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

[Hunter609]

Anyone have a 16.5” barrel and wish they went longer?

 

[PNWGATOR]

The big thing that might change my mind would be someone convincing me that a .223 will drop things FASTER to make that blood trail a moot point. But like I said earlier, I will probably try a .223 for spring bear. We don't need a .223 because the kids I take out do just fine with my 308. Between the suppressor and the weight it has extremely minimal recoil. The .223 would really be nice on our fall mountain hunts, which is where the brush is thicker and a good blood trail is nice. So we might try a .223 in the spring where it is a safer experiment. If it goes well I would love to carry an AR15 for our mountain hunts.

Dropping things faster? Depends.

Delivering the desired wound channel on demand at the distance desired with the ability to spot my hit and make an immediate follow-up shot(s) from field positions from a robust and reliable delivery system is what I’m after. Also, the .233 give you an opportunity for purposeful practice with relatively low cost and low punishment.

The wound channel delivered by a 77 TMK may or may not deliver a more effective wound channel than the .308 projectile you’re killing things with.

That said, I’m 99.9% confident in the 77TMKs ability to deliver a lethal wound channel in ANYTHING inside of 450 yds. As an added bonus you can keep pressing the trigger and shoot them to the ground.

 

[Tahr]

Any idea how much weight was saved? Or just how heavy it is now? Looks like something I might try.
I found some TMKs and ordered 200. My family has some 223 rifles laying around. Hopefully try the TMKs this spring. I'm still a but hesitant though. Can anyone comment on whether a 6.5 Grendel or 300 Hamr might produce more reliable exits? I'm buying the argument that with a TMK the 223 will kill reliably Just like big blood trails.

Under 2lb now. The laminate is very strong so you can remove quite a bit of wood. I did it over completely using course sandpaper around the grip and forend as well as cutting the butt out.

This bottom pic 319 yd head shot with 69grn TMK. The laminate provides a very stable platform for the little model 7.

 

[Castle Rock]

I did something similar with this one
The butt is slimmed down and hollowed out, grip and forend greatly slimmed down, grit added to where it counts and it probably weighs half what it did
My favorite hunting stock for sure, good in hot or cold, much better than synthetics or chassis or living wood

 

[Drenalin]

Just curious if it was a boltgun or AR?
What barrel length?
I’m assuming handloads… How fast you got them moving?

Bolt action with a 17” barrel shooting factory Hornady ammo.

 

[Trapperkid]

Anyone have a 16.5” barrel and wish they went longer?

I have a ruger american ranch that’s 16 inches and I like it but I don’t at the same time. It’s super easy to move around in tight spaces like a deer stand but incredibly loud since I don’t have a suppressor. You could also get more velocity with a longer barrel. Just some things to think about.

 

[atmat]

Anyone have a 16.5” barrel and wish they went longer?

Mine is 16.5” and suppressed. It’s a joy.

 

[fwafwow]

Mine is 16.5” and suppressed. It’s a joy.

Ditto

 

[atmat]

Ditto

Copy cat.

 

[Tahr]

77grn Sierra Tipped. Low shoulder shot at 188 yds. Just took a few steps. Projectile just under skin on off side. This is the first one of many that I have found that was completely intact. No external blood at all - all of the damage was inside.

 

[SquatchHunter]

Anyone have a 16.5” barrel and wish they went longer?

I have a 18” with can. It feels long but I’m used to SBRs and shorter guns. I don’t have many shots over 200 yards around here. But the added FPS is nice for longer pokes. Look at ballistic charts, figure in your average/max shot ranges and go from there. A few places I hunt would benefit from taking my 12.5” over the 18”. Especially if I’m mobile hunting some of my public lands.

 

[SquatchHunter]

Another gun season down the drain. I really hate how my work peaks from mid November through December. Gun opener fell mid week so it really limited my vacation time. And of course, could never make it out after. Oh well. Hoping for some coyotes this winter. Really wanting to see this TMK first hand.

 

[BlackHillsShooter]

Another data point. I was butchering the offside front quarter of my Elk a few days back and found what remained of the 77 grain TMK. Lodged in the outside surface of the shoulder meat. Looks like the hide stopped it there. Shoulder meat -> one rib busted -> tumble in organ cavity (blender) -> second rib busted -> shoulder meat.

It weighs in at 34 grains. Bullet would have been near max speed of 2775 considering a 50-60 yard shot.

 

[cowdisciple]

I gave in and bought a Tikka compact 223, SWFA 10x42 (since there's no sign of the 6x or the 3-9) and 1,000 Black Hills TMKs. Have an ambition to improve my shooting.

Anyone willing to share their actual muzzle velocity and or dope sheet with a 20" Tikka barrel and the Black Hills TMKs? I realize it's probably in here somewhere, but if so I'm not finding it.

 

[PNWGATOR]

Try 2720 and true from there.

 

[Jake Leibke]

A few observations from this years deer season. We, wife and kids and I, killed 13 deer.

1 - with a 50 cal muzzy shooting 250 gr SST bullet. 106 yards.
1 - 6.5 cm shooting 140 Berger. 425 yards.
2- 6.5 cm shooting 130 TMK. 80 yards and 150 yards.
3 - 223 shooting 77 TMK. 75, 50 and 425 yards.
4 - 22 cm shooting 77 TMK. 135, 180, 206 and 625 yards.
2 - 22 cm shooting 80 ELDM. 475 and 525.

Also had 1 hit with the 223 and 77’s that we did not recover. I think hit was back. Were not able to get another shot and the deer crossed onto private property that we couldn’t get permission to follow up.


All deer had similar wound channels with the 6.5 tmk being largest but not that much different from the 77 tmk or 80 eldm. Of those 13 3 of the 22 cm deer got shot more then once and 2 of the 6.5 cm did as well. Follow up shots with 22 cm were immediate and likely not needed but with the lower recoil were available so taken. 6.5 cm were not as easy to get back on so not immediate. This was due to recoil. On another note the deer shot with the 22 calibers seemed to react less when hit. They didn’t take off like being shot out of a cannon like with the larger calibers. The other biggest difference I noticed was with the 6.5 cm and 50 cal we got pass throughs and only did on maybe 2 or 3 of the 22 cal deer.

Total distance traveled after the shot for all 22 cal deer was about 200 yards. Distance was 300 yards for the 6.5 cal deer and 60 yards for the 50 cal muzzy deer.

The deer shot with the 22 cals also did not leave as much blood on the ground to track but also didn’t need as much tracking.







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[Anschutz]

Also had 1 hit with the 223 and 77’s that we did not recover. I think hit was back. Were not able to get another shot and the deer crossed onto private property that we couldn’t get permission to follow up.


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Do you recall the range of this deer?
What do you believe was the cause of the shot hitting back?
Based on blood trail, do you think you could have recovered the deer with private permission?

Losing deer sucks, but it happens occasionally if you hunt long enough. Knowing the error in our techniques of shooting and/or tracking makes us better in the end.

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[Jake Leibke]

Range was about 185-200 yards. Was one of my sons shooting and I think he just pulled the shot or something. Based on the terrain into k we could have found him but not solely on blood trail.


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[huntercole]

I saw Ruger came out with a new version of their American rifles. They have a 20 inch and 16 inch 223 that are threaded with 1:8 twist. Looks like they're going to have 22 arc too

Ruger® Ruger American® Rifle Generation II Predator Bolt-Action Rifle Models

ruger.com

 

[rabbithuntr]

I saw Ruger came out with a new version of their American rifles. They have a 20 inch and 16 inch 223 that are threaded with 1:8 twist. Looks like they're going to have 22 arc too

Ruger® Ruger American® Rifle Generation II Predator Bolt-Action Rifle Models

ruger.com

They improved the comb height but the drop at the heel is horrible.


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