As usual, it was late, I was by myself (with respect to people anyway), and knew there was at least one other grizzly, probably not far, wandering in the alders. So I didn't take ton of time, but with Wonder Dog on watch duty, I managed a few pics.
Here's the entrance in the shoulder. I was hoping to hit the point of the humerus to further test the "but what if you hit a big bone?" question, but missed it by an inch or so. No major bones seemed broken, but a big hole through the shoulder at an angle.
The bullet passed through diagonally and stopped somewhere around the ribs on the far side, ahead of the liver. I'd didn't find any bullet, but like I said, I wasn't taking my sweet time with the process.
This is the bloodshot surface on the ribs on the other side (or maybe the same side? Working fast and not paying enough attention to which pic is which.)
This was interesting to me: It didn't look like I hit lungs or heart, but still killed pretty danm fast. There was just blood soup, but from my quick inspection, the heart and lungs looked okay. I'm guessing the little engine that could obliterated all the arteries it was passing, which apparently worked really well. I guess it's hard to survive a 77TMK passing anywhere through the boiler room at high velocity. Impact would have been around 2,600 fps.
All said, I'm not saying the 223/77TMK is the best rifle possible for dangerous game. This was more about answering the question of "Will it work on something dangerous with less than ideal shot placement?". Sample of one says "Yes, it will".
Here's the entrance in the shoulder. I was hoping to hit the point of the humerus to further test the "but what if you hit a big bone?" question, but missed it by an inch or so. No major bones seemed broken, but a big hole through the shoulder at an angle.
The bullet passed through diagonally and stopped somewhere around the ribs on the far side, ahead of the liver. I'd didn't find any bullet, but like I said, I wasn't taking my sweet time with the process.
This is the bloodshot surface on the ribs on the other side (or maybe the same side? Working fast and not paying enough attention to which pic is which.)
This was interesting to me: It didn't look like I hit lungs or heart, but still killed pretty danm fast. There was just blood soup, but from my quick inspection, the heart and lungs looked okay. I'm guessing the little engine that could obliterated all the arteries it was passing, which apparently worked really well. I guess it's hard to survive a 77TMK passing anywhere through the boiler room at high velocity. Impact would have been around 2,600 fps.
All said, I'm not saying the 223/77TMK is the best rifle possible for dangerous game. This was more about answering the question of "Will it work on something dangerous with less than ideal shot placement?". Sample of one says "Yes, it will".
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Yeah, this was an interesting "experiment". The fact that the bear didn't get any further and/or live any longer with a 223/77TMK through the shoulder than a similar size bear last year hit with a 338 WM, broadside, is, well, interesting...
