Does your AR have one of those grenade launchers attached to it? That's some serious damage.Shot two does last night, one at around 160 the other closer to 200. Both shots were hard quartering to. Both ran roughly 60-80 yards. Slight blood trail, no exits. Both from a 16" AR.
Any guesses on what 556 bullet I used based on the pictures?
View attachment 655998View attachment 655999View attachment 656000View attachment 656001
Shot with 77tmk 223ai at about 80 yards. Deer ran about 60 yard. No exit. Jacket was balled up on off side hide. No blood at all. Where I hunt you need blood trails if you don’t drop them in there tracks. The bullet did its job but i want exits and blood in the thick stuff I hunt in. If this deer had been shot at last light she would have been very hard to find.
223 for deer sized game might be fine for wide open country but not in southern thickets IMO.
I’m probably not gonna be shooting anymore deer with this 223ai. Maybe a hog here or there. If I loose a hog I’m not gonna lose any sleep over it. Coyotes sure.
Couldn’t you just use a bullet that exits if that’s your priority?It’s not a big muley but I had a chance to test out my new Tikka T3X .223. I’m shooting 75 grain Gold Dots because that’s all I’ve been able to get my hands on. Hoping to test it out again on antelope this week.
228 yards. Dropped in its tracks. Broke one shoulder and exited out the other side. Thanks to everyone who has contributed to this thread. I probably would have never even thought to use a .223 for deer or antelope if my being honest. It’s helped my shooting a ton with all the practice.
View attachment 223925
View attachment 223926
View attachment 223927
I might try the gold dots on hogs. I love the 65 sgk on small hogs. But you can’t get them at the moment.Couldn’t you just use a bullet that exits if that’s your priority?
Shot with 77tmk 223ai at about 80 yards. Deer ran about 60 yard. No exit. Jacket was balled up on off side hide. No blood at all. Where I hunt you need blood trails if you don’t drop them in there tracks. The bullet did its job but i want exits and blood in the thick stuff I hunt in. If this deer had been shot at last light she would have been very hard to find.
223 for deer sized game might be fine for wide open country but not in southern thickets IMO.
I’m probably not gonna be shooting anymore deer with this 223ai. Maybe a hog here or there. If I loose a hog I’m not gonna lose any sleep over it. Coyotes sure.
180 grain super x from a 30 by god 06 that couldn’t exit a SE whitetailThe first 60-70 deer I shot with TMK’s were in some of the thickest, nastiest briar thickets and laurel patches in the SE. Most exited, some didn't- just like with nearly all bullets and calibers.
With the 223 it’s more about wind performance for me. It’s a 4mph rifle, at 400 yards a mile and hour moves it a tenth. I lose my ability to make a good wind call comfortably before the bullet reaches 1800fps.What range do y’all limit yourselves to on deer? I have a Tikka that shoots 73 grain ELDM quite nicely. MV is around 2,800.
I’ve killed a lot of deer with 90 grain SST out of .243s quite a ways out there. Probably further than most would feel comfortable with.
Wondering if there is a generic “threshold” you guys use for the smaller bullets. I don’t use “energy” numbers, looking more for real world longer range kills.
I tried them. Tricky to get to shoot. Behave very similar to the 64 Nosler BSB. Reliable pass throughs but don't expect reliable blood trails. Slower killing than the 69 grn TMK. The 69 TMK is far superior.What are the experiences with 64 TGk?