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

Does anyone have a lead on factory BH 77gr TMK? I - uh - burned through my stash faster than I could resupply. Got hooked on the stuff and told myself I could quit whenever I wanted to, it wasn't hurting anyone and it wasn't *really* a problem. Now my life is in shambles and I've even considered selling feet pics, but thought I'd do the rational thing like ask for help before I lost myself completely.

For shame.
Reach out to @h2so4 . He is a black hills dealer and a Rokslide member. I bought a couple cases from him earlier this year. Good prices and good service.
 
Great in my rifle
2206H (H4895) will become available first quarter next year after a long production pause due to it being reformulated
This is good news, that ones been very hard to find. I don’t have a need but I know a couple guys that would probably buy a few lbs or more.
 
First kill with 80 eldms this morning. 242 yards, impact velocity around 2170 fps (not a very fast load, I’m using varget out of a 16” barrel)

Shot her on the right side, good sized exit wound. Traveled around 40 yards, minimal blood trail. Lungs were shredded.
 

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Hey @Formidilosus with the influx of 22 arc I was wondering if it changes your thought process on the 223 rem for hunting, you had stated you liked the idea of a ar15 style rifle for rapid follow ups and the 22 arc offers a nice velocity gain over the 223 with around the same powder charge plus the ability to run the eldms that are available unlike the 77 tmk. Just thinking about how much meaner I can reload the 6 in a bolt gun that 22 might be a very good contender for a 16 inch super lightweight bolt gun
 
Hey @Formidilosus with the influx of 22 arc I was wondering if it changes your thought process on the 223 rem for hunting,


Not even a little. The advantage of the 223r is cheap and massively available practice ammo.



you had stated you liked the idea of a ar15 style rifle for rapid follow ups and the 22 arc offers a nice velocity gain over the 223 with around the same powder charge plus the ability to run the eldms that are available unlike the 77 tmk. Just thinking about how much meaner I can reload the 6 in a bolt gun that 22 might be a very good contender for a 16 inch super lightweight bolt gun

The 22 arc is a great cartridge, but it is in no way a replacement or substitute for a 223 rem.
 
Does anyone have a lead on factory BH 77gr TMK? I - uh - burned through my stash faster than I could resupply. Got hooked on the stuff and told myself I could quit whenever I wanted to, it wasn't hurting anyone and it wasn't *really* a problem. Now my life is in shambles and I've even considered selling feet pics, but thought I'd do the rational thing like ask for help before I lost myself completely.

For shame.
Feet pics to fill mags is completely understandable in 2024.
 
For those of you in the know, what companies/shops offer a "deal/discount" on the Tikka T3x rifles? I see that Tikka is offering a $75 rebate if bought between June 1 and November 30. But it would be nice to get a deal on a deal!
 
For those of you in the know, what companies/shops offer a "deal/discount" on the Tikka T3x rifles? I see that Tikka is offering a $75 rebate if bought between June 1 and November 30. But it would be nice to get a deal on a deal!
GunZoneDeals offers very affordable prices. They’re “email for price” is much lower than their advertised price.
 
For those of you in the know, what companies/shops offer a "deal/discount" on the Tikka T3x rifles? I see that Tikka is offering a $75 rebate if bought between June 1 and November 30. But it would be nice to get a deal on a deal!
Eurooptic was covering the sales tax on stainless models about a month ago. I don’t see it now but they are pretty good about honoring sales prices if you call.
 
4500 rounds with a 6.5 cm? Do you consistently see higher than average barrel life with Sako barrels?
Higher than average in my experience. Here’s a recent post of mine from another thread…

I’m up to somewhere around 40ish Tikka and Sako replacement barrels.

Most of them have shot as expected out of the box, however, I don’t normally put too much stock into the first 100 rounds. I’ll start getting a realistic and consistent velocity from the chrono at 100-200 rounds. Even with factory ammo and the large potential spreads.

When I used to clean my barrels I would wait at least 50 rounds before taking them on a big game killing trip. Probably not needed but it worked for me.

These days I don’t clean at all and I’ve found the barrels last the same amount of rounds or more usually within 200-300ish rounds before being “shot out”.

It doesn’t surprise me at all that your rifle shoots a bit better after a couple hundred rounds. I’ve seen this on multiple tikka and Sako barrels (not all barrels, but probably 20ish percent of them).

Good news with these barrels is, you never need to clean them, and they just keep on shooting very well.

My stainless 22” .243 Tikka barrel is finally dead after 7,000+ rounds. I just recently replaced a Tikka Stainless fluted .260 Rem barrel as well that made it 5,500+ rounds. A Sako stainless non-fluted .260 barrel made it 7,500+ rounds (my buddy in Finland who used to work for Sako at the time had me send it to him). A stainless fluted .204 Sako barrel made it 4,500 rounds before I bought a new one. A blued Sako 20” .223 barrel made it 8,000+ rounds.

Keep in mind that all of these barrels still functioned as expected and shot okay. They just didn’t meet accuracy/consistency specs needed any longer.

These are just a few examples of some round counts I had kept track of and had written down for a friend who was curious.
 
For those of you in the know, what companies/shops offer a "deal/discount" on the Tikka T3x rifles? I see that Tikka is offering a $75 rebate if bought between June 1 and November 30. But it would be nice to get a deal on a deal!
Call EuroOptic they are good guys. If Josh is still there ask to talk to him, he always takes care of returning customers.
 
I was maintaining 1800ish at 675 with a 20” barrel and ELDM hand loads at 5,000ish feet with mild temps. But reloading is gay and I’m retired from it.

Buy some Sierra TMK factory rounds and go shoot instead more. Way better and more fun than sitting at a bench pretending to be a scientist 😜🍺
 
At what elevation and temp? Sea level and hot I would doubt it’s doable.
@ 4,000-5,000' and 85 degrees.
I was curious how they'd do in the heat and I did have a few pierced primers but that didn't
alarm me much as I am using CCI 400's and have had pierced primers with moderate loads.
However, I am saving that load for winter hunting.
 
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