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

[Billogna]

Good dog. Sit. Stay.

First critter from the left handed tikka 223!! Just the tip!!

 

[Hardly_Hangin]

5th and 6th data point, 75gr speer gold dots 75 yards. Both exited but no blood. No autopsies this time.

Group of 7 does ran into a field and I whistled to get them to stop. Shot one and she ran 10ft and fell at the field edge. The rest kinda stood there bewildered, and number 2 got the pill. ran 10ft and fell at the field edge.

Love fast follow up shots and the can.

 

[Thegman]

5th and 6th data point, 75gr speer gold dots 75 yards. Both exited but no blood. No autopsies this time.

Group of 7 does ran into a field and I whistled to get them to stop. Shot one and she ran 10ft and fell at the field edge. The rest kinda stood there bewildered, and number 2 got the pill. ran 10ft and fell at the field edge.

Love fast follow up shots and the can.

View attachment 968635

Are those the exits pictured? Looks like they'd bleed pretty good out of those holes if they managed to make it past 10 yards.

 

[horpensky]

Adding another data point. A lot of excitement this year as both the Mrs. and the daughter wanted to go out whitetail hunting for the first time, and at the same time 22 centerfire became legal for big game here in Alberta. Armed with all the evidence and great info from this forum, I had the perfect excuse to add to the gun collection and picked up a Tikka .223 for them to use.

Today wife shot her first deer, a doe broadside at 200 yards along a cutline, using the factory 73gr ELDM. Watched through the binos as she put the bullet in the boiler room, saw the doe fall down immediately, then get back up and appeared to scramble off to the side. Walked up to where we thought she shot it, didn't see any sign of corpse, hair, or blood trails, and wife became disappointed thinking she clear missed. While a little concerned I couldn't find evidence of a hit right away, I told her I was confident I saw the impact, so we started the search. Didn't take long as we stumbled on the doe lying 25 yards over.

We were surprised to find no apparent entrance or exit wound. It was like the deer had just absorbed the bullet and died. Gutting the doe confirmed (to the wife's relief) that she had indeed hit it in the boiler room, with about a 2 inch entrance hole in the ribs, with bottom half of heart and lungs destroyed, and opposite front leg broken. Not sure why there was no outward sign of damage. Anyone with any insight? Doe was super fatty, so not sure if that makes a difference in plugging up wounds.

Anyways, while I would have liked a clearer entrance wound/blood trail, the bullet was clearly effective, and everyone in the family finds the gun enjoyable to handle and shoot. Will be going out with the daughter this week and hoping to add another successful data point.

 

[Hardly_Hangin]

Are those the exits pictured? Looks like they'd bleed pretty good out of those holes if they managed to make it past 10 yards.

 

[np307]

Adding another data point. A lot of excitement this year as both the Mrs. and the daughter wanted to go out whitetail hunting for the first time, and at the same time 22 centerfire became legal for big game here in Alberta. Armed with all the evidence and great info from this forum, I had the perfect excuse to add to the gun collection and picked up a Tikka .223 for them to use.

Today wife shot her first deer, a doe broadside at 200 yards along a cutline, using the factory 73gr ELDM. Watched through the binos as she put the bullet in the boiler room, saw the doe fall down immediately, then get back up and appeared to scramble off to the side. Walked up to where we thought she shot it, didn't see any sign of corpse, hair, or blood trails, and wife became disappointed thinking she clear missed. While a little concerned I couldn't find evidence of a hit right away, I told her I was confident I saw the impact, so we started the search. Didn't take long as we stumbled on the doe lying 25 yards over.

We were surprised to find no apparent entrance or exit wound. It was like the deer had just absorbed the bullet and died. Gutting the doe confirmed (to the wife's relief) that she had indeed hit it in the boiler room, with about a 2 inch entrance hole in the ribs, with bottom half of heart and lungs destroyed, and opposite front leg broken. Not sure why there was no outward sign of damage. Anyone with any insight? Doe was super fatty, so not sure if that makes a difference in plugging up wounds.

Anyways, while I would have liked a clearer entrance wound/blood trail, the bullet was clearly effective, and everyone in the family finds the gun enjoyable to handle and shoot. Will be going out with the daughter this week and hoping to add another successful data point.
View attachment 968827
View attachment 968828

Extremely common result in this thread. Blow the heart up with a fragmenting round and you get small holes (often only one) and no blood pressure. Hard to get a blood trail in that scenario. I think it's an important part of the conversation to talk about. Doesn't take away from the lethality at all.

 

[rbutcher1234]

Adding another data point. A lot of excitement this year as both the Mrs. and the daughter wanted to go out whitetail hunting for the first time, and at the same time 22 centerfire became legal for big game here in Alberta. Armed with all the evidence and great info from this forum, I had the perfect excuse to add to the gun collection and picked up a Tikka .223 for them to use.

Today wife shot her first deer, a doe broadside at 200 yards along a cutline, using the factory 73gr ELDM. Watched through the binos as she put the bullet in the boiler room, saw the doe fall down immediately, then get back up and appeared to scramble off to the side. Walked up to where we thought she shot it, didn't see any sign of corpse, hair, or blood trails, and wife became disappointed thinking she clear missed. While a little concerned I couldn't find evidence of a hit right away, I told her I was confident I saw the impact, so we started the search. Didn't take long as we stumbled on the doe lying 25 yards over.

We were surprised to find no apparent entrance or exit wound. It was like the deer had just absorbed the bullet and died. Gutting the doe confirmed (to the wife's relief) that she had indeed hit it in the boiler room, with about a 2 inch entrance hole in the ribs, with bottom half of heart and lungs destroyed, and opposite front leg broken. Not sure why there was no outward sign of damage. Anyone with any insight? Doe was super fatty, so not sure if that makes a difference in plugging up wounds.

Anyways, while I would have liked a clearer entrance wound/blood trail, the bullet was clearly effective, and everyone in the family finds the gun enjoyable to handle and shoot. Will be going out with the daughter this week and hoping to add another successful data point.
View attachment 968827
View attachment 968828

Important thing is it was a dead deer.

The doe I mentioned killing earlier in this thread this season had no visible entrance or exit wound when I approached her. However, the internal damage was massive. Minimal entrance/exit and massive internal destruction causing quick incapacitation is just how these bullets work.

Edit: I was using 77 TMK

 

[KYwhitetail606]

I use too be a 30 cal guy for whitetail but this year I read these forums and bought a 6.5 creedmoor Tikka. I shot a buck with it a few days ago and it did fine, but these threads make me wanna go even smaller. I just ran across a stainless mini action howa 1:8 twist for 500 bucks and couldn’t pass on it, so it’s in the trunk as we speak.

As someone who doesn’t reload, am I able to shoot black hills 5.56 77tmk ammo or any other brand of 77tmk out of this howa safely?

Pictures for attention.

 

[horpensky]

Extremely common result in this thread. Blow the heart up with a fragmenting round and you get small holes (often only one) and no blood pressure. Hard to get a blood trail in that scenario. I think it's an important part of the conversation to talk about. Doesn't take away from the lethality at all.

Good point. Never considered a blown up heart can't pump blood.

 

[Tahr]

Extremely common result in this thread. Blow the heart up with a fragmenting round and you get small holes (often only one) and no blood pressure. Hard to get a blood trail in that scenario. I think it's an important part of the conversation to talk about. Doesn't take away from the lethality at all.

Use what ever bullet and shoot them where ever, you simply wont get consistent blood trails with the .223.
Ive shot many hundreds of deer with the .223 and have tried most available bullets and cant recall many trackable blood trails at all.
Far better to high shoulder shoot when you can and drop them on the spot if tracking is a problem for you.

This was a good one of about 70 yards, but unusual. Lung shot at 200 yards with a a 60 grn Hammer at 3000 fps mv.


The solution for me is that I always hunt with a dog. The dog indicates live deer for me as well as tracks. Here is the current dog tracking a deer. Lung shot with .223 and a 60 grn Hammer bullet. Not a drop of blood. Quite a contrast to the above pic.

 

[np307]

Use what ever bullet and shoot them where ever, you simply wont get consistent blood trails with the .223.
Ive shot many hundreds of deer with the .223 and have tried most available bullets and cant recall many trackable blood trails at all.
Far better to high shoulder shoot when you can and drop them on the spot if tracking is a problem for you.

This was a good one of about 70 yards, but unusual. Lung shot at 200 yards with a a 60 grn Hammer at 3000 fps mv.
View attachment 968948

The solution for me is that I always hunt with a dog. The dog indicates live deer for me as well as tracks. Here is the current dog tracking a deer. Lung shot with .223 and probably a 60 grn Hammer bullet.

I was hoping to use 75gr gold dots this year as I think they might be about the best I can hope for regarding blood trails. I'm well-versed in high shoulder shots and also have a dog I can use to find deer. I was moreso just referring to the fact that the lack of blood trails not being understood by some people making the switch or not being acknowledged as a legitimate limitation by some

 

[RockAndSage]

As someone who doesn’t reload, am I able to shoot black hills 5.56 77tmk ammo or any other brand of 77tmk out of this howa safely?

Yep, you're good. Safe and as accurate as the gun is capable of.

 

[The Guide]

I use too be a 30 cal guy for whitetail but this year I read these forums and bought a 6.5 creedmoor Tikka. I shot a buck with it a few days ago and it did fine, but these threads make me wanna go even smaller. I just ran across a stainless mini action howa 1:8 twist for 500 bucks and couldn’t pass on it, so it’s in the trunk as we speak.

As someone who doesn’t reload, am I able to shoot black hills 5.56 77tmk ammo or any other brand of 77tmk out of this howa safely?

Pictures for attention.

The 5.56 NATO 77tmk ammo works fine in my Howa Mini Action. If you are concerned, the Hornady Match 73 grain 223 ammo is also gives great terminal performance.

Jay

 

[EuroOptic]

Alright, who wants a flush AIC's 223 magazine from MDT? Same as the MDT SA .308 Cal Flush 3rd Blk Polymer Magazine - sound off if you do. I'm lobbying.. lol

 

[Schmo]

Alright, who wants a flush AIC's 223 magazine from MDT? Same as the MDT SA .308 Cal Flush 3rd Blk Polymer Magazine - sound off if you do. I'm lobbying.. lol

That would be cool! We do need decent OAL tho. 2.4” minimum, with high preference to 2.5”. The 223 gains a fair bit of velocity when you can break past the 2.26” restriction

 

[43.6N]

Alright, who wants a flush AIC's 223 magazine from MDT? Same as the MDT SA .308 Cal Flush 3rd Blk Polymer Magazine - sound off if you do. I'm lobbying.. lol

100% in.
While your at it, lobby for it to be a flush 5 rounder.

 

[Thegman]

Use what ever bullet and shoot them where ever, you simply wont get consistent blood trails with the .223.
Ive shot many hundreds of deer with the .223 and have tried most available bullets and cant recall many trackable blood trails at all.
Far better to high shoulder shoot when you can and drop them on the spot if tracking is a problem for you.

This was a good one of about 70 yards, but unusual. Lung shot at 200 yards with a a 60 grn Hammer at 3000 fps mv.
View attachment 968948

The solution for me is that I always hunt with a dog. The dog indicates live deer for me as well as tracks. Here is the current dog tracking a deer. Lung shot with .223 and a 60 grn Hammer bullet. Not a drop of blood. Quite a contrast to the above pic.

Your dog is a lot more methodical than mine. My dog runs around like a nut, takes off, mostly winding. But she gets it done and comes back to get me to show me where it is.

She tracked her first deer at 9 months. No blood and in a tough spot to find. I was convinced she was confused and headed in the wrong direction...I was the one heading in the wrong direction.

 

[43.6N]

That would be cool! We do need decent OAL tho. 2.4” minimum, with high preference to 2.5”. The 223 gains a fair bit of velocity when you can break past the 2.26” restriction

My poly 12 round mdt mags had plenty of room for these 80eldm at 2.44”

 

[Schmo]

My poly 12 round mdt mags had plenty of room for these 80eldm at 2.44”

View attachment 969013

Wasn’t sure what their COAL was

 

[Formidilosus]

Use what ever bullet and shoot them where ever, you simply wont get consistent blood trails with the .223.
Ive shot many hundreds of deer with the .223 and have tried most available bullets and cant recall many trackable blood trails at all.
Far better to high shoulder shoot when you can and drop them on the spot if tracking is a problem for you.

There is a caveat that you need to make- your “deer” are not the vast majority of US “deer”. The vast majority of class trails that I have seen with several different 223 bullets has been good. But, add 2-3 inches across the chest and you don’t get as many exits.