on a whitetail next season.

 

[qwerksc]

Just started the process of getting comfortable with the .223, one thing I will say is, the t3x shoots nice, less recoil than my springer pellet gun.
Easy keeper..

 

[Keptwalkin]

Took me 5 weeks to skim through this thread. ….on a whim I bought a bolt action “varmint gun” chambered in 223 awhile back. Thinking was cheap target practice and the previous owner had modified it with scope, bipod and camo cerakote. With scope and bipod attached up front the thing is still less than 6 pounds. Everyone has been surprised by how light it is when handling it. I would be super stoked using it as a deer gun but all you psychos in this thread wiped the market clean of match grade 223 ….

 

[DakotaBPNW]

First 100 rounds down the pipe of my Tikka. 77gr TMK/24gr Varget/ CCI BR-4 produce .75MOA groups and right around 2670FPS out of the 22” barrel. That in line speed wise with what most of you are seeing? I could definitely go up in charge weight but don’t really see a reason to. Tracks out to 500yards reliably

 

[Shraggs]

Seems low for 22”

 

[Smenning]

First 100 rounds down the pipe of my Tikka. 77gr TMK/24gr Varget/ CCI BR-4 produce .75MOA groups and right around 2670FPS out of the 22” barrel. That in line speed wise with what most of you are seeing? I could definitely go up in charge weight but don’t really see a reason to. Tracks out to 500yards reliably

Not sure of where you are located but based off my environmentals that gets you terminal velocity out to 500 still. I’d call it a winner.

 

[cod0396]

First 100 rounds down the pipe of my Tikka. 77gr TMK/24gr Varget/ CCI BR-4 produce .75MOA groups and right around 2670FPS out of the 22” barrel. That in line speed wise with what most of you are seeing? I could definitely go up in charge weight but don’t really see a reason to. Tracks out to 500yards reliably

Considering that my TMKs chrono at 2820 - 2840 fps out of a 20" barrel gas gun, I'd say that is very slow. No worries though, you should still be terminally effective out to 500 yards. However, if I had to choose between .75" groups and 2670fps vs 1 inch groups and 2800fps, I'd go with higher velocity all day. That's more shock to the animal and a quicker kill.

 

[DakotaBPNW]

Right on, thanks everyone! I’ll probably stick with this load then and not fuss with another 1 or .5 grain of powder

 

[SamsonMan22]

First 100 rounds down the pipe of my Tikka. 77gr TMK/24gr Varget/ CCI BR-4 produce .75MOA groups and right around 2670FPS out of the 22” barrel. That in line speed wise with what most of you are seeing? I could definitely go up in charge weight but don’t really see a reason to. Tracks out to 500yards reliably

My first lot of varget ran 2680 with a 75 eld at 24g my second took 25g to get the same speed this was out of an 18” barrel with wylde chamber. I never had great speed using varget even with the long throat, just couldn’t get enough in the case even seating the bullets way out. Switching to a faster powder will get you some more velocity, and for me better accuracy too. H4895 gave me over 100fps more and the group size was half of what the varget was.

 

[Moose83]

Another data point for this thread. 140 yds perfectly broadside. 73 gr eld-m. 1 and done. Complete pass through. Lungs destroyed. 75 yd death run. Found it piled up against a tree, looked like it died running. Absolutely no blood trail. Crappy cell phone pics.... sorry!

 

[justinspicher]

Nice work!

 

[Moose83]

Some further thought on my experience from last night. This combination works and works well. I have been shooting this system almost weekly since December (tikka t3x, bushnell elite tactical fixed 10x) so confidence at the shot was very high. I watched the bear from the prone for at least 5 min before deciding to shoot. At the shot the bear turned and ran downhill for the bush line not showing any visible reaction to being shot. This kind of startled me causing me to be slow on a follow up. I wasn't sure what to expect when I squeezed off the shot but most bears ive shot with a 30-06 usually have a visible reaction. This is a me thing... not having any experience with this small of a cartridge. After the shot I gave it some time while I walked back and got my pack and my truck. When I got back I did a quick inspection of the grass patch it was feeding on. Not finding any blood I went down to the bushline to look for blood there. Again no sign of blood. At this point I was a little concerned as the 30 year old cutblock the bear ran into looked pretty thick. A fixed 10x scope does not seem ideal to me for this kind of follow up. Once inside the bush line the cutblock had almost no undergrowth which was good as visibility improved. Again no visible blood. At this point I started looking for the most likely route the bear had gone. I found it piled against a tree 25 ish yds later. There was a small chunk of lung tissue 5 yds before it's final resting place. This was the only blood i found. I discovered an entrance and exit wound on the bear . There was some blood on both side but the hair pretty much soaked it right up. When I opened up the chest cavity the lungs were shredded and there was a lot of blood. It didn't look any different than a 165 gr from a 30-06. Probably the most interesting thing to me was when I skinned it out in the shop later. The entrance hole was between ribs and looked like a hole from an ice pick to the point that it took some effort to work my finger through the tissue layer to go all the way thru ( it was hanging and stretched down). This may explain a lack of blood trail. The exit was slightly larger having nicked a rib on the way out but again not very big. Final thoughts: I will continue using this system for now to gain additional experience. The shootability and confidence that it gives can not be ignored. I will however be very fussy about the shots taken, as the lack of blood trail (on bears anyways) could be an issue in thicker country. I am not convinced that this is the best combination if you live in extremely thick country where a blood trail is highly desirable. Again my sample size is only 1 at this point. YMMV.

 

[N2TRKYS]

Another data point for this thread. 140 yds perfectly broadside. 73 gr eld-m. 1 and done. Complete pass through. Lungs destroyed. 75 yd death run. Found it piled up against a tree, looked like it died running. Absolutely no blood trail. Crappy cell phone pics.... sorry!

Congrats on the bear. Glad you were able to find it. Sux about the no blood trail, though.

 

[Wyoming Shooter]

I did some load testing today with my new Christensen Arms Ridgeline Scout .223. This rifle has a 1/8 twist 16" barrel. My best load was:

Sierra 77 grain TMK
IMR 8208 XBR 23.2 grains
CCI BR4 primers
Mixed brass
2.300" COAL

Max 2664
Min 2642
Avg 2649
SD 8.6

Update with TBAC CB9 suppressor:

Max 2708
Min 2691
Avg 2695
SD 7.2

Point up impact with suppressor is 2" lower than unsupressed at 100 yards.