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

[Schmo]

I want to experiment with the 75 ELD. A fair BC gain over the TMK, and faster velocity because of less bearing surface.

 

[6creed]

View attachment 959556My tikka likes 53 vmax just as much as 73 grain eld-m. 10 shot group in the middle. Top left is factory nosler lead free.

What power are you using for the 53 vmax? I tried that bullet with the XBR and it was 2moa plus. Thanks

 

[Formidilosus]

All good to use CCI magnum primers, for cup strength, if running this through ARs?

I believe it would be fine.

 

[Gstew1930]

Been my experience too but I wouldn’t do it if saving pelts. Front shoulder oblique to me and exited rear side rather dramatically. Was throwing head around so it got one in the chest after it had spun around. Another one the new calves don’t have to deal with.
View attachment 959590

Pelt seems fine. Just a couple of stitches lol

 

[SloppyJ]

Mature doe taken by my son yesterday with his 16" Tikka. 223 shooting 77tmks. She was quartering to us and he made a great shot at 80yds (he's 8yo). Absolutely no blood and she ran about 50yds. No exit. This was behind the shoulder he shot through.

 

[Hardly_Hangin]

4th 223 data point for me, whitetail buck i shot last night with speer gold dots. Im 4 for 4 on kills, 2 for 4 on exit holes. Kind of a mystery what exactly happened but i got stupid lucky and found him.

First shot was at last light ~15 yards away. He was on a scrape and i had to shoot through some leaves and must have hit a limb and my bullet deflected way back just in front of the ham (luckily no meat damage). He was sligtly quartered away but this is a crazy poa vs poi shift. Gun is zeroed and the second shot went where it was suppose to. Who knows. Guts were exploded big time and super ripe after sitting all night but i just had to look in his chest to investigate the second hole. You people have turned me into a forensics freak.

He ran about 40 yards and wheeled right. I managed to stop him with a wistle and had a narrow window to put another one in him (big woohoo for quick follow up shots!) steeply quartered away. I have no idea how, but it looks like the bullet entered the hide and zipped up towards the shoulder while fragmenting, then tucked behind shoulder and barely punched into the rib cage and had a few fragments get into the lungs. Bullet was recovered and is shown below. Wild. I cant understand how that big ole chunk of retained mass got caught but them little bitty fragments made it through.



No blood last night, so i came back this morning. No idea total distance or time on his feet but he must have circled back during the night after I left. I guess the good Lord let him die about 10 yards behind my stand just so i could find him Cant believe the coyotes or bears didnt get him.

 

[RockAndSage]

View attachment 959902

Man, this thing petaled out like a pistol round, and still held to together like that? Pretty impressive, especially at 15 or 40yds.

 

[Pharmseller]

I want to experiment with the 75 ELD. A fair BC gain over the TMK, and faster velocity because of less bearing surface.

This is what I use, over Benchmark. 2915 fps from a 24” barreled Tikka Varmint. I load long so I use Ascension mags.

 

[Hardly_Hangin]

Man, this thing petaled out like a pistol round, and still held to together like that? Pretty impressive, especially at 15 or 40yds.

First one I've shot with the 75gr gold dots. Makes me wonder what the 77tmk would done

 

[ResearchinStuff]

Benchmark and loading long finally got my the accuracy i as looking for with the 77 tmk in the 223. Pretty sure it's a way slow load, but at the ranges this rifle is used it's fast enough.

My boys collected 2 more yearling white tails, bang flop jobs at 95 and 185 yards.

 

[Deere_Man]

I’m just glad this small doe was not a button head…90 yards or so, jumped straight up and tried to run but her shoulders were mush. She stayed put and was done in about thirty seconds or less. Left side entry, right side exit; 77 TMK from a 16” barrel. She will make some good meals and I was happy to get a tender one.

 

[KHNC]

I’m not sure if I would use a 223 for elk either. But for deer and black bear it seems to work well. Some pretty experienced hunters who post on here have had good elk outcomes with 223, 22-250, 22 ARC, and 22 Creedmoor.

Well, I bought into the craze with the Tika and the 223 a couple of years ago. I’ve killed about six deer using the 77TMK. Saturday evening I shot a black bear about 300 pounds behind the shoulder. It was only a 30 yard shot since I use a suppressor it was obvious with the loud thump that I hit where I was Amy. The bear ran off like he was hit hard and up into a Laurel Thicket. I gave it the normal 30 to 45 minutes while waiting on my two buddies to show up to help get it. Went to the impact site and there was no blood. We followed the direction the bear went and spread out to search. No blood whatsoever. Now this was a case of me being 100% positive that I hit this bear. Definitely not a miss. . Not even a question of whether or not I missed. We searched for nearly 2 hours grid searching and covering the side of the mountain with not one drop of blood or a dead bear. While I have had good luck with this combination on Deer, I will stick to my 708 with Barnes X or Sierra game King bullets. There will not be a day that I’ll ever use a 223 and 77 TMK combo on anything other than a Whitetail as long as I live. Y’all keep giving it hail and I hope your results continue to work out.

 

[Deere_Man]

Well, I bought into the craze with the Tika and the 223 a couple of years ago. I’ve killed about six deer using the 77TMK. Saturday evening I shot a black bear about 300 pounds behind the shoulder. It was only a 30 yard shot since I use a suppressor it was obvious with the loud thump that I hit where I was Amy. The bear ran off like he was hit hard and up into a Laurel Thicket. I gave it the normal 30 to 45 minutes while waiting on my two buddies to show up to help get it. Went to the impact site and there was no blood. We followed the direction the bear went and spread out to search. No blood whatsoever. Now this was a case of me being 100% positive that I hit this bear. Definitely not a miss. . Not even a question of whether or not I missed. We searched for nearly 2 hours grid searching and covering the side of the mountain with not one drop of blood or a dead bear. While I have had good luck with this combination on Deer, I will stick to my 708 with Barnes X or Sierra game King bullets. There will not be a day that I’ll ever use a 223 and 77 TMK combo on anything other than a Whitetail as long as I live. Y’all keep giving it hail and I hope your results continue to work out.

I once lost a whitetail buck that I “knew” I hit well with a 308 Win. We followed a sparse blood trail for a bit, and then it gave out. I did not recover the deer. It happens.

 

[UnckleBob]

I once lost a whitetail buck that I “knew” I hit well with a 308 Win. We followed a sparse blood trail for a bit, and then it gave out. I did not recover the deer. It happens.

What kind of bullet did you use?

 

[Deere_Man]

What kind of bullet did you use?

It was a 150gr corelokt.

 

[mt terry d]

Well, I bought into the craze with the Tika and the 223 a couple of years ago. I’ve killed about six deer using the 77TMK. Saturday evening I shot a black bear about 300 pounds behind the shoulder. It was only a 30 yard shot since I use a suppressor it was obvious with the loud thump that I hit where I was Amy. The bear ran off like he was hit hard and up into a Laurel Thicket. I gave it the normal 30 to 45 minutes while waiting on my two buddies to show up to help get it. Went to the impact site and there was no blood. We followed the direction the bear went and spread out to search. No blood whatsoever. Now this was a case of me being 100% positive that I hit this bear. Definitely not a miss. . Not even a question of whether or not I missed. We searched for nearly 2 hours grid searching and covering the side of the mountain with not one drop of blood or a dead bear. While I have had good luck with this combination on Deer, I will stick to my 708 with Barnes X or Sierra game King bullets. There will not be a day that I’ll ever use a 223 and 77 TMK combo on anything other than a Whitetail as long as I live. Y’all keep giving it hail and I hope your results continue to work out.

Though I'm a big "fan" of the 223/77 TMK and have had excellent results on deer and elk, I appreciate your honesty and willingness to report a negative outcome.
Full disclosure is the only way to reach accurate conclusions.

 

[Pharmseller]

Lots of fat on most bears. The hide can move and plug the hole very effectively, therefore no blood trail.

 

[Taudisio]

Lots of fat on most bears. The hide can move and plug the hole very effectively, therefore no blood trail.

Adding to this, I have been around at least 10 bear kills in the last 3 years. Only two had good blood trails. A frontal shot on a small bear, 35-40 yards with a 30-06, and a quartering-to shot with a 6 creedmoor around 400 yards. All the rest were non-existent, or very sparse. Calibers from 223, 6 creedmoor, 30-06, 7mag, 300wsm, and 30 nosler. We are usually following tracks, broken branches, or other sign to find them. If they don’t go down in sight, it’s rarely an easy time tracking them. We lost one shot with the 30 nosler at 50 yards. Had blood where it rolled into a tree, then nothing. Like a ghost, it disappeared. We searched for at least 4 hours, even the dog couldn’t find it.

 

[RockAndSage]

Adding to this, I have been around at least 10 bear kills in the last 3 years. Only two had good blood trails. A frontal shot on a small bear, 35-40 yards with a 30-06, and a quartering-to shot with a 6 creedmoor around 400 yards. All the rest were non-existent, or very sparse. Calibers from 223, 6 creedmoor, 30-06, 7mag, 300wsm, and 30 nosler. We are usually following tracks, broken branches, or other sign to find them. If they don’t go down in sight, it’s rarely an easy time tracking them. We lost one shot with the 30 nosler at 50 yards. Had blood where it rolled into a tree, then nothing. Like a ghost, it disappeared. We searched for at least 4 hours, even the dog couldn’t find it.

It's good to see @KHNC share negative results, so that this isn't just an echo-chamber of affirmation. But I just learned a lot about bears I had no idea of, that also added perspective. It's crazy one could take a hit from a 7mag or .30 nosler at short distance and not leave a blood trail.

 

[longrangelead]

Also, bear anatomy is different than ungulates. The lungs are well behind the shoulder. The correct spot on a bear feels wrong if you've mostly hunted deer/elk, etc.

If it was angled away at all, it might possibly have missed the important stuff entirely.