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

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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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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.


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MEdude

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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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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

This thread has been off track for most of it. There’s more posts about bullets, brass, and powder in stock, ammo, rifle setup and crap like that having absolutely zero to do with the terminal effectiveness on game than there are posts about actual use on game.
 

Rufus

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What would be an adequate but less destructive 223 bullet?
I load a 60 grain partition for the 223 for my 4 sons. Collectively, they have shot 6 or 8 whitetails with it. Farthest shot was around 165 yards and closest was under 10 yards. I have been very impressed with the 60 grain partition based on the animals my boys have harvested so far. I don’t have photos of the damage to the deer we shot, but would say it was less than what the photos in this thread show the 77tmk’s are doing. Thanks. -Rufus
 

Formidilosus

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What would be an adequate but less destructive 223 bullet?

Lots of bullets. Probably the easiest to find is 62gr Federal Fusions, or Speer Gold Dots. They kill very well while not be excessively destructive. Partitions, the 70gr Accubond, 75gr Swift Scirocco, etc. Even the 73gr ELD-M is a bit less messy than the TMK.
 
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This thread has been off track for most of it. There’s more posts about bullets, brass, and powder in stock, ammo, rifle setup and crap like that having absolutely zero to do with the terminal effectiveness on game than there are posts about actual use on game.
Gotta fill in the remaining 10 months or so of the year somehow.
 

krimbi

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Oct 3, 2023
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Read this thread about a month ago considering the 77 gr tmk for my bull elk hunt.
Thought I'd register and share my data point since there's not a ton on bull elk.
Shot my bull yesterday morning. 171 yard shot with AAC 77 gr TMK. Hit him slightly high on the crease/edge of the shoulder. No blood to track as expected. There was a 4" shredded wound channel on entry side ribs (no pic of that- he died in the sun so I was in a hurry to work him up and was alone). Found shards in off side shoulder. He was slightly quartering away. He rose up on his hind legs at impact, turned, went 20 yards and was done moving in about 15 seconds.
Used my 16" Henry long ranger express (love lever guns), 1:9" twist.
Had my reservations but wanted to test for kids hunts in the future. I've hunted with my bolt action 308 for years (also used my ar on a few whitetails using the 62gr fusion with mixed results). Never seen this kind of performance on an animal. Very pleased with the 77gr tmk.
 

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Marbles

WKR
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Read this thread about a month ago considering the 77 gr tmk for my bull elk hunt.
Thought I'd register and share my data point since there's not a ton on bull elk.
Shot my bull yesterday morning. 171 yard shot with AAC 77 gr TMK. Hit him slightly high on the crease/edge of the shoulder. No blood to track as expected. There was a 4" shredded wound channel on entry side ribs (no pic of that- he died in the sun so I was in a hurry to work him up and was alone). Found shards in off side shoulder. He was slightly quartering away. He rose up on his hind legs at impact, turned, went 20 yards and was done moving in about 15 seconds.
Used my 16" Henry long ranger express (love lever guns), 1:9" twist.
Had my reservations but wanted to test for kids hunts in the future. I've hunted with my bolt action 308 for years (also used my ar on a few whitetails using the 62gr fusion with mixed results). Never seen this kind of performance on an animal. Very pleased with the 77gr tmk.
Congratulations on the elk, and thanks for sharing.
 

atmat

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Jun 10, 2022
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Read this thread about a month ago considering the 77 gr tmk for my bull elk hunt.
Thought I'd register and share my data point since there's not a ton on bull elk.
Shot my bull yesterday morning. 171 yard shot with AAC 77 gr TMK. Hit him slightly high on the crease/edge of the shoulder. No blood to track as expected. There was a 4" shredded wound channel on entry side ribs (no pic of that- he died in the sun so I was in a hurry to work him up and was alone). Found shards in off side shoulder. He was slightly quartering away. He rose up on his hind legs at impact, turned, went 20 yards and was done moving in about 15 seconds.
Used my 16" Henry long ranger express (love lever guns), 1:9" twist.
Had my reservations but wanted to test for kids hunts in the future. I've hunted with my bolt action 308 for years (also used my ar on a few whitetails using the 62gr fusion with mixed results). Never seen this kind of performance on an animal. Very pleased with the 77gr tmk.
Thanks for the contribution! Great bull, cool gun!
 
Joined
Nov 28, 2022
Messages
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Read this thread about a month ago considering the 77 gr tmk for my bull elk hunt.
Thought I'd register and share my data point since there's not a ton on bull elk.
Shot my bull yesterday morning. 171 yard shot with AAC 77 gr TMK. Hit him slightly high on the crease/edge of the shoulder. No blood to track as expected. There was a 4" shredded wound channel on entry side ribs (no pic of that- he died in the sun so I was in a hurry to work him up and was alone). Found shards in off side shoulder. He was slightly quartering away. He rose up on his hind legs at impact, turned, went 20 yards and was done moving in about 15 seconds.
Used my 16" Henry long ranger express (love lever guns), 1:9" twist.
Had my reservations but wanted to test for kids hunts in the future. I've hunted with my bolt action 308 for years (also used my ar on a few whitetails using the 62gr fusion with mixed results). Never seen this kind of performance on an animal. Very pleased with the 77gr tmk.
81a4y1.jpg
 
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