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

I’m thinking 22LR subsonic at 50 yards and under, to the head, is probably gonna kill a deer.

These are small fallow probably similar in size to a coues deer.

Ive killed a decent number of pigs with subsonic 22lr. Not my first choice but behind the shoulder and following up kills adequately but im not stressed if they were to get away. I have shot a few deer with subsonic 308 and lead projectiles. Expansion was good but I won't do it anymore as its just slow and ineffective not worth the trailboss. In a 223 id just not bother.
 
Varget stinks for velocity tho. Tac, N150, and N540 are the tickets.
I mean I dont disagree, I’m 2880 avg with a 22” factory barrel. 75eldms 25gr Varget.

I’ve only tried TAC with 73eldm-77tmk. 24.5gr was top load like 2920ish IIRC. But mostly ran 24gr. About 2880fps

Edit: have yet to mess around with any VV powders, but people post some really good results along a wide array of their powders so at some point I’ll give some a shot in different cartridges including 223
 
Nothing wrong with lever either. I’ve read about temp and all but haven’t noticed anything out of the ordinary in the last 10+ years. 26.0-26.3 grains for regular 223 typically gets 3,000-3,100 before cut/thread. 16-18” barrels are around 2,850-2,900. I’m still shooting through a stash of old 75amax not eldm.

88’s run right at 2,600 with lever in my 1-7 Kimber. On paper I hate not really much of an advantage for my use but need to kill more with the 88’s to see if that is the advantage. Hard to ignore the gentleman up north killing moose elk bear and unicorns with the 88’s in 223AI. I’m just shooting deer though.
 
88’s run right at 2,600 with lever in my 1-7 Kimber. On paper I hate not really much of an advantage for my use but need to kill more with the 88’s to see if that is the advantage. Hard to ignore the gentleman up north killing moose elk bear and unicorns with the 88’s in 223AI. I’m just shooting deer though.
I sure hope I run across a unicorn when I have that 223AI handy…

Using 25.5 gr of Lever my 1:7 223AI Montana settled in at 2740fps with 88’s and Starline 1F brass.

Not sure if this will be a 223AI fall again, as I find myself carrying the Montana 22 Creed 1:7 with 88’s so far. Although I was kicking myself for a few minutes yesterday morning when I crawled out of the tent in the magic moose patch and had a little bull feeding around from 147 through 411 yards and I didn’t have the 223AI.

Worked out though as he had one too many tines to make him legal in my limited draw zone. Now I’ll have to wait till October 25 and hope he broke one off and see if I can’t get him during the two day season. THEN I’ll carry the 223AI, it seems to be luckier.
 
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