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

Dave0317

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Mar 22, 2017
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384
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North MS
I’m glad that we’ve finally gotten back on track of refuting and proving the merits of the 223 Rem. The Talley/Leupold quality needs its own separate thread.
I agree. The last 450 pages have been a decent intro into the idea that maybe the .223 can be used for big game. We should be able to start to drive the point home over the next 450 pages or so.
 

Holocene

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Jul 25, 2016
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Portland, OR
Adding to the pile here, not to continue to build the case for 223 Remington for big game, but to celebrate that I got to do it with a LEFT HANDED Rokslide Special (unobtainable in the USA) and add a report of a specific bullet, the Hornady ELD-M 73 grain.

Success was on a Small blacktail doe shot offhand while picking chanterelles on the Oregon coast. I'm mostly a bowhunter, recoil shy, and very pleased with the performance, accuracy, and overall shootability of this rifle.

Rifle: Left-handed Tikka T3x 223 Remington 1:8 twist 20" barrel, SWFA 6x42, factory barrel (unobtainable in the USA, so I had to piece together from parts)
Bullet: 73 grain ELD-M
Shot distance: 75 yards
Traveled: 16 yards
Bloodtrail: Explosive blood at shot site, solid blood trail for 15 yards and she was right there.
Wound description: Tiny bullet sized hole in skin and shoulder muscle. Main damage to heart. I couldn't see the entry wound until skinning. Bullet opened quickly (second pic) and started to work by the time in rib cage. Entry rib cage wound about 1.75" wide and exit ribcage wound about 2" wide. The bullet hit dead center of the heart. All I found was a small triangle meat nugget that was the bottom of the heart. The rest was hamburger. Lungs pretty much intact. Meat loss/bloodshot very, very minimal.
Animal behavior: Deer raised up on hind legs and sprinted forward into woods and died within seconds.
 

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Mar 28, 2020
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Cool vid, keep 'em coming!


Sure it is :)

I think "223 for bear mountain goat elk etc" includes 22 ARC plus 22 creed, 22-250, 222 Rem, 220 Swift and any other centerfire that starts out with a .224 bullet.
I don’t, there’s a significant increase in the size of the wound channels with the faster rounds, this is a specific discussion of the 223
 
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