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

I stumbled across this site by accident a few weeks ago while researching 7mm-08 terminal performance because I want a more compact rifle with less recoil that I would want to shoot more often. I saw a comment from Mr. Form talking in depth about 6.5 CM vs. 7mm-08, which led me down a rabbit hole to here. I'm 50 pages and 1,000 comments in with 9,000 more comments to go. My wife is starting to get suspicious and jealous since I've been glued to my phone the past few nights, lol.

I'm in my early 30s, and I've been hunting my whole life, but nothing serious like y'all do here. I sort of just accepted all the conventional fuddlore from mainstream forums and YouTube and didn't think much past it. I've been shooting a .30-06 since I was 14 because that's what I was told was needed to anchor 120-lb Deep South whitetails.

Anyway, this isn't a particularly noteworthy comment, but I just wanted to express my gratitude for totally changing my viewpoint and educating me. I still have a lot to learn, but knowing that my dream of a short, handy, mild-recoiling rifle that's capable of ethically harvesting big game is a reality is exciting.
 
Ok, so at one point I had read all posts, dang this thread keeps growing!! Thanks for all the info and contributions!

Looking for info, has anyone tried new cases made for 5.56?


Specifically talking about the ones here. From what I gather they handle higher pressure and therefore approx 200 fps more, longer case life, better lubricity than brass, lighter than brass, no stretch, magnetic pickup! Seems great. I would love to hear if anyone has tried them. Seems like the extra fps would make these a win win for the 223/5.56
 
Ok, so at one point I had read all posts, dang this thread keeps growing!! Thanks for all the info and contributions!

Looking for info, has anyone tried new cases made for 5.56?


Specifically talking about the ones here. From what I gather they handle higher pressure and therefore approx 200 fps more, longer case life, better lubricity than brass, lighter than brass, no stretch, magnetic pickup! Seems great. I would love to hear if anyone has tried them. Seems like the extra fps would make these a win win for the 223/5.56
There's a bit of info on them from @Trackselk in the Ultralight-Ultralight thread. He's wrung them out a bit. So far they haven't worked well in the Solo actions, but might work well in a traditional bolt rifle...TBD. Seem to be mostly a one and done case at this point.
 
There's a bit of info on them from @Trackselk in the Ultralight-Ultralight thread. He's wrung them out a bit. So far they haven't worked well in the Solo actions, but might work well in a traditional bolt rifle...TBD. Seem to be mostly a one and done case at this point.
Yup, reports say they're fine in gas-guns and bolt actions, but they jam up strait pull AR's. You might get 2 firings in a loose chamber, but I doubt it. The shoulder angle is off, which makes them .001" over Sammi max length from the get go. I'm hoping it's just a bad batch.
They are lasting for several reloads on my subsonic (small game) recipe. Just clean and reload, zero sizing which is nice.
 
Ok, so at one point I had read all posts, dang this thread keeps growing!! Thanks for all the info and contributions!

Looking for info, has anyone tried new cases made for 5.56?


Specifically talking about the ones here. From what I gather they handle higher pressure and therefore approx 200 fps more, longer case life, better lubricity than brass, lighter than brass, no stretch, magnetic pickup! Seems great. I would love to hear if anyone has tried them. Seems like the extra fps would make these a win win for the 223/5.56
Hard to tell how case life is if no one I know of has successfully reloaded them..... I have some loaded by phantom defense. they were loaded fast, but not significantly faster than a worked up reload in brass. I thin shell shock was selling special reloading components in the past but not now. I'd like to hear more experience too. They didn't like to eject in my ultralight, but might be the answer to non reloader bolt or gas gun guys.
 
Does anyone have a velocity and charge weight they can share for 16" Tikka factory barrel with 77tmk and accurate 2520?
Not from a Tikka, but a 16" barrel: With a newer lot, I've gone up to 25.5 grains @ 2.28", LC brass and CCI 450. Velocity seems to be around 2,650 - 2,700.

I mention "newer lot" because I think AA 2520 burn rate can vary quite a bit. That's probably compounded by AA getting it from different sources over the years. With my old batch, I could go a little higher without seeing any "signs" of pressure, for what that's worth. That's measuring case expansion, reading the primer tea leaves and noting case/primer pocket life.
 
I'm in my early 30s, and I've been hunting my whole life, but nothing serious like y'all do here. I sort of just accepted all the conventional fuddlore from mainstream forums and YouTube and didn't think much past it. I've been shooting a .30-06 since I was 14 because that's what I was told was needed to anchor 120-lb Deep South whitetails.
Don't feel bad...when I first started deer hunting one of my mentors tried to convince me that I needed a .300 Win Mag to kill Southeastern whitetails. This advice was from a guy who owned a gun store, had a lot of experience with hunting, guns, handloading, etc. When I ignored his advice and opted for a .270 Win instead (I'd been reading a lot of Jack O' Connor's stuff), he warned me that I would be wounding/losing a lot of deer with a .270 and that if I was hell bent on hunting with it, then I should at least use a minimum of a 150 grain bullet and stay away from the 130s. What was funny was that he got me into his hunting club after I bought that .270 from his shop. I killed two deer that year (my first two ever with a rifle) on our lease using that .270 with cheap 130 grain Winchester white box ammo. Both were one shot kills, both deer ran less than 20 yards. That was a long time ago and I have no idea whatever happened to that guy. But I have often thought of his "expert" advice while reading through the .223/6mm kill threads on this site. ;)
 
Ok, so at one point I had read all posts, dang this thread keeps growing!! Thanks for all the info and contributions!

Looking for info, has anyone tried new cases made for 5.56?


Specifically talking about the ones here. From what I gather they handle higher pressure and therefore approx 200 fps more, longer case life, better lubricity than brass, lighter than brass, no stretch, magnetic pickup! Seems great. I would love to hear if anyone has tried them. Seems like the extra fps would make these a win win for the 223/5.56
I’ve loaded both 77 TMKs and 80 ElDx in these cases. As stated, they are loadable, not reloadable. I’ve loaded them to, well, let’s say 223 AI velocities out of Tikka with an 18” barrel with XBR 8208. No case prep, other than a little Hornady One Shot on the case mouth/neck. They do have lower SD and ES than my other brass handloads, which may reflective of the neck concentricity achieved by the stamped manufacturing process. Regardless, I like them….
 
Back
Top