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

[Bluumoon]

I’m trying to load up on components for practice this year…bullets and brass. Has anyone seen any great Black Friday/Cyber Monday deals? I’m stocked up on hunting bullets, but would like to get a bunch for practice. Don’t want to sacrifice much in terms of accuracy since I already suck at shooting and don’t want to further confound figuring out why I missed…and of course, I’m trying to get my cost per shot down. TIA

Loaded Norma rounds could be had for .50 cents last week (might still be a thing) the brass reloads well for me and likely cheaper than paying for empty good brass and loading 1st round.

 

[hunterjmj]

I few online suppliers are having free hazmat fees. If you can't find primers or powder locally this is a decent deal.

 

[KyleR1985]

I bought LC once fired 500(250x2) from sages reloading. With shipping my total is 16.6 cents per.

this is the only thing that’s stood out in my purchases. Everything else comes along at a sale or hazmat/shipping waived. Just be patient.

 

[robtattoo]

12pt whitetail, just this afternoon. I don't have full autopsy pics yet because I let my deer hang for a day or two before butchering. I'll update once I get the skin off.
124yds, extreme downhill angle. I was 12 feet up a tree, the deer was at the bottom of a VERY steep hill.
2517fps impact velocity from an 18" T3x, 77gr TMK
He ploughed about 20yds with no front legs, dead in maybe 5 seconds.

Entrance:
View attachment 798166

Exit:
View attachment 798167

View attachment 798168View attachment 798169View attachment 798170

UPDATE:
Yep, definitely wish I had more gun..... .223 is absolutely 'marginal'

Shoulder in place. Obviously 'crunchy' feeling.


Exit wound inside offside shoulder.


Interior of shoulder.


Exterior.


Bone fragments everywhere, tissue displacement you could throw a dachshund puppy through. All major bones completely shattered.

I never found any bullet fragments, but there is definitely no exit in the skin. I've yet to dig into the offside shoulder, there may be some copper & lead in there I guess, but nothing big enough to be obvious right now.

 

[WestTN2288]

Ok, so I’ve seen some discussion on the 88eldm vs 80eldm vs 80 Eld-X. What about the 75eldm vs 80 eldm vs 80eld-X.

I know we’re splitting hairs, but just for fun, let’s split them and rank these bullets assuming a 2800-2900 starting velocity

 

[Tell]

Another elk to add. Young bull fork horn. 75 eldm at 430yds. I recovered bullets in the offside hide and in the liver (quartering towards).

two days later I used the same combination on a coyote at 610. On impact he jumped and bit at the shot, then ran. We recovered him about 40yds downhill. The bullet exited and both entrance and exit were small. It went through his lungs, but it wasn’t nearly as explosive as hitting ribs on an elk. Impact velocity was around 1,975 fps.

 

[Hardly_Hangin]

i read this thread and now I'm reading the 243 thread and it seens the best 243 bullets are the NBT which appears to be the same as Winchester silver tipped, and not the tmk because they don't offer a heavier for caliber version.

77gr tmk is the resounding winner for 223, but nobody has mentioned the 64gr Winchester silver tips on this thread. Is this because it doesn't have enough mass to penetrate adequately? Or is it a different bullet than the nbt in 243? NBT comes up in search some but nothing relevant for "silver"

Asking because there seems to be reliability issues with the aac brand tmk and my LGS stocks the Winchester silver tip. They also carry 73gr eldm which seems to be a close second to the 77gr TMK so it may be a non issue, but since nobody has mentioned it in 9466 posts it would be good to know where it landed in the spectrum.

 

[Formidilosus]

i read this thread and now I'm reading the 243 thread and it seens the best 243 bullets are the NBT which appears to be the same as Winchester silver tipped, and not the tmk because they don't offer a heavier for caliber version.

The 95gr TMK is phenomenal- it just hasn’t been made in 4 years.

77gr tmk is the resounding winner for 223, but nobody has mentioned the 64gr Winchester silver tips on this thread. Is this because it doesn't have enough mass to penetrate adequately? Or is it a different bullet than the nbt in 243? NBT comes up in search some but nothing relevant for "silver"

The 64gr Winchester is a totally and completely different bullet model than Nosler Ballistic Tips- and the Winchester “Ballistic SilverTip” is a Nosler Ballistic Tip with a black coating.

 

[Hardly_Hangin]

The 95gr TMK is phenomenal- it just hasn’t been made in 4 years.








The 64gr Winchester is a totally and completely different bullet model than Nosler Ballistic Tips- and the Winchester “Ballistic SilverTip” is a Nosler Ballistic Tip with a black coating.

Ah, i see - thanks for clarifying

 

[Gettincloser]

Here is a 97# hog. (Still wider than TX whitetail we hunt.) Entry of the shoulder, inside shoulder of entry side, inside of shoulder exit side and the far side of shoulder the bullet did not pass through. The bullet severed (completely) the top of the heart, windpipe and everything at the junction!

*****Strong thing I have noted in the 6 animals we have taken: When shot through the shoulder (muscle or muscle/bone combo) you will lose a 3" to 4" "cylinder path" of meat. You will get "blood shot" in nearly 80% of both front shoulders on TX whitetail deer/hogs. However, the blood is blown between the muscle groups. If you take your time to separate the muscle groups, you can literally use your knife to scrape the membrane and blood off the muscle groups and have clean meat. What little blood is left, grinds nicely for sausage! There is less meat loss than the pictures indicate.

For the shots that went through shoulder to shoulder or frontal shots, (5) all bang flop. The last deer, dad shot it just behind the crease of the front shoulder broadside (I asked him to.) It was the only one that has not flopped at the shot. Back half of lungs were gone. Between the ribs in, between the ribs out. Blood at shot site (88 yards) and the deer ran between 35yards to 45 yards depending on the path he took. Blood trail the last 15 feet. But we saw the deer 15 yards away. Blood trail did nothing for us...

Since the meat loss is less than I anticipated it being, and the fact that we hunt heavy brush, I will be shooting head, neck and shoulder/ front half of chest cavity moving forward. This way I do not have to "track" in heavy brush. What a cool little bullet!

 

[Mideerhunter]

Hey guys, I don't know if anyone is looking for loaded 77tmk but I found some on cmp made by creedmore sports. I called them and they use sierra tmk bullets and load it a little bit lighter than Black hills but they believe that it does not have that big of a difference. https://shop.thecmp.org/product/Ammo/4C223CS77MT-200

 

[Pharmseller]

Another elk to add. Young bull fork horn. 75 eldm at 430yds. I recovered bullets in the offside hide and in the liver (quartering towards). View attachment 800489View attachment 800494

two days later I used the same combination on a coyote at 610. On impact he jumped and bit at the shot, then ran. We recovered him about 40yds downhill. The bullet exited and both entrance and exit were small. It went through his lungs, but it wasn’t nearly as explosive as hitting ribs on an elk. View attachment 800504View attachment 800505View attachment 800506View attachment 800507Impact velocity was around 1,975 fps.

How did the bull behave at the shot? Distance travelled, etc.

MV of your load?




P

 

[WyoWild]

Is anyone using n540 in 223 with the 77 tmk?

So far this has been the best powder for me. Shooting a factory Tikka lite 223 at 16": Load 77 TMK - 23.8 n540 - CCI 400 - Starline Brass. Velocity 2615-2620 with great accuracy.

Has also had the lowest SD of any other powder I have tried (TAC, CFE 223, H4895 & Benchmark)

 

[Dave_S]

No pics, but just came here to add another testimonial for the 73gr ELD-M. Whitetail doe at 217yds. Damage on par with what I have seen with 30-06. My first animal with .223 and I'm impressed.

 

[FredH]

I just finished packaging the deer and frying up the tenderloins. Tasty. Found a piece of jacket in the backstrap the bullet went through on it's way vertically out of the deer. The lack of damage is hard to believe. The 75 grain BTHP not traveling in a reasonably straight line, in one case veering downward and in the other going upward just sucked. Almost FMJ like. Still for shot three times very little meat lost, Next time I will be using the 80 gr. ELDM. from a 22 ARC.

 

[FredH]

So far this has been the best powder for me. Shooting a factory Tikka lite 223 at 16": Load 77 TMK - 23.8 n540 - CCI 400 - Starline Brass. Velocity 2615-2620 with great accuracy.

Has also had the lowest SD of any other powder I have tried (TAC, CFE 223, H4895 & Benchmark)

Is that the velocity window we are looking for?

 

[waspocrew]

The 95gr TMK is phenomenal- it just hasn’t been made in 4 years.

I reached out to Sierra recently - 95 TMKs should be hitting the shelves in mid Jan.

 

[WyoWild]

Is that the velocity window we are looking for?

For a 16 inch barrel I am happy with anything > 2600 with a 77gr bullet. I got 2670 with Tac but accuracy was not as good n540.

 

[Schmo]

The lack of damage is hard to believe. The 75 grain BTHP not traveling in a reasonably straight line, in one case veering downward and in the other going upward just sucked. Almost FMJ like.

You may have missed the part where BTHP are NOT recommended on game. They can perform well, or they can do just what you experienced. Stay with ELD-M or TMK and you’ll be golden.

 

[BjornF16]

You may have missed the part where BTHP are NOT recommended on game. They can perform well, or they can do just what you experienced. Stay with ELD-M or TMK and you’ll be golden.

Mmmm…not so sure about this if we are talking about Hornady 75 HPBT; Form indicates they are a good option.

But I do like the ELD-M and TMK

Both. The 73gr ELD-M is good. Wide wound channels with sufficient penetration for deer/lopes. The 75gr HPBT is a penetrator. Kills well while going through bone. I prefer results when impact velocity is above 2,200fps with the HPBT.