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

[willfrye027]

You mind sharing how much lever?

I want to say 23.5? I honestly cannot remember where I have that written down. It’s a grain or two below book max. I throw charges with a Harrels and don’t weigh them…have the “clicks” written down but can’t remember where I recorded actual weight. For this load, I actually just picked that charge weight, seated to mag length, shot 20 of them, and called it good.

 

[ARK_Ginger]

I want to say 23.5? I honestly cannot remember where I have that written down. It’s a grain or two below book max. I throw charges with a Harrels and don’t weigh them…have the “clicks” written down but can’t remember where I recorded actual weight. For this load, I actually just picked that charge weight, seated to mag length, shot 20 of them, and called it good.

I didn’t realize there was load data for lever in 223

 

[jonandy]

Is this chart for a 24” barrel?

Assuming 2800 FPS for a 20” barrel, that 88 ELDM would hold 1800 FPS to 750 yards at a DA 5000 feet. It’s also a 6 MPH gun for wind at that speed which is not bad at all.

Even at 2700 FPS assuming a slow 18” barrel or a fast 16” barrel you’d still be good to 675 yards. That’s hard to argue with for a compact setup with factory ammo.

Yes, at the top of the page it shows hornady is using a 24” barrel. I agree pretty sweet for such a small cartridge.

 

[willfrye027]

I didn’t realize there was load data for lever in 223

You might be right, could have sworn I found it somewhere at some point in time..in any case I am shooting some amount of lever that is working great and I do not remember the charge data

 

[ARK_Ginger]

You might be right, could have sworn I found it somewhere at some point in time..in any case I am shooting some amount of lever that is working great and I do not remember the charge data

I'm seeing some people report up to 26grs with 77s. I was just curious because it's usually available and cheaper

 

[Thegman]

Finally got my tikka .223 mounted in a rokstock.

This is my el cheapo load..ABC 75gr BTHP, starline brass, lever. 22” barrel at 2820 fps didn’t try for any more speed

Zero adjusted after this group

View attachment 750810

Do the numbered shots in this show the actual shot sequence? I ask because this is actually a really unusual group if that's the case. Very little variation shot-to-shot. The group just walks along shot to shot in a circle. Three more shots you'd have been back to where you started.

 

[Matt5266]

I found a guy near me who sold me the powder (same lot) for $45 a lb. Came home and the 77tmk were delivered on my door step. Been a good day

 

[sierracharlie338]

I found a guy near me who sold me the powder (same lot) for $45 a lb. Came home and the 77tmk were delivered on my door step. Been a good day

Play the freaking lottery man.

 

[Matt5266]

Play the freaking lottery man.

No joke. First time I've ever had luck with a WTB add (local gun page not Rokslide) and been offered a good deal. I have another guy that has 1 lb that also said he would sell it for $45. I'm gonna grab it too.

 

[SamsonMan22]

I'm seeing some people report up to 26grs with 77s. I was just curious because it's usually available and cheaper

24.5-26.5 seems to be the range, I haven’t run up to 26.5 but at 26 I didn’t have any issues however the temps were cooler. I haven’t done a ton of testing with it yet but it will be my new go to powder once I’m out of TAC and 8208. I loaded 20 at 25g and 20 at 26g the grouping at 25g was within .1 of my 8208 loads but about 70fps slower, bumping to 26g only gained me 20fps but the group opened up to where I wasn’t thrilled so I didn’t bother with 26.5g.

It’s a good powder to work with due to price and availability, if I wanted to spend the extra Benchmark would be what I would look for within the available powders. H4895 is THE powder in my opinion followed closely by 8208 but both are about impossible to find and too expensive for the volume of shooting I do.

 

[Timo494]

Not sure why y'all are obsessed with the big boomers like the .223 rem. I hate meat damage so its just 17hmr with expoldy tips for me!

 

[atmat]

Not sure why y'all are obsessed with the big boomers like the .223 rem. I hate meat damage so its just 17hmr with expoldy tips for me!

Cause we don’t shoot magnums. Duh.

 

[Nomosendero]

Not sure why y'all are obsessed with the big boomers like the .223 rem. I hate meat damage so its just 17hmr with expoldy tips for me!

Pics of game taken with those orrr!

 

[Duh]

Man the new episode of the hornady podcast is trash. They have some good info in there such as how their bullets work - VELOCITY and they give numbers for eldx, cx, and one other one - and not energy. Way too much fudd lore with magnum or bust. If it kills a deer it'll kill and elk. There is no such thing as an elk bullet vs a deer bullet.

Listening to the podcast now and I agree that it’s garbage. The guide they have on as the guest is hard to listen to.

His dislike of the 30-06 is very ill informed.

 

[Steve300xcw]

You mind sharing how much lever?

with 75's I bet you will end up around 26gr of lever

 

[SteveAndTheCrigBoys]

Do the numbered shots in this show the actual shot sequence? I ask because this is actually a really unusual group if that's the case. Very little variation shot-to-shot. The group just walks along shot to shot in a circle. Three more shots you'd have been back to where you started.

Not that guy but I use the same app. Doubt it’s the sequence of the shots. When I mark impacts with it I just go in a circle like that.

 

[5811]

Here's the only 10 shot group I did today with the AAC Sabre Black Tip. Not bad for $0.60/ea. No idea how they will work on game, but good practice ammo at least.




Shot even better out of my Stag super varminter. (AR-15 24" bull barrel, 1/8tw)

 

[The Guide]

My kids just got called and activated for a damage hunt on whitetail does for next weekend. I'm going to see how the AAC 75 grain Sabre Blade Black Tips shoot in the RAR and maybe get some data points for performance on game. That rifle is very accurate with the 73 ELDM ammo so we might be able to get some additional data points with that bullet too.

Jay

To follow up, did not get a chance to shoot the AAC 75 Sabre ammo in the RAR before the hunt so we used the factory Hornady 73 ELDM @ a muzzle velocity of 2534 fps. My daughter shot 2 whitetail does with the 73 ELDM ammo.

Doe #1: 198 yards. Impact velocity 2108 fps. Bullet hit probably the "worst" spot on the should at the junction of the scapula and the humerus. The bullet blew up the joint, broke a rib, and lodged in the heart. Deer ran 15 yards and flopped doing the running man on its side for seconds.

Doe #2: 230 yards. Impact velocity 2048 fps. Bullet went in right behind the crease and hit no bone going in. There was a 0.75 to 1.5 inch hole through the lungs and the bullet hit a rib on the way out, leaving a 2+ inch exit. Doe jumped a fence and ran 40 yards leaving a large blood trail that could be easily followed even in green grass and dropped within sight.

Impressed with the performance of the 73 ELDM at these impact velocities. From the Ruger American Ranch with the 16.1" barrel, this ammo hits 1800 fps at 350 yards which is more than enough for most hunting scenarios and most shooters abilities.

Unfortunately, due to how they wanted the hunt run (controlled damage hunt) I did not get any necropsy photos. We could not gut the deer in the hunting fields and had to load them up and take them to a separate area to gut. I got all the deer the 3 hunters shot loaded up and moved to the approved area I was dark and still hot. I was worried about meat quality more than pictures. My wife helped where she could and kept the bugs off from me. We got all deer deboned and in the cooler on ice in 2.5 hours. No time to think about pictures. If we shoot anymore when it isn't 90⁰+ I'll get some photos.

Jay

 

[Dioni A]

This was all balled up under the hide on the off side of my deer from this weekend. 88 Grain ELDM at 63 yd starting out at 3250 from a 22 Creed. Wasn't as impressed from the first shot. Right behind the shoulder I would have thought it took out heart and lungs. Definitely would have been fatal. deer went maybe 40 yards and bedded down. Talked with @Formidilosus and we concluded that when he bedded it sealed the chest cavity enough to let him keep breathing. He would have died pretty quickly but within a few minutes I got to where I could see him again and put another one in him. That's the one we're looking at in this picture.


This shows the entry from the first shot. Didn't open up the chest cavity to see what it looked like.

 

[WIDrake]

It's at a Scheels, good luck on the scavenger hunt folks! Stainless even!