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

[Jimbee]

Both a little over 100yds, one neck shot and one heart shot. 77tmk. 2500ish fps impact. Heart shot went about 50yds with no blood trail. Heart was shredded.

 

[jofes]

Does anyone have any real world experience with the OTMs/SMKs vs the TMKs performance on deer? From my minimal experience the OTMs performed very similar but again, sample size is lacking.

 

[gman82001]

Does anyone have any real world experience with the OTMs/SMKs vs the TMKs performance on deer? From my minimal experience the OTMs performed very similar but again, sample size is lacking.

It’s talked about quite a bit in this thread, some have had decent luck but it’s not a given that the bullet opens like a tmk. Lots of talk of them penciling through.


Consensus seems to be practice with otm and use a polymer tipped match bullet for hunting because that’s what reliably starts the bullets opening performance on tissue

 

[JJ3]

Well....we finished deer season in NWGA yesterday. On Saturday my 16y son got a 80lb button and a 100lb doe at 80ish yards with a 18" AR and 77TMK over 23.6 of XBR. He was sitting in a old lounge chair on the back porch of an abandon farm house where we hunt shooting off sticks.

The button was broad side high shoulder, dropped on spot with golf ball size hole in offside shoulder meat. The doe was a spine shot half way through the backstrap same golf ball size exit hole. She flopped about 3' over and kicked for a few min. We had to let the blood drain from her before going in the polaris to reduce the mess.

So for the season we got a 180lb mature buck with a 73 ELD out of a 10.5" , 80lb button buck with 77 TMK and 100lb doe with 77 TMK out of 18". Longest run was 30yds from the bigger buck, shortest was 0yd from the little buck. My son also harvested a 120ish lb 8pt last year with the 18" AR and 55 soft point....he ran 30ish yards also.

My hunting mentor, God love him, is a fudd. 308 with barnes or 45/70 PERIOD. Anything "less" is stupid. He has started coming around to the 300 blackout barnes combo after the last couple years and after this year he was silent on way home about the 77TMK. Thats a win at this point haha.

My experience is 223 worksif I make good shots. I can make good shots if I practice with my rifle. I can, and will practice with my rifle if I enjoy shooting it. I enjoy shooting my rifle that has low recoil, is precise enough to make hits where I expect it too and doesnt break the bank to shoot.

For exits and blood trails I agree its extremely variable and Im better suited to improve on my skills of patience, marksmanship and tracking. And get a good dog.

Pics added…we are really bad a taking pics as you can see. We also do gutless cleaning so very rarely do we inspect internal damage or hunt for bullets.

 

[H80Hunter]

I’m sorry I don’t see a simple answer, but I did my part and bought the gun. What’s the best choice for factory ammo? Leaning toward the 73 gr ELDM but I’m hoping someone can let me know if I’m making a mistake there.

 

[Steve300xcw]

You can get the 77tmk in factory ammo. Would not feel handicapped with those 73's though

 

[H80Hunter]

I don’t see them anywhere. Any ideas? I should have added, this will be a trainer primarily but I want something I can shoot a deer with so from what I’ve found the 77 SMKs aren’t a great choice.

 

[rabbithuntr]

75gr bthp are good too


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Steve300xcw]

I don’t see them anywhere. Any ideas? I should have added, this will be a trainer primarily but I want something I can shoot a deer with so from what I’ve found the 77 SMKs aren’t a great choice.

What kinda ranges are you goona be hunting?

 

[H80Hunter]

Hunting let’s say 0-300, steel 0-600

 

[Chris_in_Idaho]

I don’t see them anywhere. Any ideas? I should have added, this will be a trainer primarily but I want something I can shoot a deer with so from what I’ve found the 77 SMKs aren’t a great choice.

Ammoseek has changed my life.

 

[Steve300xcw]

I have such a hard time spending that kinda money on 223 ammo

 

[Grover4360]

DON'T HAVE TIME TO READ 176 PAGES? HERE'S THE CHEAT SHEET.

---

“Bullets matter more than headstamps.”

“Spent primers offer the supreme tutorial”.

I’ve read it here and elsewhere online. It got my attention. I started digging and asking questions and listened.

The 77gr TMK delivered by a .223 is where I ended up after many discussions and objective data regarding bullet performance and numerous pics of field results.

Now for the delivery system. Accurate. Repeatable. Reliable. Reasonable weight to afford steady shot placement and the ability to spot my own impacts yet packable. Tikka T3x, vertical grip, Sportsmatch rings, SWFA 6x MQ in mills. Replaced the trigger spring with a yo Dave, adjusted to my liking, then degreased everything and locked all of the screws down with loctite and got started.

The package checks all of the boxes. Plus, it’s FUN! Time at the range is spent learning to call wind, trigger control, spotting your own impacts and figuring out why a shot did or did not end up where you wanted it. No brake. No flinch. Inexpensive to shoot. The fun factor plus the ability to be able to afford to shoot a lot goes a long way to learning and understanding shooting, accuracy and precision.

With all of that said, I’ve decided to use 77 TMK out of a .223 from this delivery system for bear, deer and elk this season.

Opportunity presented itself a couple of days ago. I killed a mature, dry sow with the 77 TMK. Bullet performance exceeded all expectations! The terminal performance is on par with anything I’ve seen in a .284 or .30. Unreal performance. The bullet is a BEAST!

Practice will continue throughout the summer in preparation for the upcoming deer and elk seasons.

Based on my sample of one, the 77 TMK out of a .223 is truly a lethal combination well suited to a dedicated lower 48 big game rifle.

Would love to hear about others experiences with this bullet or similar bulletts!

Never gonna find me in the mountains, hunting for elk with a .223, just sayin!

 

[Nomosendero]

77 SMK is good for practice.
I handload but I like to try factory loads from time to time, I bought 77TMK ammo from Stand1 Armory & from AAC. There is also Black Hills, so there is 3 brands I know of, likely others.

 

[gman82001]

Never gonna find me in the mountains, hunting for elk with a .223, just sayin!

Cool

 

[H80Hunter]

Thanks guys. I was looking under .223 instead of 5.56 but I thought you couldn’t fire 5.56 in .223 guns due to pressure?

 

[PNWGATOR]

Never gonna find me in the mountains, hunting for elk with a .223, just sayin!

Genuinely curious why you wouldn’t hunt elk or for that matter any other large or larger game animal with a 77TMK out of a .223?

 

[Chris_in_Idaho]

Thanks guys. I was looking under .223 instead of 5.56 but I thought you couldn’t fire 5.56 in .223 guns due to pressure?

Concensus here is that it's working fine in Tikkas.

They have to meet the CIP standard, which specifies a higher 223 pressure than SAAMI does, and they may or may not have a more gradual leade more like a 223 Wylde chamber.

However I am not an engineer or lawyer so don't blame me when you blow yourself up...

 

[mt100gr.]

Never gonna find me in the mountains, hunting for elk with a .223, just sayin!

Oh, come on now, you're new here. Read the thread!

 

[Maverick1]

In my experience (and I have plenty - 75 years old and still shooting 70 deer a year) there isn't a .224 bullet that will reliably exit and leave a blood trail. There are just too many variables. The same can be said for larger calibers too although for me the best has been Nosler BT's - but still not reliably. My advice is to stick to the soft and heavy .224 bullets and work on your tracking skills. There doesn't need to be blood to successfully track and find a shot deer. A calm approach, a scuff here, a broken branch there, a tiny spot of blood, pushed aside undergrowth, flattened grass, the deer smell. Even in the absence of those signs a hillar hit deer with the likes of the 77 TMK will on average only travel 30 yards and at the most 100 so a carefully planned and executed grid search should come up trumps. There will be exceptions but there will be with a 50 cal too.

70 deer a year? One in the morning and one in the evening....for over a month? Or is it just one per day for two months?