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

[mxgsfmdpx]

Awesome, I am going to try some of the factory eldx and eldm. Did you try the ELDM also?

Are those low or medium UM Rings?

No ELDM yet, just 77 TMK and 80 ELDX.

Low rings.

 

[JollyRoger]

80 grain ELDX. Mature bull moose. 523 yards. Roughly 2,180 impact velocity. Quartering slightly away. Moose was hit once, moved forward 20 feet behind some trees. Before I could shoot again he dropped (less than 5 seconds).

View attachment 763019

The “dreaded shoulder shot” with a “small bullet”…

Entrance.

View attachment 763015

Entered above shoulder bone and tore through lung. Sliced the bottom of the heart on the way through to the exit side lung. Broke two ribs and part of the scalpula before exiting. Both lungs were chunky mush and lung chunks on the ground and tree behind the moose where he was shot.

View attachment 763016

View attachment 763017


Two finger sized wound channel on the entrance side turned into a 4+ finger sized wound channel most of the way through the animal.

View attachment 763018

Solid

 

[Reddish]

All you big game hunters need to read this article…your experience killing hundreds of animals with the 77 TMK must all be a fluke.

The 12 Best Rifle Cartridges for Elk Hunting

Elk are tough. To drop one cleanly, you need the right cartridge. Here's our list of the best rifle cartridges for elk hunting, from the new 7mm Backcountry to the classic 35 Whelen.

www.fieldandstream.com

 

[Big_wals]

All you big game hunters need to read this article…your experience killing hundreds of animals with the 77 TMK must all be a fluke.

The 12 Best Rifle Cartridges for Elk Hunting

Elk are tough. To drop one cleanly, you need the right cartridge. Here's our list of the best rifle cartridges for elk hunting, from the new 7mm Backcountry to the classic 35 Whelen.

www.fieldandstream.com

He makes some great points in favor of using a .223 loaded with 77 TMKs for elk. I’m not sure why he never mentioned it. Must’ve forgot, or it got edited out.

 

[wind gypsy]

View attachment 764318View attachment 764319View attachment 764320View attachment 764321View attachment 764322

He makes some great points in favor of using a .223 loaded with 77 TMKs for elk. I’m not sure why he never mentioned it. Must’ve forgot, or it got edited out.

I like that Dave Petzal quote.

 

[Castle Rock]

All you big game hunters need to read this article…your experience killing hundreds of animals with the 77 TMK must all be a fluke.

The 12 Best Rifle Cartridges for Elk Hunting

Elk are tough. To drop one cleanly, you need the right cartridge. Here's our list of the best rifle cartridges for elk hunting, from the new 7mm Backcountry to the classic 35 Whelen.

www.fieldandstream.com

Very nice advertorial, radical new concepts there

 

[IDHoundsman]

I like that Dave Petzal quote.

I also do, maybe he has changed his mind on the 338 Win Mag being “the best elk cartridge ever made.”

 

[E.Shell]

Very nice advertorial, radical new concepts there

Reading that article made me remember why I don't read gun rags anymore.

 

[ramblinman]

maybe it was Tahr or the pathfilms guy stated, but millions of kangaroos and red deer have been shot with a 55gr sp.

NZ deer cullers used 55gr sp .222 Sakos to abandon. And this was coming from decades of a 303 British. Why?

 

[Te Hopo]

NZ deer cullers used 55gr sp .222 Sakos to abandon. And this was coming from decades of a 303 British. Why?

I've been told by a few cullers it was the new availability of scopes allowing more accurate shot placement versus the old open sight .303s.

 

[KHntr]

Another data point for the 88 ELD m ala Kimber Montana 223AI this morning. Had a bull elk charge in from a kilometer out to a few cow calls, he’d run as hard as he could go for 200 m, stop and bugle, and charge again. Once he hit about 300 yards out he stopped bugling, or stopping. He was just running to the last spot he heard a cow call.
I was set up over my crossed hiking poles and hit a cow chirp on the diaphragm to stop him and he turned mostly quartered in to me and looking hard at 109 yards. Impact velocity would have been right at 2400fps.
Stuck an 88 ELD m into the leading edge of his onside shoulder and flicked in another round as he took three hops away from me. As he turned so he was quartering away I could see blood blowing out his mouth, and then he started to take a couple sideways steps and I laced him again (only because I find the shooting to be the fun part) and he flopped and died.
First shot to on the ground I estimate between 6 and 10 seconds.

First one exited at the last rib. Second one smashed 2 ribs going in and 1 on the offside at the back of the shoulder meat. I think that one exited, but it might be hung up in there.

A pair of 1.5” holes bored through everything. Lungs were littered with bone shard fragments around the wound cavity.

 

[IDHoundsman]

Another data point for the 88 ELD m ala Kimber Montana 223AI this morning. Had a bull elk charge in from a kilometer out to a few cow calls, he’d run as hard as he could go for 200 m, stop and bugle, and charge again. Once he hit about 300 yards out he stopped bugling, or stopping. He was just running to the last spot he heard a cow call.
I was set up over my crossed hiking poles and hit a cow chirp on the diaphragm to stop him and he turned mostly quartered in to me and looking hard at 109 yards. Impact velocity would have been right at 2400fps.
Stuck an 88 ELD m into the leading edge of his onside shoulder and flicked in another round as he took three hops away from me. As he turned so he was quartering away I could see blood blowing out his mouth, and then he started to take a couple sideways steps and I laced him again (only because I find the shooting to be the fun part) and he flopped and died.
First shot to on the ground I estimate between 6 and 10 seconds.

First one exited at the last rib. Second one smashed 2 ribs going in and 1 on the offside at the back of the shoulder meat. I think that one exited, but it might be hung up in there.

A pair of 1.5” holes bored through everything. Lungs were littered with bone shard fragments around the wound cavity.

Congratulations man! That’s awesome!

 

[Thegman]

Another data point for the 88 ELD m ala Kimber Montana 223AI this morning. Had a bull elk charge in from a kilometer out to a few cow calls, he’d run as hard as he could go for 200 m, stop and bugle, and charge again. Once he hit about 300 yards out he stopped bugling, or stopping. He was just running to the last spot he heard a cow call.
I was set up over my crossed hiking poles and hit a cow chirp on the diaphragm to stop him and he turned mostly quartered in to me and looking hard at 109 yards. Impact velocity would have been right at 2400fps.
Stuck an 88 ELD m into the leading edge of his onside shoulder and flicked in another round as he took three hops away from me. As he turned so he was quartering away I could see blood blowing out his mouth, and then he started to take a couple sideways steps and I laced him again (only because I find the shooting to be the fun part) and he flopped and died.
First shot to on the ground I estimate between 6 and 10 seconds.

First one exited at the last rib. Second one smashed 2 ribs going in and 1 on the offside at the back of the shoulder meat. I think that one exited, but it might be hung up in there.

A pair of 1.5” holes bored through everything. Lungs were littered with bone shard fragments around the wound cavity.

That's great performance and a great story. Those 88s and the examples of the 80ELDX seem like they both do really well.

What's you muzzle velocity? Around 2575? (Assuming 2,400 @ 109 yards).

What's your barrel length and load with that?

 

[BradArnett]

My 7yo shot his first deer this morning via 223ai w/77tmk. He's been with me for multiple kills since he was 4 but wanted to shoot one this year. Was about 95yds, high shoulder shot and bang flop. Bullet exited and you could stick 3 fingers in it after I pulled the shoulder off. Lots of blood in the membranes between the shoulder and ribs, but not alot of wasted meat after it was cleaned off. Didn't see lungs since we quartered it up to carry it out., but I'm sure they were jellied.

 

[KHntr]

That's great performance and a great story. Those 88s and the examples of the 80ELDX seem like they both do really well.

What's you muzzle velocity? Around 2575? (Assuming 2,400 @ 109 yards).

What's your barrel length and load with that?

2588 at the muzzle from this one. 22” barrel. This is the 3rd 7 twist 223AI I have had built (I needed one so I wouldn’t be without a 223AI when this one got sent off for the new barrel, and I built one for a buddy after he shot my other one) and this one is the slowest. All three get 25gr of LE over a cci450, all three have 22” pipes.
This one gets 2588, my 700 gets 2680, and his 700 does 2770.
Doesn’t much matter to me though, all 3 are minute of beercan at 700+ yards.

 

[ridgeline]

Nice work KHntr, It's kinda getting challenging to grab anything but a fast twist 75/88 flinger, for playing or blood spilling...

 

[Tahr]

maybe it was Tahr or the pathfilms guy stated, but millions of kangaroos and red deer have been shot with a 55gr sp.

NZ deer cullers used 55gr sp .222 Sakos to abandon. And this was coming from decades of a 303 British. Why?

I was a commercial hunter here. .222: deadly accurate with easily mountable 'scope and easy to shoot. Mainly neck and head shooting to minimise meat damage. Pocket full of ammo weighed nothing. Firing them didn't beat me up. The Sako Vixen was a beautiful light cult rifle (but I actually used a little BRNO).

 

[nritzell]

Has anyone used the Hornady Black 75gr BTHP?

 

[zdc1775]

Has anyone used the Hornady Black 75gr BTHP?

I've shot a few coyotes with it and it worked for my purposes; but I didn't actually do any kind of post mortem and while they all died quickly it didn't seem like the bullet had very much expansion based on the exit wounds.

 

[Big_wals]

Has anyone used the Hornady Black 75gr BTHP?

No experience with the Hornady Black specifically, but I’ve used the 75 bthp on pigs. It seems to work fine, but with the type of hunting we do shots are typically under 100 yards, usually under 50. I don’t think they would perform as good at lower impact velocity as an eldm or tmk.