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

Shraggs

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Jan 24, 2014
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I will figure something out with the stock, for now I will be the primary shooter and I have a year or two to figure it out.

I have told myself I was going to do this, but never figured out the details as I have trouble finding a place to do it. Peter's Heat Treat perhaps?

As it stands, I have a stainless T3x Lite coming from Eurooptic. I would love to nitride my stainless guns too, perhaps some day.
It may be easier for you to just cut the stock - either yourself or any good smith.

IMG_6338.jpeg

Tx3 fluted stainless 223. I took 3/4” off you can go more as the substrate for pad screws are pretty deep.

I squared this to the comb not the bore. The comb does drop slightly. I bought a thinner pad and shaped it so the high portion was retained. This yielded a slight negative position of pad to bore.

Longer screws and nylon washers or a thick pad and it can be adapted back for you.
 
Joined
Feb 2, 2020
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Is the argument of not wanting to lose that much meat due to the carnage these bullets create not a valid point?

I'd like a 223 for a cheap trainer, but I likely wouldn't use it on an animal I wanted to eat. It just looks like so much meat loss.
 

Te Hopo

Lil-Rokslider
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Is the argument of not wanting to lose that much meat due to the carnage these bullets create not a valid point?

I'd like a 223 for a cheap trainer, but I likely wouldn't use it on an animal I wanted to eat. It just looks like so much meat loss.
Chest or neck shots have minimal meat loss.
I try and avoid shoulder shots as I'd rather pack out 50lb of meat over 30lb cause the shoulders are already minced.
 

Formidilosus

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Shoot2HuntU
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Is the argument of not wanting to lose that much meat due to the carnage these bullets create not a valid point?

I'd like a 223 for a cheap trainer, but I likely wouldn't use it on an animal I wanted to eat. It just looks like so much meat loss.

Then you choose a different bullet. If a 223 is damaging too much tissue already, it is quite silly to go up in caliber and recoil, just to choke it down even more to get acceptable meat loss.
 
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Unknown Munitions offers nitride coating.

Nitrided barrels rarely shoot great, it’s why you never see them on precision rifles. It needs to be done when the barrel is new and by doing that your surface hardening any burrs in the chamber and imperfections in the bore and significantly increasing the break in time. It’s a great choice for an action, terrible for barrel accuracy.

If you want accuracy and corrosion resistance SS barrels with cerakote is the way.
 
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Question for you guys using the 77tmk. Has anyone used them on prairie dogs? Reason i ask is i reload using the 75 amax/ elds. And they work great on prairie at distance and up close.

Going out next year with a couple buddies that don't reload and looking for a factory option for the heavy 223. Only thing I'm finding is hornady ammo with the73 eld. And federal with the 77tmk.

I would rather try the federal because it will likely be more consistent than the hornady ammo. But I'm worried that it won't expand fast enough on prairie dogs and they'll have alot of ricochets.

I saw unknown munitions makes 223 with the 75 eld but their outta stock at the moment.

If anyone knows of another factory ammo let me know please. Thanks for the help.
I’ve shot a pile of Pdogs with both 77gr and 75gr HPBT, but not TMK. The frontier ammo from hot aft has been lethal on everything I’ve shot with it so far.
 
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Is the argument of not wanting to lose that much meat due to the carnage these bullets create not a valid point?

I'd like a 223 for a cheap trainer, but I likely wouldn't use it on an animal I wanted to eat. It just looks like so much meat loss.

Depends on the hunter. Silly red herring for 77 TMK from my perspective. Lung/heart shot isn't going to ruin too much meat for my taste. Have to kill AND find the animal to get any meat at all. Even losing a front shoulder is well worth it to me if it means reliable kills with no or short tracking required. And any real meat damage is unlikely if you just shoot somewhere in the 8-10 inch area around the crease.
 
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Reburn

Mayhem Contributor
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Is the argument of not wanting to lose that much meat due to the carnage these bullets create not a valid point?

I'd like a 223 for a cheap trainer, but I likely wouldn't use it on an animal I wanted to eat. It just looks like so much meat loss.

I know this will make a bunch of people clutch their pearls, but, Sometimes when we are killing whitetail does for mangament hunts we dont even plan on taking the shoulders. There just simply isnt enough meat there to mess with when your killing by the truckload. So in the shoulders is where we shoot them.
 

mt100gr.

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I know this will make a bunch of people clutch their pearls, but, Sometimes when we are killing whitetail does for mangament hunts we dont even plan on taking the shoulders. There just simply isnt enough meat there to mess with when your killing by the truckload. So in the shoulders is where we shoot them.
Efficiency wins. Both in killing and processing.
 

ElPollo

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Aug 31, 2018
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I know this will make a bunch of people clutch their pearls, but, Sometimes when we are killing whitetail does for mangament hunts we dont even plan on taking the shoulders. There just simply isnt enough meat there to mess with when your killing by the truckload. So in the shoulders is where we shoot them.
As a public land hunter in the SW, it’s so hard to draw tags that I get very selective about the shots I take and I leave so little meat behind on carcasses that coyotes would starve. But I still like bullets that kill quickly and gave up on monos years ago.
 
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Nitrided barrels rarely shoot great, it’s why you never see them on precision rifles. It needs to be done when the barrel is new and by doing that your surface hardening any burrs in the chamber and imperfections in the bore and significantly increasing the break in time. It’s a great choice for an action, terrible for barrel accuracy.

If you want accuracy and corrosion resistance SS barrels with cerakote is the way.
Granted, muzzleloader vs. centerfire, but my CVA Accura would beg to differ. 1-1.5" at 100 yards. Fully nitrided.
 
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I know this will make a bunch of people clutch their pearls, but, Sometimes when we are killing whitetail does for mangament hunts we dont even plan on taking the shoulders. There just simply isnt enough meat there to mess with when your killing by the truckload. So in the shoulders is where we shoot them.
They don't go far with busted shoulders and shredded lungs. Kill first, worry about meat loss later.
 

Marbles

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Nitrided barrels rarely shoot great, it’s why you never see them on precision rifles. It needs to be done when the barrel is new and by doing that your surface hardening any burrs in the chamber and imperfections in the bore and significantly increasing the break in time. It’s a great choice for an action, terrible for barrel accuracy.

If you want accuracy and corrosion resistance SS barrels with cerakote is the way.
Do you have a source for that? Sako and CZ both sell nitride rifles.

I am pretty sure a barrel can be nitride at any point in its life. It just has to be cleaned very well before hand (which is why @Formidilosus will never do it). On a good barrel, it does not cause issues, on a poorly stress relieved barrel it might due to the temperatures involved (though cerakote is not exactly a cold application either in any of its better iterations).

Due to how hard the nitrided layer is, don't plan on having any work done on it afterwards as the hard layer is rough on tooling. So, barrel length, threads, lapping, Etc. needs to be completed before hand. This is my primary gripe with new guns that come nitrided.

Nitrided actions are smoother than none nitrided. I physically could not get the bolt to bind on a nitrided Sako 85 I had, the same does not hold for Sako 85s I have handled without nitrided actions.

Nitrided chromoly is less prone to rust than stainless in my experience (a few days in an open boat on salt water is rough on things).
 
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Is the argument of not wanting to lose that much meat due to the carnage these bullets create not a valid point?

I'd like a 223 for a cheap trainer, but I likely wouldn't use it on an animal I wanted to eat. It just looks like so much meat loss.
Use a different bullet if that’s a concern.

It is funny that some naysayers say it’s not big enough to ethically kill big critters, and since that is very much debunked in this thread, it’s transitioning into “too much devastation”

Just use a less destructive projectile, and get your desired results
 

Floridave

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Sep 20, 2022
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Use a different bullet if that’s a concern.

It is funny that some naysayers say it’s not big enough to ethically kill big critters, and since that is very much debunked in this thread, it’s transitioning into “too much devastation”

Just use a less destructive projectile, and get your desired results

I guess the ‘223 for deer,elk,bear’ thread has run its course and it’s time to start a ‘Alternatives to the OVERLY DESTRUCTIVE 223 for deer, elk and bear’ thread.
Folks can argue over which 300 win mag, 30/06, 6.5 PRC, 270… or whatever current super mag is better at conserving meat and minimizing damage.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

MEdude

Lil-Rokslider
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Jan 12, 2023
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Well if the 80 ELD-X becomes available, it would seem to be the exact medicine the, “To much destruction,” contingent is looking for.
 
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