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

[BigBelle]

I wouldn't put money on it. The .223 is a decent round for what it is intended to do and it was never intended to shoot large game species. Get your Mini 14 and pick up a .44 Magnum pistol to carry as a side arm in the event of a bear attack. Better yet get something in .308. Then you can hunt most any game in the lower 48 including black bear.

 

[HighUintas]

I have 1000 of the AAC 75bthp showing up Friday. I’ll report back if I get out this weekend. Thinking about grabbing 1000 of the 77otm to test out.

Please do. Thanks!

 

[omicron1792]

Good season for my family and glad to contribute to this thread. 9 deer taken with .223 this year. Rifles used were Ruger American Ranch in 5.56 and self built 10.5 AR. All 73eldm. Ruger American shots were 35-110y all had entry and exit by wife, 14y son, 13y son, and 7y son and ranged from through shoulder to above/just behind shoulder. 5 10.5 AR shots/kills were 90-180y only got 1 exit all just behind shoulder by myself. 6 of 9 had good blood trails. 1 may have had a trail but was shot in downpour. 2 had very light and distanced drops difficult to see for novices. ALL dropped within 25y. Will be exclusively using .223 going forward and was very satisfied with the results.

Sent from my Pixel 9 Pro XL using Tapatalk

What a great post. Thanks my man

 

[omicron1792]

I wouldn't put money on it. The .223 is a decent round for what it is intended to do and it was never intended to shoot large game species. Get your Mini 14 and pick up a .44 Magnum pistol to carry as a side arm in the event of a bear attack. Better yet get something in .308. Then you can hunt most any game in the lower 48 including black bear.

You haven’t been reading much

 

[mt terry d]

Addition to post 10,299
77 TMK
The cow at 144 yards
Impact velocity @ 2410
Did not recover bullet due to nasty conditions.

 

[Billogna]

Addition to post 10,299
77 TMK
The cow at 144 yards
Impact velocity @ 2410
Did not recover bullet due to nasty conditions.

View attachment 827374


View attachment 827375

That elk broke it's leg so you hadda put her down huh??

 

[LongWayAround]

@BigBelle you stopped reading at the title, didn't you?

Post #29 is a good start for pictures...

Your post was #10,243 in this thread. There's a few dead critters in here.

 

[fwafwow]

@BigBelle you stopped reading at the title, didn't you?

Post #29 is a good start for pictures...

Your post was #10,243 in this thread. There's a few dead critters in here.

Ha! First 1057 days as a member - zero posts. 6 posts today in 40 minutes. I'm thinking he or she has found something of interest in the classifieds. (Or been hacked.)

 

[24valve]

How's the accuracy out of a Tikka factory barrel compared for these 3 AAC options?

I'm currently trying the AAC 77 OTM in a suppressed Tikka, 18" barrel, and have shot two 10-round groups: one was 2.0 MOA and the other was 1.1 MOA... so the jury is still out until I can shoot some more groups or a larger one to determine the true precision of these.

EDIT: After attending a S2H course and shooting 900+ rounds of this ammo, it was consistently 1.5 MOA. I attribute the previously mentioned 2.0 MOA group to poor technique

 

[HighUintas]

I'm currently trying the AAC 77 OTM in a suppressed Tikka, 18" barrel, and have shot two 10-round groups: one was 2.0 MOA and the other was 1.1 MOA... so the jury is still out until I can shoot some more groups or a larger one to determine the true precision of these.

That's kind of crazy. In searching for reports on these, I found another report from somebody at the shoot to hunt class. That said, out of the same rifle, they had two different 10 round groups of the same lot of that ammo and one was about one MOA and the other looked like it was about 1.75 MOA.

As long as it averages out, I guess that's okay


Were those from the 250 round blue ammo can, or were they the individual 20 round boxes?

 

[ztc92]

How's the accuracy out of a Tikka factory barrel compared for these 3 AAC options?

And, I'm guessing the only reason the same rounds that are in the 250rd ammo can are more expensive is due to the included ammo can?

View attachment 827328

I just bought 1000 of the 77 OTM. I’ll report back when I test them next week. Hoping for 1.5MOA but seems that might be wishful thinking based on the other posts…

 

[BigEd36]

I've been a Rokslide lurker for a for a couple of years but this is my first post. This thread has been an education for me (yes, I read the whole thing). Before this I wouldn't have really considered using a 223 for deer. Indiana doesn't allow anything smaller than 24 caliber for deer and I was fine with that, thinking it was a prudent rule. Then, recently, I had one of the "for you" recommendations for Tyler Freel's article "Could Hot New .22 Cartridges Replace the .243 Winchester?". My initial reaction was along the lines of "no f'n way". But I read the article and found it provoked a lot of thought. After some online searching I found Tyler's article ".Why Small Cartridges Are So Effective for Big Game". Now I was thinking there may be something to this. With more searching I found Garth Morgan's article "Hunting Big Game With A .223: Yes, It Can Be Done!". Also threads that guided me to the podcast with Formidilosus, which I listened to both parts. Also links guiding me to this thread, so I started reading it too. And reading, and reading, and reading! It's taken me well over a month reading some each evening but I've finally finished the whole thing. Now my attitude is "why the hell doesn't Indiana allow us to use 22 calibers for deer? What the hell is wrong with the rule makers?" I've been happy with 308 Winchester, 243 Winchester, and 350 Legend til now. And I'm now disappointed that my Winchester 70 in 223 has the slow twist (if I remember correctly it's a 12 inch, I'm going to have to check to be sure, but I know it's not 8 inch.) I have an AR-15 with 9" and one with 8" so I could use them if allowed, but I prefer to use a bolt gun for hunting. C'mon Indiana, change the rule! I think I will send links to these articles, podcasts, and this thread to the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, maybe I can enlighten them a bit.

A big thanks to all who have contributed to this thread and to this old man's enlightenment!

Ed

 

[Deere_Man]

I've been a Rokslide lurker for a for a couple of years but this is my first post. This thread has been an education for me (yes, I read the whole thing). Before this I wouldn't have really considered using a 223 for deer. Indiana doesn't allow anything smaller than 24 caliber for deer and I was fine with that, thinking it was a prudent rule. Then, recently, I had one of the "for you" recommendations for Tyler Freel's article "Could Hot New .22 Cartridges Replace the .243 Winchester?". My initial reaction was along the lines of "no f'n way". But I read the article and found it provoked a lot of thought. After some online searching I found Tyler's article ".Why Small Cartridges Are So Effective for Big Game". Now I was thinking there may be something to this. With more searching I found Garth Morgan's article "Hunting Big Game With A .223: Yes, It Can Be Done!". Also threads that guided me to the podcast with Formidilosus, which I listened to both parts. Also links guiding me to this thread, so I started reading it too. And reading, and reading, and reading! It's taken me well over a month reading some each evening but I've finally finished the whole thing. Now my attitude is "why the hell doesn't Indiana allow us to use 22 calibers for deer? What the hell is wrong with the rule makers?" I've been happy with 308 Winchester, 243 Winchester, and 350 Legend til now. And I'm now disappointed that my Winchester 70 in 223 has the slow twist (if I remember correctly it's a 12 inch, I'm going to have to check to be sure, but I know it's not 8 inch.) I have an AR-15 with 9" and one with 8" so I could use them if allowed, but I prefer to use a bolt gun for hunting. C'mon Indiana, change the rule! I think I will send links to these articles, podcasts, and this thread to the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, maybe I can enlighten them a bit.

A big thanks to all who have contributed to this thread and to this old man's enlightenment!

Ed

There are many extremely lethal 223 loads that are viable in a 1:12” twist. Many people just use a standard cannelured 55gr Hornady soft point. I also have heard that a 64gr Winchester Power Point will do well in most 1:12” barrels.

Winchester Ammo X223R2 Super-X 223 Rem 64 gr Power-Point (PP) 20 Bx/ 10 Cs

<p>Super-X ammunition has provided exceptional quality and outstanding performance for all types of hunters and shooters who rely on its time-proven dependability backed by legendary excellence.</p>

www.gmansportingarms.com

 

[nephewjephew]

How's the accuracy out of a Tikka factory barrel compared for these 3 AAC options?

And, I'm guessing the only reason the same rounds that are in the 250rd ammo can are more expensive is due to the included ammo can?

View attachment 827328

I picked up some AAC, looking for a good practice round. The 55GR is the only one I've shot so far, 19rd group at 1.44moa

 

[omicron1792]

I picked up some AAC, looking for a good practice round. The 55GR is the only one I've shot so far, 19rd group at 1.44moa

I just picked up some aac 77TMK. Gonna practice with it also

 

[nephewjephew]

I've had good luck with the 77tmk. Under 2moa, closer to 1.4 averaged out. Was able to take my buck this year with it too.

 

[go_deep]

I wouldn't put money on it. The .223 is a decent round for what it is intended to do and it was never intended to shoot large game species. Get your Mini 14 and pick up a .44 Magnum pistol to carry as a side arm in the event of a bear attack. Better yet get something in .308. Then you can hunt most any game in the lower 48 including black bear.

 

[24valve]

That's kind of crazy. In searching for reports on these, I found another report from somebody at the shoot to hunt class. That said, out of the same rifle, they had two different 10 round groups of the same lot of that ammo and one was about one MOA and the other looked like it was about 1.75 MOA.

As long as it averages out, I guess that's okay


Were those from the 250 round blue ammo can, or were they the individual 20 round boxes?

The individual 20-round boxes.

 

[ihookem]

I never shot anything with a 22 cal. center fire. I have read for decades 22 cal. are great. I started out with a .270 Win. If I shot a deer through the shoulders, it went down, if shot through the lungs/ heart it ran quite a long ways. My son turned 12 and a .243 WIn . was in order. Our 1st deer with a .243 WIn. was hid big doe. I was amazed how fast it killed the deer. I shot 5 with the .243 Win. Deer go down sooner with a .243 Win. when shot in heart lungs . I think I have it figured out. A smaller bullet is really better and this is why . It has nothign to do with knock down power . The animal goes into shock cause it hits the boiler room with such violence that it separates arteries . It makes the blood run backwards in the veins and that is shock power and a small bullet does that better than a big bullet... I could be wrong , but nothing else explains why deer die so fast with a smaller bullet . This is a big doe I shot with a 100 gr. Rem. coreloc in .243 Win. The bullet likely deflected off a branch cause it was only 25 yds. away . The deer dropped right on the spot and was dead in 30 seconds. There is no other reason for this deer to die that fast. It was the worst darn shot a hunter could have and it dropped it right there, spun around a few times and that was it. Because of this , I wont bother with a .270 Win. and will likely use my .243 WIn and my new Savage 10 Hunter Light . I bought 500 70 gr. Speer bullets and will use them for deer . It wont shoot 55 gr. bullets so far but looking for a load that will work for 55's cause have so many .

 

[Shraggs]

I never shot anything with a 22 cal. center fire. I have read for decades 22 cal. are great. I started out with a .270 Win. If I shot a deer through the shoulders, it went down, if shot through the lungs/ heart it ran quite a long ways. My son turned 12 and a .243 WIn . was in order. Our 1st deer with a .243 WIn. was hid big doe. I was amazed how fast it killed the deer. I shot 5 with the .243 Win. Deer go down sooner with a .243 Win. when shot in heart lungs . I think I have it figured out. A smaller bullet is really better and this is why . It has nothign to do with knock down power . The animal goes into shock cause it hits the boiler room with such violence that it separates arteries . It makes the blood run backwards in the veins and that is shock power and a small bullet does that better than a big bullet... I could be wrong , but nothing else explains why deer die so fast with a smaller bullet . This is a big doe I shot with a 100 gr. Rem. coreloc in .243 Win. The bullet likely deflected off a branch cause it was only 25 yds. away . The deer dropped right on the spot and was dead in 30 seconds. There is no other reason for this deer to die that fast. It was the worst darn shot a hunter could have and it dropped it right there, spun around a few times and that was it. Because of this , I wont bother with a .270 Win. and will likely use my .243 WIn and my new Savage 10 Hunter Light . I bought 500 70 gr. Speer bullets and will use them for deer . It wont shoot 55 gr. bullets so far but looking for a load that will work for 55's cause have so many .

Nice post. Thing is it’s not 270 vs 243 caliber thing it’s bullet type and their differences in wounding.

I’d encourage you to read all of this thread despite how long it is. You will find detailed information on how different bullets behave in tissue, and ultimately how a 223 is capable of taking elk past 400 yards only with a handful of specialized bullets.

And that pattern continues in other small calibers too. Or conversely how larger calibers have reduced tissue damage with bullets that do not optimize their greater speed and diameter.