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

[houser52]

Took this 8 pt. 11-18-2023. 223, 77 TMK, 220 yds. 2173 fps velocity at impact.

Deer went straight down and when I got to him he was still moving. Final shot to the skull with a 32 ACP handgun to put him down for good.

A couple buddies and I looked for either an entry or exit but couldn’t find either one. Not a drop of blood anywhere.
Dropped him off at the processor and had them look where he was hit and they said it was a heart shot but I didn’t see it to confirm.

None the less, I‘ll be having steaks, chops and sausage in a few days. The 77 TMK did its job.

 

[BAC]

For sure, I've seen well hit runners with 12 gauge slugs, .30 cals, 6.5s, everything really. This was last year, just wanted to provide that context to the guy who didn't end up finding his the other night.

I've been watching more videos on good shots that still result in runners and there is basically no rhyme or reason that I can tell. I'd guess some animals just have more blood primed in the system, more oxygen from a breath in that particular moment, or just plain more will to live than others. Watching a 6.5 grendel drop an elk on the spot with a double lung shot on one hunt, and the same guy put in the same bullet in the same place with the same injuries on a much smaller deer, the deer books it.

Side note, I think this makes another very solid case for being able to spot your hits, so that you can track an animal through the scope and at the very least get a last-known direction.

 

[roosiebull]

I've been watching more videos on good shots that still result in runners and there is basically no rhyme or reason that I can tell. I'd guess some animals just have more blood primed in the system, more oxygen from a breath in that particular moment, or just plain more will to live than others. Watching a 6.5 grendel drop an elk on the spot with a double lung shot and put in the same place with the same injuries on a much smaller deer, the deer books it.

Side note, I think this makes another very solid case for being able to spot your hits, so that you can track an animal through the scope and at the very least get a last-known direction.

Some are just going to run unless it’s a CNS disruption regardless of what it’s hit with… case in point

 

[BlackHillsShooter]

I've been watching more videos on good shots that still result in runners and there is basically no rhyme or reason that I can tell. I'd guess some animals just have more blood primed in the system, more oxygen from a breath in that particular moment, or just plain more will to live than others. Watching a 6.5 grendel drop an elk on the spot with a double lung shot and put in the same place with the same injuries on a much smaller deer, the deer books it.

Side note, I think this makes another very solid case for being able to spot your hits, so that you can track an animal through the scope and at the very least get a last-known direction.

I agree with this. The deer I shot, I watched fold up like it was on TV. I have been used to the view getting bounced for a long time.

 

[Tmac]

Grandson’s first buck. 77 gr. TMK out of a 223 at about 125 yards. Kicked at the shot and ran off. No blood or hair we could find. It’s a jungle there. Turned out he ran in a semi circle about 15-20 yards. We found him after about 20 minutes of looking. Insides were red goo. Entry and exit low in chest, not really visible until skinned. Was a little bit of a heart I recognized, lungs converted to red goo.

When we finished boning it out the next day, we lost some of both shoulders, my grandson says I want a bullet that does less damage. He is all about the meat. So a discussion ensued as to why I picked what I did for his hunt. Told him we wanted max damage to keep any blacktail from running too far in that jungle, and it worked. Asked him how do you think it would have went if he could have ran 50-75 yards? He said not well. Lol.

 

[Jake Leibke]

I should add to my previous posts, #5232 and 5255, these were shot with the American Bullet Co. branded TMK’s from Creedmoor Sports. Have not shot a critter with a “regular” TMK but performance seems on par from what others have posted.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[roosiebull]

Grandson’s first buck. 77 gr. TMK out of a 223 at about 125 yards. Kicked at the shot and ran off. No blood or hair we could find. It’s a jungle there. Turned out he ran in a semi circle about 15-20 yards. We found him after about 20 minutes of looking. Insides were red goo. Entry and exit low in chest, not really visible until skinned. Was a little bit of a heart I recognized, lungs converted to red goo.

When we finished boning it out the next day, we lost some of both shoulders, my grandson says I want a bullet that does less damage. He is all about the meat. So a discussion ensued as to why I picked what I did for his hunt. Told him we wanted max damage to keep any blacktail from running too far in that jungle, and it worked. Asked him how do you think it would have went if he could have ran 50-75 yards? He said not well. Lol.

The only consistent way I have found to not lose much meat is shoot them in the neck. Have a buddy who does one better and head shoots almost everything, but I haven’t warmed up to that myself

I have lost a lot of the front shoulders even with monos, hit any bone and all bets are off even with meat friendly projectiles… I assume a 45-70 or something, might be easy on meat regardless, or buckshot, but any normal rifle cartridge has potential to make a mess

Neck shooting, it seems most of the time, you only lose the wound channel itself, blood shot doesn’t generally spread like it does in the shoulder.

Well done! Next year I will be knocking a blacktail down with a tmk

 

[Trapperkid]

first animal with the tmk no deer but I killed a deer killer 150 yards neck shot fell over and never kicked I watched the whole thing through the scope.

 

[mt terry d]

The only consistent way I have found to not lose much meat is shoot them in the neck. Have a buddy who does one better and head shoots almost everything, but I haven’t warmed up to that myself

I have lost a lot of the front shoulders even with monos, hit any bone and all bets are off even with meat friendly projectiles… I assume a 45-70 or something, might be easy on meat regardless, or buckshot, but any normal rifle cartridge has potential to make a mess

Neck shooting, it seems most of the time, you only lose the wound channel itself, blood shot doesn’t generally spread like it does in the shoulder.

Well done! Next year I will be knocking a blacktail down with a tmk

My first experience with the 77 TMK ( see post 5215) was much different than anything I've shot previously with my 7mm WBY or 300WM. I would have written off the off shoulder with either of those rounds. Granted, as I mentioned, this is my first kill with the TMK but the results are very encouraging in every respect. IMO, lots of room for error (failure to kill) on broadside neck shots if not placed close to the skull and head shots, well, I still have nightmares.

 

[Tmac]

The only consistent way I have found to not lose much meat is shoot them in the neck. Have a buddy who does one better and head shoots almost everything, but I haven’t warmed up to that myself

I have lost a lot of the front shoulders even with monos, hit any bone and all bets are off even with meat friendly projectiles… I assume a 45-70 or something, might be easy on meat regardless, or buckshot, but any normal rifle cartridge has potential to make a mess

Neck shooting, it seems most of the time, you only lose the wound channel itself, blood shot doesn’t generally spread like it does in the shoulder.

Well done! Next year I will be knocking a blacktail down with a tmk

I’ve had real good luck with mono’s through the lungs just behind the shoulder as far as meat loss mitigation goes. But most of those shots were open country 200 - 380 yards on much larger bucks where things have slowed down some. I suspect target size and distance helped.

For these blacktails in a jungle with the grands I was OK with meat loss. They shoot the 223 well so it was an easy choice. But boy do those 77 gr TMK’s create havoc internally.

I’m not brave enough for a head or neck shot. I need a big target, lol. I do have a buddy that head shoots cow elk with his 10mm Glock 40 to a bit over 100 yards, but he is crazy good with that thing.

 

[thinhorn_AK]

Tikka T3x Compact 223 and have it cut and threaded for a can. SWFA 6x milquad mil/mil mounted with UM rings. Done.

That’s what I put together for my wife. Stainless 223, cut to 18” threaded and collar installed for direct thread 5/8x24. Drop it into a compact stock, SWFA 6x. I needed up using sportsmatch rings though since I have a few sets laying around.

 

[Drenalin]

Longest shot I’ve taken at an animal tonight, whitetail at 386. Hit her a little forward, both front shoulders completely wrecked, lungs shredded, fragmentation to heart and almost definitely spine. Absolutely stoned her though, dropped right in her shadow. No pics of the carnage, another warm day here and a long way to move her, so I didn’t take time once I got to work on her.

Cheap rifle, cheap scope, (relatively) cheap ammo, tons of practice and about the most fun you can have with your pants on. I am blown away by my experience with the 73 ELD-Ms so far, and they are frankly more destructive than I would prefer. But inarguably extremely effective.

Edit to add: very small entrance hole, no exit (being through the shoulders, not a surprise). It doesn’t make much difference when they drop in the scope, but if I get a runner I suspect tracking will be a challenge.

 

[BAC]

Longest shot I’ve taken at an animal tonight, whitetail at 386. Hit her a little forward, both front shoulders completely wrecked, lungs shredded, fragmentation to heart and almost definitely spine. Absolutely stoned her though, dropped right in her shadow. No pics of the carnage, another warm day here and a long way to move her, so I didn’t take time once I got to work on her.

Cheap rifle, cheap scope, (relatively) cheap ammo, tons of practice and about the most fun you can have with your pants on. I am blown away by my experience with the 73 ELD-Ms so far, and they are frankly more destructive than I would prefer. But inarguably extremely effective.

Edit to add: very small entrance hole, no exit (being through the shoulders, not a surprise). It doesn’t make much difference when they drop in the scope, but if I get a runner I suspect tracking will be a challenge.

View attachment 630153

You know what, completely unrelated to the topic, but you just made a fine case for having a cheap folding foam mat on a backpack hunt. I hadn't even considered how helpful it might be if shooting from prone.

 

[SouthPaw]

22 creedmoor, 88g eldm. MV 2985fps
Mule Deer buck, 551 yards, impact 2172fps

The deer was bedded broadside, front legs tucked. Bullet went through onside shoulder, broke onside rib, through both lungs, and buried in offside shoulder shattering the knuckle with a few chunks of core making it to the offside hide. The buck managed to get up, stumble 10ft and flopped, all in sub 4 seconds.

After seeing this thread, I knew the 22cal optimized would work but this was shockingly effective.

Delivery mechanism:



Jacket fragments within onside shoulder showing quick bullet upset, entrance w/ shoulder removed in background:




Offside shoulder removed, golfball+ hole through cavity with soupy lungs:




Upon processing, lots of bullet parts in offside shoulder knuckle area about 3" diameter:

 

[Drenalin]

You know what, completely unrelated to the topic, but you just made a fine case for having a cheap folding foam mat on a backpack hunt. I hadn't even considered how helpful it might be if shooting from prone.

I’m going to replace this one with the orange Nemo pad so it can ride as a vis panel on my pack. But yeah, 6-7 sections of an accordion pad is luxurious to sit on and plenty to lay your upper half on in the prone.

 

[BLJ]

I’m going to replace this one with the orange Nemo pad so it can ride as a vis panel on my pack. But yeah, 6-7 sections of an accordion pad is luxurious to sit on and plenty to lay your upper half on in the prone.

That’s a really good idea about the hi viz.

 

[mtnwrunner]

The pad is a staple in my kit. Very versatile piece of gear.
Now, back to the 223.

Randy

ATTACH=full]630548[/ATTACH]TACH]

 

[Marshfly]

I wish Crazy Creek made a blaze orange chair. Sigh.

 

[Big_wals]

Another deer down with the 223/77 tmk this morning. 278 yards, impact velocity around 2125. Slightly quartering away with his offside leg back. It made about a 1" hole thru his ribcage going in, blew theu the heart, and then around an inch and a half on the way out. Shattered his offside leg just above the knuckle and stopped on the hide. He did a typical heart shot/mule kick, and ran around 50 yards. Will update with more pics next week when we process it.

 

[BlackHillsShooter]

Another deer down witb the 223/77 tmk this morning. 278 yards, impact velocity around 2125. Slightly quartering away with his offside leg back. It made about a 1" hole thru his ribcage going in, blew theu the heart, and then around an inch and a half on the way out. Shattered his offside leg just above the knuckle and stopped on the hide. He did a typical heart shot/mule kick, and ran around 50 yards. Will update with more pics next week when we process it.

Great shot!