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

[Elk botherer]

You gave me a boost!

It’s deserved. I can’t believe I left out savages. Not to derail the thread anymore, back to .223 carnage.

 

[Chris in TN]

I have to grow a manbun now I guess. I joined the 77TMK club this morning. Saw three antlerless deer. Believed the first and third to be mature does. The middle one was definitely a fawn. The first surprised me by quickly walking past but the second two stopped. Turns out the third was just a larger fawn. She stopped broadsided at 25-26 yards and in the moment I forgot to account for the high scope mount of an AR15 so I hit her perhaps an inch below where I intended. Entry low and immediately behind the right shoulder crease, bottom of both lungs, hit the heart low but centered, exited juuuuuust in front of left shoulder crease. Barely touched that shoulder. Caliber entrance, 1” exit through hide, 1.25” entrance into ribs, 1.25” exit from ribs. She did a 55 yards death lunge with a small amount of blood coming from the exit, typical of a shoulder exit. Sufficient for tracking but that wasn’t needed - I watched her enter the woods and thought I saw/heard her fall a few yards in. I gave her a few minutes to be sure then found her piled up where I’d last seen movement. Damage to both lungs but the heart was absolutely destroyed. No drama. I would have expected the exact same from any other caliber.

23.0gr. Hodgdon Benchmark, 1x AAC brass, Tula SRM primer, 77TMK seated to 2.255” and 2575’mv from a 16” 1-7 Ballistic Advantage barrel w/YHM R9 can.

When I found and saw how small she was (meaning thin chest) my mind went to the question of whether the bullet opened fast enough to do the sort of damage the TMK is known for. I shouldn’t have worried. lol.

Entrance



Exit:
Rib entrance


Rib exit:

I’m holding the top of the heart and the knife is pointing to what used to be the middle of the heart:

Action shot of my girls’ bARbie-15:

ETA:

The fascia between shoulder and ribs was a mess, as you’d expect from a bullet moving perhaps 2520’ on impact, but there was no significant bloodshot meat on the shoulders except maybe an inch around the exit.

 

[liv3mind]

How do you like the BCA bolt action upper? I have wanted a bolt action upper, but the ones I knew about were $1K plus.

I know I'm not the original poster, but I have 2, both work flawlessly after I removed the insert inside of the extractor spring, oring, and cycled them lots, CLP etc. To be fair this is not a BCA thing, it's pretty common in the Grendel case world to remove them. Both rifles shoot exceptionally better than me, mine are 6arc and 6.5grendel, I plan to order one in 22arc and 5.56 as well.

 

[sebastian.cassell]

How do you like the BCA bolt action upper? I have wanted a bolt action upper, but the ones I knew about were $1K plus.

I really like the BCA bolt action which is surprising as I own some really nice “real” bolt action rifles. I’ve noticed it unlocks out of battery better with a magazine loaded and I suspect that’s due to the lugs “floating”? Inside the barrel extension when a mag is out. The bolt does unlock itself very easily which is a pet peeve of mine so I added some stretchy cord to remedy that. I also have one in 6 arc that has a much lower round count and isn’t quite as nice to operate yet. The 223 upper has been extremely reliable and I do plan on building some more in 300blk and maybe 338arc.

 

[Chris in TN]

So, you guys with BCA 'bolt' guns....are you using gas gun data, bolt gun data, somewhere in between....??

I don't know enough about the current state of bolt manufacture for variant calibers to know how much of a risk there is of bolt failure. I have tried to keep my 6.8spc within SAAMI specs, but it's spec'ed higher than 6arc by a good bit. I'd assume that without a gas system in place the pressures on an AR bolt might be slighter gentler - bolt face pressure should be roughly the same but the unlocking cycle ought to be easier. Right?

 

[BigEd36]

So, you guys with BCA 'bolt' guns....are you using gas gun data, bolt gun data, somewhere in between....??

I don't know enough about the current state of bolt manufacture for variant calibers to know how much of a risk there is of bolt failure. I have tried to keep my 6.8spc within SAAMI specs, but it's spec'ed higher than 6arc by a good bit. I'd assume that without a gas system in place the pressures on an AR bolt might be slighter gentler - bolt face pressure should be roughly the same but the unlocking cycle ought to be easier. Right?

I have been considering getting a BCA bolt gun in 6 ARC or 22 ARC and had wondered about the gas pressure. I contacted BCA and was told pressures should be kept to 52,000 PSI (gas gun pressures).