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

Marbles

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77 TMK at about 2700 fps on a largeish (400 pound) hog that refused to cooperate after I put his pen mate down with a 22 lr. Shot hit behind the right eye socket, punched through the cranial vault and out the other side, the bullet was found between the offside skull and fat while cutting off the jowl bacon. I was going to halve the head with a sawzall, but as the skull crunched, decided to dissect down.

The skull was literally fractured in half.

For reference, a 410 just punches a caliber sized whole through the skull. Unfortunately I can say from experience that a 410 that misses the cranial valt will not stun a pig, a 77 TMK that misses will still stun it with performance very similar to a correctly placed 22 lr.

Reference of a smaller pig stunned with a 22 lr, you can actually see the remains of the 22 bullet between the skull and brain, it lacked the force to puncture the membranes around the brain after going through the skull, which is why a 22 only stuns them.
20240830_152357.jpg


Finger is on the entry, knife tip on the exit, the jowls have already been removed, so an inch of tissue is missing on the exit side.20240830_150345.jpg20240830_150347.jpg20240830_150350.jpg

The bullet remains , it did not completely come apart and the lead remained in the base. There was also a slurry of lead flakes in the area the bullet stopped.20240830_154945.jpg

20240830_150605.jpg20240830_150520.jpg

Those are chunks of solid bone that were fractured and I could flip up with my fingers.
20240830_151010.jpg

The tip of the knife is touching the first bit of solid bone towards the nose and my finger is inline with the first bit of solid bone towards the back. I could rock the front and back independently and feel the bottom of the cranial vault was shattered similarly to the top with my fingers.
20240830_150857.jpg

This skull had fractures through areas more than 1 inch thick, this is solid bone, not hollow bones with marrow like the legs/ribs/pelvis.

I am beyond impressed. The bullet itself passed through 1.5 inches of bone.

**Edited for spelling and clarity.
 
Last edited:

Shotgunman28

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77 TMK at about 2700 fps on a largeish (400 pound) hog that refuseed to cooperate after I put his pen mate down with a 22 lr. Shot hit behind the right eye socket, punched through the cranial vault and out the other side, the bullet was found between the offside skull and fat while cutting off the jowl bacon. I was going to halve it with a sawzall, but is the skull crunched, decided to dissect down.

The skull was literally fractured in half.

For reference, a 410 just punches a caliber sized whole through the skull. Unfortunately I can say from experience that a 410 that misses the cranial valt will not stun a pig, a 77 TMK that misses will still stun it with performance very similar to a correctly placed 22 lr.

Reference of a smaller pig stunned with a 22 lr, you can actually see the remains of the 22 bullet between the skull and brain, it lacked the force to puncture the membranes around the brain after going through the skull, which is why a 22 only stuns them.
View attachment 758013


Finger is on the entry, knife tip on the exit, the jowls have already been removed, so an inth of tissue is missing on the exit side.View attachment 758012View attachment 758011View attachment 758010

The bullet, in this case it tis not completely come apart and the lead remained in the base. There was also a slurry of lead flakes in the area the bullet stopped.View attachment 758009

View attachment 758005View attachment 758008

Those are chuncks of solid bone that were fractured and I could flip up with my fingers.
View attachment 758007

The tip of the knife is touching the first bit of solid bone towards the nose and my finger is inline with the first bit of solid bone towards the back. I could rock the front and back independently and feel the bottom of the cranial vault was shattered similarly to the top with my fingers.
View attachment 758006

This skull had fractures through areas more than 1 inch thick, this is solid bone, not hollow bones with marrow like the legs/ribs/pelvis.

I am beyond impressed. The bullet itself passed through 1.5 inches of bone.
And these are the walking tanks everyone says have a shield for a shoulder blade. The right bullet in the right spot.. night, night
 

Marbles

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And these are the walking tanks everyone says have a shield for a shoulder blade. The right bullet in the right spot.. night, night
The guy I slaughtered for today had previously done his own with bad results after shooting between the eyes (a shot that misses the brain, and results in a very pissed pig). He thought the bullets had bounced off. Having made that same crappy shot in the past and having cut the heads in half with a sawzall, I can say for sure they did not bounce, just bad shot placement due to anatomy that differs from expectations.

Pigs have vitals that are pretty small in relation to their body length. I don't believe in the "shield" being able to stop a bullet, I do believe in bad shot placement leading people to believe some animals are bullet proof.

Not my goat, but I watched a mountain goat take two rounds to the body, fall 20-40 feet and roll hundreds of feet down a mountain, then stand up. A third shot hit the vitals and finished him in under 30 seconds. The first two shots destroyed a good bit of backstrap, but nothing else. If the goat had not been torn up from the fall and having a match bullet shred a good bit of muscle and had been able to run, probably would have been another story of a bullet proof goat and needing a bigger round.

The same bullet in the vitals on another goat resulted in it dying were it lay.
 
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Thegman

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Nov 21, 2015
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670
77 TMK at about 2700 fps on a largeish (400 pound) hog that refuseed to cooperate after I put his pen mate down with a 22 lr. Shot hit behind the right eye socket, punched through the cranial vault and out the other side, the bullet was found between the offside skull and fat while cutting off the jowl bacon. I was going to halve it with a sawzall, but is the skull crunched, decided to dissect down.

The skull was literally fractured in half.

For reference, a 410 just punches a caliber sized whole through the skull. Unfortunately I can say from experience that a 410 that misses the cranial valt will not stun a pig, a 77 TMK that misses will still stun it with performance very similar to a correctly placed 22 lr.

Reference of a smaller pig stunned with a 22 lr, you can actually see the remains of the 22 bullet between the skull and brain, it lacked the force to puncture the membranes around the brain after going through the skull, which is why a 22 only stuns them.
View attachment 758013


Finger is on the entry, knife tip on the exit, the jowls have already been removed, so an inth of tissue is missing on the exit side.View attachment 758012View attachment 758011View attachment 758010

The bullet, in this case it tis not completely come apart and the lead remained in the base. There was also a slurry of lead flakes in the area the bullet stopped.View attachment 758009

View attachment 758005View attachment 758008

Those are chuncks of solid bone that were fractured and I could flip up with my fingers.
View attachment 758007

The tip of the knife is touching the first bit of solid bone towards the nose and my finger is inline with the first bit of solid bone towards the back. I could rock the front and back independently and feel the bottom of the cranial vault was shattered similarly to the top with my fingers.
View attachment 758006

This skull had fractures through areas more than 1 inch thick, this is solid bone, not hollow bones with marrow like the legs/ribs/pelvis.

I am beyond impressed. The bullet itself passed through 1.5 inches of bone.
Now this here is some full on redneck shit...🤣

God Bless America! (and Marbles) 🇺🇲
 

Shotgunman28

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Aug 23, 2024
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The guy I slaughtered for today had previously done his own with bad results after shooting between the eyes (a shot that misses the brain, and results in a very pissed pig). He thought the bullets had bounced off. Having made that same crappy shot in the past and having cut the heads in half with a sawzall, I can say for sure they did not bounce, just bad shot placement due to anatomy that differs from expectations.

Pigs have vitals that are pretty far forward and small in relation to their body length. I don't believe in the "shield" being able to stop a bullet, I do believe in bad shot placement leading people to believe some animals are bullet proof.

Not my goat, but I watched a mountain goat take two rounds to the body, fall 20-40 feet and roll hundreds of feet down a mountain, then stand up. A third shot hit the vitals and finished him in under 30 seconds. The first two shots destroyed a good bit of backstrap, but nothing else. If the goat had not been torn up from the fall and having a match bullet shred a good bit of muscle and had been able to run, probably would have been another story of a bullet proof goat and needing a bigger round.

The same bullet in the vitals on another goat resulted in it dying were it lay.
Exactly put it where it’s supposed to go and you’re good
 

atmat

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My recent one is wylde but there are even more optimized options for a bolt action shooting 75+ grain bullets IMO. Definitely wouldn’t do SAAMI if intending to shoot heavies.
What are you wanting to shoot? SAAMI is fine for the TMKs, and that’s good enough for me.
 
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What are you wanting to shoot? SAAMI is fine for the TMKs, and that’s good enough for me.
Yeah, it’s fine. But if you’re paying someone to chamber a barrel, it doesn’t cost more to have them do it such that you don’t have to stuff the bullet so deep in the case. Maybe if a guy is using factory ammo alone it doesn’t matter but even in that case I’d want a wylde over SAAMI to shoot 556 ammo at lower pressure so you don’t get sticky bolt lift like my factory tikka tube did with 556 ammo. If you’re hand loading, you can get more velocity, less compressed loads, not have the shank centered up in the donut area, etc. It all might very well amount to zero statistical difference in hitting targets but if I’m paying the price of a full tikka for a new barrel there’s no reason not to take the easy optimizations that are available.

The wylde chamber wouldnt be so common if the 223 rem was better for shooting heavies accurately.

Edit: @atmat I meant to respond to @Old-Cat, wasn’t trying to start an argument.
 
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Poe

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sorry if it has been asked a bunch but so far I am only 80 some pages deep on this so it might take awhile to get right through. I will be picking up a tikka stainless varmint with a 8 twist .223 barrel on it. I have been seeing conflicting opinions on if the 75 eldm will work with a factory mag length tikka. I don’t want buy them just to find out I have to load them to long. I can’t find any 77gr TMK speer gold dots or 73gr eldm so if the 75’s would work that would be great. If the 75’s are a no go is there anymore good options?
 

Moose83

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Aug 30, 2020
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sorry if it has been asked a bunch but so far I am only 80 some pages deep on this so it might take awhile to get right through. I will be picking up a tikka stainless varmint with a 8 twist .223 barrel on it. I have been seeing conflicting opinions on if the 75 eldm will work with a factory mag length tikka. I don’t want buy them just to find out I have to load them to long. I can’t find any 77gr TMK speer gold dots or 73gr eldm so if the 75’s would work that would be great. If the 75’s are a no go is there anymore good options?
The 75 eld-m is too long for the factory tikka mag unless it is modified. If you skip ahead look up post #7628 (or maybe it was #7648... somewhere in that range), Form lists all the 2.26" compatible bullets that have been found to be good performers
 
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