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

[Blind Squirrel]

Used a .243 in the 2024 deer season. My baby girl made a perfect first shot, but developed a fear of recoil. She probably weighed 50#’s. (@Formidilosus used her as an example of how hard that gun kicks a little person). After her second shot (still a kill shot), she was too afraid to shoot again.
Switched to the .223 this year (and locked it onto a heavy tripod). After convincing her to try shooting again, she realized she is not afraid of this gun’s recoil. She went 5/5 with perfect shots on deer this season. None went more than 60y, and the blood trails were shocking. Here is a pic of the last one she shot (freeze frame taken from a video). The before and after. The doe was quartering away, bullet went in behind the shoulder and out the neck. Even I could follow that blood trail. Deer went 30y. Hornady 73g ELD-M factory ammo.

 

[SC HUNTER]

@packgoatguy what kind of knife is that in your pictures working on the elk? I like the looks of it.

Another data point. 220ish pound S Ga. boar hog shot at about 50 yards through a thermal. 55 grain soft points first shot hit him in the shoulder and he went to doing the two step shuffle spin. 2nd shot hit him in the neck mid shuffle and 3 hit him in the head. First shot would have killed him but as much trouble as they cause just shoot them until they stop moving. My buddy killed him and enjoys feeding them lead as much corn as he's fed them lately, I think this is number 4 or 5 from last week.

 

[Pharmseller]

When it was all I had I used my 30-06 for plinking, jackrabbits, prairie dogs, coyotes, shooting steel and all my big game hunting which at the time spanned 4 states. There is this thing called reloading, you can tailor your loads and come up with nice shooting light kickers for play. My favorite play load used the 110 gr. Speer or Hornady bullet going 3000 fps using I3031. I didn't need to shoot 50-100 as 40 usually sufficed being the number of rounds I had loaded most of the time. To answer your question on how many guys shoot 50-100 rounds of anything centerfire 4 times a year I know very few of those. If they don't show up at the matches generally they are not volume shooters.

My experience is the opposite of yours. I don’t know any match shooters but most of my people shoot a lot. And most of what they shoot is 22 cal.

 

[Pharmseller]

Used a .243 in the 2024 deer season. My baby girl made a perfect first shot, but developed a fear of recoil. She probably weighed 50#’s. (@Formidilosus used her as an example of how hard that gun kicks a little person). After her second shot (still a kill shot), she was too afraid to shoot again.
Switched to the .223 this year (and locked it onto a heavy tripod). After convincing her to try shooting again, she realized she is not afraid of this gun’s recoil. She went 5/5 with perfect shots on deer this season. None went more than 60y, and the blood trails were shocking. Here is a pic of the last one she shot (freeze frame taken from a video). The before and after. The doe was quartering away, bullet went in behind the shoulder and out the neck. Even I could follow that blood trail. Deer went 30y. Hornady 73g ELD-M factory ammo.

Great pic sequence.

 

[TNHighlands]

You don't have to explain shooting little deer to me...
View attachment 998035

I just felt bad for the crying kid...

The ones with spots are easiest. Multiple POA to pick and be more accurate with shot selection.

 

[packgoatguy]

@packgoatguy what kind of knife is that in your pictures working on the elk? I like the looks of it.

That is a recent project my son and I have been working on. It's a 3D printed handle for the bigger havalon baracuta blades.

I've used replaceable blade knives for many years, mostly the Havalon Piranta. But... I didn't like breaking blades, or how short the Piranta (60A) blades were, or how hard the blades were to change... but I liked the baracuta blades... but I hated how big and heavy the handle was. Plus, the mounting piece sticks out enough to the side that it fills up with hair and sinew, and interrupts the depth of thrust (like when working on an elk backstrap). A similar issue with the outdoor edge knife).

BUT, I found the Baracuta blades to be pretty indestructible, so we designed a lighter weight handle for it that doesn't rely on the normal mounting system. The whole knife including the handle and the blade is just 1oz (havalon Piranta with blade removal tool is like 2.2oz). Adding in an optional sheath, it's still under 2oz. Ive been able to get through about an elk and a half on one blade. And they aren't that difficult to resharpen at home, or just take a replacement blade or two. There is also a pretty nice bone saw blade havalon sells for it too.

I've got a couple videos about it on the same channel where the 77tmk shots were.

 

[eltorro]

It’s alright, I just didn’t want people to read that and then go off the deep end.

The 7 shots was at 280’ish yards and a simultaneous fire on elk. The guy with the MK12 was a skilled shooter, shooting prone from a bipod buried in the snow. I was spotting for the other guy shooting at 400 and something yards, and when they fired my guy reloaded and shot another elk. The guy with the MK12 had killed a bunch, but was from the “bigger is better” his whole life so he just machine gunned it- 7 shots in something 5 seconds in video. I had to tell him to stop shooting as the bullets were keeping it up. It fell over, and was one of the biggest messes inside (and outside) an animal that I have seen.

@Formidilosus : is there a way to see the videos ?

 

[RockAndSage]

Can we get back to the bullets? Why wouldn’t my 178 eld-x do significantly more damage than my 77tmk on elk? I shoot both equally well. (Braked .30)

Holding both in my hand, i don’t see why I wouldnt choose the eldx every time for elk.

Anybody with extensive experience with this bullet?

From the bunch of photos I've seen on here, most of the tipped match bullets above 6mm or 6.5 start doing far more damage and meat loss due to mangle and blood-shot than I'd personally want. A .30cal tipped match bullet is pretty devastating.

 

[Coopsdaddy]

While I wait on my t3x/rokstok to get here in the next month or two I need to think about ammo.I have searched and there’s a bunch of different options but I’m sure some of you have narrowed it down.
This is my first tikka and first 223.
I do have a few ARs and a t1x.
I don’t reload (yet) so i need to start gathering a bunch of factory practice ammo and some hunting ammo.
I need some recommendations on 2-3 of each.
Also is the longer mags needed for any of the factory is the standard mag length fine.
I need to grab 3-4 extra of those as well.

 

[Speaks]

While I wait on my t3x/rokstok to get here in the next month or two I need to think about ammo.I have searched and there’s a bunch of different options but I’m sure some of you have narrowed it down.
This is my first tikka and first 223.
I do have a few ARs and a t1x.
I don’t reload (yet) so i need to start gathering a bunch of factory practice ammo and some hunting ammo.
I need some recommendations on 2-3 of each.
Also is the longer mags needed for any of the factory is the standard mag length fine.
I need to grab 3-4 extra of those as well.

I mainly practice with aac 75gr stuff and hunt with blackhills tmk, bonefrog stuff is fine too.

The aac shares a 100 yard zero for me with the tmk but is lower velocity to its different dialing at longer ranges.

 

[waspocrew]

While I wait on my t3x/rokstok to get here in the next month or two I need to think about ammo.I have searched and there’s a bunch of different options but I’m sure some of you have narrowed it down.
This is my first tikka and first 223.
I do have a few ARs and a t1x.
I don’t reload (yet) so i need to start gathering a bunch of factory practice ammo and some hunting ammo.
I need some recommendations on 2-3 of each.
Also is the longer mags needed for any of the factory is the standard mag length fine.
I need to grab 3-4 extra of those as well.

Another vote for the AAC. My CTR shoots the 62s just a little better than the 75s, but both are great for cheap practice rounds. I’m sure the 75s would be suitable for hunting as well.

 

[Chris in TN]

I mainly practice with aac 75gr stuff and hunt with blackhills tmk, bonefrog stuff is fine too.

The aac shares a 100 yard zero for me with the tmk but is lower velocity to its different dialing at longer ranges.

Fwiw the AAC 69/75/77 stuff all hits to the same windage and within maybe a half minute of elevation as my 77TMK handloads in the kids’ AR.

ETA: point being, when I buy it, I just buy whatever is in stock.

 

[The Guide]

While I wait on my t3x/rokstok to get here in the next month or two I need to think about ammo.I have searched and there’s a bunch of different options but I’m sure some of you have narrowed it down.
This is my first tikka and first 223.
I do have a few ARs and a t1x.
I don’t reload (yet) so i need to start gathering a bunch of factory practice ammo and some hunting ammo.
I need some recommendations on 2-3 of each.
Also is the longer mags needed for any of the factory is the standard mag length fine.
I need to grab 3-4 extra of those as well.

Known "good" ammo for practice and hunting...

Any of the custom loaded (Black Hills, AAC, Bone Frog, ect...) 5.56 77 TMK ammo.
AAC 5.56 75 Sabre Blade Black Tips and 77 OTM (there are 2 styles of 77 OTM, one fast and one slow)
Hornady Match 223 73 ELDM
ADI 223 69 SMK

This should get you a good direction on what to look for.

Jay

 

[Jermh]

I'm newer to the 223 game as well but I'd add the Frontier stuff to the practice list also. It's nice to have an option you can find on the shelf and not have to order. The 68's do well for me and I've got some 75's on the way to try also.

 

[slatebuilder]

I have killed a very large quantity of deer with that exact combination of 30/06 and Core Lokt almost never were the wounds remarkable at all.

How do these wounds compare to a mono wound?

 

[BLJ]

While I wait on my t3x/rokstok to get here in the next month or two I need to think about ammo.I have searched and there’s a bunch of different options but I’m sure some of you have narrowed it down.
This is my first tikka and first 223.
I do have a few ARs and a t1x.
I don’t reload (yet) so i need to start gathering a bunch of factory practice ammo and some hunting ammo.
I need some recommendations on 2-3 of each.
Also is the longer mags needed for any of the factory is the standard mag length fine.
I need to grab 3-4 extra of those as well.

55/69 ADI for practice. Mine likes the 55’s better most days.
73 ELDM for hunting.

Factory mags are fine for both.

 

[RancherJohn]

Known "good" ammo for practice and hunting...

Any of the custom loaded (Black Hills, AAC, Bone Frog, ect...) 5.56 77 TMK ammo.
AAC 5.56 75 Sabre Blade Black Tips and 77 OTM (there are 2 styles of 77 OTM, one fast and one slow)
Hornady Match 223 73 ELDM
ADI 223 69 SMK

This should get you a good direction on what to look for.

Jay

In one of my .223 T3Xs I am getting pierced primers with Bronefrog 77 gr TMKs. No issues with that same lot in other rifles, and so far no issues with other ammo in the same gun. When I get time this week I have 6 other ammo types waiting here to go through that rifle and see if there is rhyme or reason to it.

 

[haywoodhunter]

I mainly practice with aac 75gr stuff and hunt with blackhills tmk, bonefrog stuff is fine too.

The aac shares a 100 yard zero for me with the tmk but is lower velocity to its different dialing at longer ranges.

Same. I have gotten a couple pierced primers with the aac (75 Sabre black tip, not otm). No doubt it’s lower quality but it’s not bothered me to practice with. I’ve killed one deer with it too, as has my buddy and they did fine. I’d have no hesitation shooting more deer with it.

 

[wind gypsy]

I thought AAC ceased all ammo production because "they couldn't source powder". Looks like they still have some stuff available. Is that just left over stock?

 

[Big_wals]

I thought AAC ceased all ammo production because "they couldn't source powder". Looks like they still have some stuff available. Is that just left over stock?

I heard that too, supposedly they are working on their own powder factory.