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

[igethangry]

Nice shooting. What barrel length is that with? And is that a compressed load?

That’s the 22” factory barrel. It’s crunchy at 22.0gr varget. I could maybe get 0.5gr more in there, but don’t really feel like I need to? It gets pretty cold here so wanted something temp stable.

 

[BOLIO]

No dialing.
I want minimal holdover / under from 20-300 yards.
Trijicon credo 3-9. Max range 300 if it’s a point and shoot at lungs. Most of my terrain I hunt would be sub 100 yard woods unless I see one crossing the blueberry fields on my way into the swamp woodland

Depends on your velocity but if you are getting 2550:

A 200 yard zero’s trajectory is
+2.5” / -9.9” at 300yds
/ - 6.7” at 275
/ - 3.9” at 250

Hope that helps. Sounds like a great rig. Enjoy.

 

[ztc92]

Depends on your velocity but if you are getting 2550:

A 200 yard zero’s trajectory is
+2.5” / -9.9” at 300yds
/ - 6.7” at 275
/ - 3.9” at 250

Hope that helps. Sounds like a great rig. Enjoy.

No dialing.
I want minimal holdover / under from 20-300 yards.
Trijicon credo 3-9. Max range 300 if it’s a point and shoot at lungs. Most of my terrain I hunt would be sub 100 yard woods unless I see one crossing the blueberry fields on my way into the swamp woodland

I grew up using a duplex reticle scope and a 200 yard zero for deer hunting at 0-300 yards. Our approach was to aim dead on 0-200 and then hold high at 200+, putting crosshairs on their back for 300 and guessing the difference in between. I DO NOT recommend that approach. It’s is not precise and resulted in bad shots on game.

I thought I would get smart and buy a BDC reticle and that would solve my problems. What I didn’t know then (but appreciate now after a lot more shooting and hunting) is that for the reticle to be accurate, you need to be at a given magnification (usually highest power), so 9x on a 3-9 scope like the trijicon credo you want. This is because 2nd focal plane reticles are only consistent size at a specific scope power. The problem with this is you don’t want to be using 9X at close ranges like 200-300 yards. It makes it near impossible to spot your the impact or the animals reaction. At those ranges you’d be better served to use 3-6x, which doesn’t easily work with a 3-9x BDC scope.

So having said all that, I’d strongly recommend you consider picking up a SWFA 6x scope with the mil-quad reticle. Right now, you can just use it like a duplex reticle, ignore the hash marks, set the zero for 200 as suggested above, and forget the turrets even dial. Then if you progress to wanting to dial, you’re already set to do so with a scope that makes it easy to learn.

If you want to stick within your criteria, then I’d buy the Credo 3-9 with the duplex reticle. Zero at 200 and then do your best to hold over from 200-300 with a lot of practice on deer-sized targets at that range. I’d also avoid the urge to ever use the scope above 6x at those yardages and therefore a BDC reticle would not be a good choice.

Attached is a more in depth look at the 77g bullets in a 223 at 2550 muzzle velocity from the shooter app. I guessed 2500 for density altitude as I’m not sure where you hunt but you could use a similar app and refine this information for your specific use case.

Good luck!

Edit - Note that the above chart has a 100 yard zero. You have to do a a little math to calculate the drop for a 200 yard zero but it’s close to the suggestion I quoted.

 

[ztc92]

Here’s the same exact specs with a 200 yard zero if you or anyone else is curious…

 

[MEwaters]

The 3-9 credo is what is on my rifle currently. At this time the swfa isn’t an option