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

[Timjohnson11]

Just FYI - Pap Winkle was the guest on yesterday's episode of 'Beyond the Kill' podcast. He does a fair amount of preaching about his new love for modern, fast-twist 22s and 6mms. Speaks specifically to his fondness of the 22 ARC w/ McGuire Copper Rose bullets.

 

[JJ3]

Not from a 20" Tikka, but I've used 25.5 gr 2520 in LC brass. ~ 2,650 - 2,700 from a 16" barrel.

I run 25.2 of 2520 for 73-77s in any case for a vanilla load. 2650-2800 depending on bullet and barrel.

It just works.

Run 27.2 for 50-64gr the same way.

Easy button

 

[sargent]

Another bull elk with the RSS. Tikka .223, SWFA 3-9, Sportsmatch rings, Bone Frog 77 TMK

The shot was broadside at 24 yards (~2,700 fps). The bull ran 34 yards in a few seconds and piled up. Penetration was minimal (I didn't see any bruising, bloodshot, or bullet fragments on the offside of the cavity), but it's hard to argue with the results.

 

[NWBLKTAIL]

Another bull elk with the RSS. Tikka .223, SWFA 3-9, Sportsmatch rings, Bone Frog 77 TMK
View attachment 948227
The shot was broadside at 24 yards (~2,700 fps). The bull ran 34 yards in a few seconds and piled up. Penetration was minimal (I didn't see any bruising, bloodshot, or bullet fragments on the offside of the cavity), but it's hard to argue with the results.

24yards that was probably exciting, nicely done

 

[BLJ]

I’m glad someone on here ended up with the fast Ruger Americans.

 

[woods89]

For what it's worth.......

Graf's has 75 gr Speer Gold Dot in stock. Currently limited to 200 per customer. I bought 2 boxes to see if they work in my 1-9 CZ.

Once they were in my cart it set off a fever and I wound up with an 8 of XBR8208 and 500 69 gr TMK on the order as well.

 

[NWBLKTAIL]

For what it's worth.......

Graf's has 75 gr Speer Gold Dot in stock. Currently limited to 200 per customer. I bought 2 boxes to see if they work in my 1-9 CZ.

Once they were in my cart it set off a fever and I wound up with an 8 of XBR8208 and 500 69 gr TMK on the order as well.

Happens to the best of us

 

[Xae289]

For what it's worth.......

Graf's has 75 gr Speer Gold Dot in stock. Currently limited to 200 per customer. I bought 2 boxes to see if they work in my 1-9 CZ.

Once they were in my cart it set off a fever and I wound up with an 8 of XBR8208 and 500 69 gr TMK on the order as well.

I was only going for 2 lbs of 8208, but since I was already paying the Hazmat fee... might as well tack on 1000 primers... and 2 lbs makes around 600 rds, but I only have a bit over 400 77gr TMKs so I might as well also get 200 more while I have free shipping

 

[77TMK]

Has anyone tried AA2520 with a 77 TMK from a 20” Tikka? What’s your load, brass and velocity?

AR load is 24.5-24.8gr of AA2520 for me in LC brass. 25.2 gr is nearly max for brass with a 77 SMK. You can get away with a bit more in a bolt gun for sure, and even more if you try NAS3 cases.

 

[JJ3]

For what it's worth.......

Graf's has 75 gr Speer Gold Dot in stock. Currently limited to 200 per customer. I bought 2 boxes to see if they work in my 1-9 CZ.

Once they were in my cart it set off a fever and I wound up with an 8 of XBR8208 and 500 69 gr TMK on the order as well.

I’m interested to see some results from those. I picked up some 75 fusion blems from midway awhile back planning to try out this season.

We’ve had great success from 62 fusions in 18” 223. Exits and blood trials with no drama

 

[woods89]

I’m interested to see some results from those. I picked up some 75 fusion blems from midway awhile back planning to try out this season.

We’ve had great success from 62 fusions in 18” 223. Exits and blood trials with no drama

It'll probably be next year realistically before I get around to shooting these into some whitetails. But yeah, I'm interested as well.

 

[Poe]

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.

I also grew up with a 200 yard is zero. We typically just went 1.5” high at 100 yards and on deer size game you could hold in the middle until around 300 yards. I still use this method a lot except now I usually zero my guns for 100 yards and then bump my turrets up to approx 1.5 MOA up. If I have time to dial I can dial and for snap shots it’s just how I always used my old guns.