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

[Steve300xcw]

if they dont work. 73 eld's and 75gr bthp's should

 

[old bugger]

I handled a couple Tikka rifles for the first time today. You guys were right about the smooth action. It felt like it was on ball bearings. They had trigger locks unfortunately so I didn’t get to feel the trigger. They had a couple .243s and .223s at the Scheels in Eden Prairie Minnesota, 20” 1:8 twist with threaded barrels, stainless. As I’ve read, the stocks were nothing to write home about.

I’d say the bolts felt smoother than my Model 70, and that’s saying something. They also had a few Seekins rifles. They felt a lot heavier than the Tikkas and very well built. Also a few Bergaras, which felt good too.

I’m out of my state of residence, otherwise a I may have had a new rifle today.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

When the striker is cocked most bolts will feel like they ride on glass. Can't tell anything from running the bolt back & forth.
The real test is cocking the striker to see what the bolt feels like.
To me thats what I like when testing a new rifle. I have a 3 lug bolt that's a bear to cock. Next time If the gun store won't let me test it, it stays there.

 

[schmidty3]

Built my "UL-DMR" for carrying a lot and scouting, maybe a bear pops out at 400 yards etc...

*shoots east Texas *11* pointer at 30 yards*

20". 77 gr BH TMK at 2790.

It worked. The palmettos were gross. Broke into see if the heart was intact for consumption. It was not.

Holes were decent.

50 yard run.

A week ago I was in arizona chasing mulies. What a contrast

 

[kswaterfowl]

Has anyone made any head shots on Does with success?

Shot this one right in the forehead with my 22-250 and 50gr blitzkings at 200 yards. Dumped it instantly.

 

[bigeyedfish]

Solid work. Good to see some reports since I bought a case of this stuff

I've killed a couple coyotes and a deer with the 75gr Sabres. My son just killed a small whitetail buck with one about a week ago. They shoot good enough for our use, and they do plenty of damage. I haven't had one exit yet, and we didn't find a drop of blood on the ground from my son's deer. Fortunately it only ran about 50 yards but right into the thickest, thorniest brush on our property. Good fun.

We'll use up the rest of what we have and make the switch to ELD's or TMK's.

 

[CJ_BG]

Has anyone had luck with the 77tmk in a 9 twist barrel? Im thinking of picking up a cva scout in 223 for a truck gun. It should work up to 69 gr and will be nice to not worry about mag length.

Didn't do well for me but the 69 tmk works fine on anything deer sized

 

[WoodlandCritter]

Long time lurker, first time user here. I had been putting off making an account until I actually killed a big game animal, and I finally got it done after 3 years of actively trying. And as you've probably surmised, it was with 77gr tmks from a 5.56.

Background on the equipment: Rifle is my 16" AR with .30cal MG7K suppressor. Load is the Phantom Defense "Tink". Distance ~70-90 yards.

Background on me and the shot: Adult onset hunter, started hunting squirrels with no guidance other than the internet at 18. Loved it and eventually got into raccoons and turkeys in my native NW Ohio. Spent an entire firearm season there freezing my butt off not seeing deer but trying. Then spent an entire archery season still freezing but at least seeing deer, but no shot opportunity. In August 2024 I moved to NW Montana, where I couldn't legally hunt as a resident due to the time frame, so last year I focused on getting moved in and did only a little squirrel hunting (no license required in MT).
Fast forward to this year, hunted every weekend of archery with once again no shot at a deer. Here comes rifle, and I blow the first week, unable to even get a shot at a doe. So now I'm down to only being able to legally shoot a buck. Internally, I'm feeling the pressure mount because I'm determined that this will be the year. All this is basically to make excuses for what eventually happened:

I'm still hunting a 2.5 mile long, relatively clear cut bench. As I round a small bit of terrain I spot a doe at ~70 yards. I drop down into a squat and ready my rifle. In my head I'm reviewing the plan I've had all season to find a buck, wait for a stopped, standing, broadside presentation, then making one clean shot. As I slowly stand back up, I see another deer body which I fix in my 3x, and as soon as I see the glint of antlers, my entire plan goes out the window. I immediately drop my reticle on the ribs and take the quartered away, moving shot. My initial thought is that something feels wrong. I attribute this to the fact that everything else I hunt (small game, turkeys, grouse) I'm so used to head shooting and having them instantly seize up and fall, but this deer is still running. So as he runs I fire 3 more shots at his ribs, making 4 thus far. I finally see him stop and one of his legs is slipping, so I send one more towards the ribs for good measure and he collapses stone-dead. 5 total shots fired, probably over the course of 4 seconds or so. I don't think he ran more than 20 yards.

So on with the necropsy, I think my deer is a good example of what one could expect with the so called "marginal" shots that a person may or may not need more ftlbs to be able to take.

Entrance Wounds: Only found 3 entrance wounds, and while they were right where I was aiming in a pretty nice cluster (far back ribs), I'm still ashamed of the 2 unaccounted for shots. I can be better than that and I should have been.





Damage to the ribs with shoulder removed:

The liver was nearly obliterated, mostly turned into hamburger. Half of it came out with the rest of the gut pile and remained in the field. This is the half that made it home. Unfortunately, inedible. One of the kidneys was also split cleanly in half.



The liver seemed to soak up almost all of what the TMK had to offer. Very little damage to heart and lungs visible from the in-situ pic. Closer inspection revealed that the lung was clipped, and even closer inspection of that actually showed more damage than I initially thought. The heart was undamaged.




I never found any exit wound and the singular bullet fragment I recovered was ~1x1x2 mm. The bullets seems to have practically vaporized and I imagine most of the fragments must have fallen out of the cavity at some point.

Hopefully my story and pictures helps someone else decide if they want to hunt with this bullet. I will finish this season with it, because its what I have. But next year when I have the budget for a more traditional hunting rifle, I will probably step up a bit in caliber, more so for reasons of external ballistics than terminal. I will happily continue having my girlfriend hunt with a .223.

 

[woods89]

Has anyone had luck with the 77tmk in a 9 twist barrel? Im thinking of picking up a cva scout in 223 for a truck gun. It should work up to 69 gr and will be nice to not worry about mag length.

I have a 1-9 CZ, and have had good success with 69 TMK, but you really need to get a 1-8. I would not buy another 1-9.

 

[bigunit]

Ya ive got a 22-250 improved with a i twist and it hammers. I was hoping i could get the 77 to work with the cva for the kids but might have to go with the 73eldm or 69tmk.

 

[rbutcher1234]

Success for the 16” tikka 223, 77 tmk black hills. Slight quartering away deer 103 yards away from
me. Aimed at the neck shoulder junction due to the angle. Instant drop, no fuss.

While field dressing, I was very impressed with the internal damage. It just reinforced how for I don’t really have any performance-based desire to shoot anything else when shots are expected to be shorter than 430 yards (right when I fall below 1800 fps at my DA).

 

[TX_Mike D.]

8 year old son shot his first buck this year. 77gr TMK. 50ish yard run and died. Didn’t do a proper necropsy but the photos show the damage.

That's one heck of a first buck!

 

[Schmo]

if they dont work. 73 eld's and 75gr bthp's should

75 BTHP is erratic in terminal performance

 

[sierracharlie338]

Ya ive got a 22-250 improved with a i twist and it hammers. I was hoping i could get the 77 to work with the cva for the kids but might have to go with the 73eldm or 69tmk.

I have an older Rem700 with a 9 twist and while it hammers the 69 grain stuff I really wish I had at least an 8 if not 7/7.5 twist. Unfortunately it shoots so well with the 69s I keep talking myself out of a rebarrel, for now anyway….

 

[Spiblin]

More data for the kill thread, whitetail doe from a 22 creedmoor at about 100 yards with a 77 grain tmk. Shot was a bit high but the results did not disappoint. Through a rib and the spine, caught on offside hide. Dropped immediately and both lungs were still obliterated despite the shot placement

 

[Gettincloser]

Built my "UL-DMR" for carrying a lot and scouting, maybe a bear pops out at 400 yards etc...

*shoots east Texas *11* pointer at 30 yards*

20". 77 gr BH TMK at 2790.

It worked. The palmettos were gross. Broke into see if the heart was intact for consumption. It was not.

Holes were decent.

50 yard run.

A week ago I was in arizona chasing mulies. What a contrast

I love that you were able to bring him back on a kayak. I have been out a few times on my kayak but only saw moo cows in the National Forest (invasive species?, exotics?). I wanted to bring a bass rod and have a spinner bait I. The rod holder when I paddled up to the launch. Then I could "tell a story" on how they are really biting today! Congratulations sir! What a fun trip that must have been!

 

[m1k3]

Do you think the GameKings hold together better than the MatchKings? The few I have shot with a MK seem to cause more damage but more work to get all of the fragments out. But each time my wife has gone out with the GK, she either misses or doesn't see anything within range. I think she's too noisy but she says it's the gun.

 

[Xnoheros]

My first 73g eldm data point, on my first buck.

200 yards broadside, high shoulder dropped him in his tracks, second one made sure he didn’t get up. He got a third but I’m not sure where it impacted. I could have left it at one but I didn’t want to take any chances.

Two recovered bullets on the opposite scapula. Weights of the recovered bullets noted. Google says it weighs approx 4.73 grams whole, not sure how accurate that would be.

 

[gman82001]

Do you think the GameKings hold together better than the MatchKings? The few I have shot with a MK seem to cause more damage but more work to get all of the fragments out. But each time my wife has gone out with the GK, she either misses or doesn't see anything within range. I think she's too noisy but she says it's the gun.

We’ve killed a few good size whitetail deer bucks with the 65 game king and never caught a bullet

 

[damnbluedog]

Has anyone had luck with the 77tmk in a 9 twist barrel? Im thinking of picking up a cva scout in 223 for a truck gun. It should work up to 69 gr and will be nice to not worry about mag length.

I have an older Remington with a 20" 1:9 twist. It shoots 73 eldm factory loads very well and 69 and 77 tmk handloads with no complaints.

 

[haywoodhunter]

Data point for the 75 Sabre.

Doe
62yd shot from 16” tikka suppressed
At the shot, she basically acted bow shot, hopped, trotted about 40ish, wobbled, fell over. Probably 8 seconds start to finish. No blood to speak of on the ground.

Bullet entered left side mid height right behind the shoulder. She was quartered towards me, bullet impacted offside ribs just in front of the diaphragm. Huge hole through near side lung, some damage to rear of offside lung, somehow stomach was hit and that made the whole inside a mess(assuming from fragments). Couple pieces of jacket pulled from the wound in the offside ribs.

View attachment 962811
Onside lung
View attachment 962812
Entrance side from inside
View attachment 962813
Damage to offside ribs just in front of diaphragm
View attachment 962814
Entrance side, hide removed. Note the major blood shot along the belly, I was surprised by that.
View attachment 962815
Offside with hide/shoulder removed.

I’m not nearly as good with these necropsies as most of yall but hopefully this is somewhat helpful since there doesn’t seem to be too much out for the Sabre yet

After the 75 sabre success Friday I wanted to shoot one with 77tmk to kind of compare.



80ish yd shot, slightly quartered towards me. (Entrance visible in the above photo) She mule kicked then dashed about 30yds and died on the run, I was able to watch the whole thing. She was dead in ~4 seconds I’d say

Exit side visible after I drug her to the path and flipped her over.


Entrance with shoulder removed


Exit with shoulder removed

View inside. You can just see entrance up on the right, exit on the left.


Lungs were pretty trashed.


This deer left a very useful blood trail, though it wasn’t needed.

Sample size of one but my observation comparing my kill with the Tmk to my kill with the Sabre-sure seems like the Sabre showed more upset and less penetration, though I’d be perfectly happy shooting another deer with the Sabre.