77gr tmk season review

[Ndbowhunter]

Sold of my 300 win mag to a fellow member so I used my 18" 223 wylde for antelope and deer season. Shoots black hills 556 77gr tmk 5 shot groups under half an inch. Topped with a bushnell lrhs 3-12.

5 antelope and one mule deer.

First kill was 275 yards quartering away on an meat antelope. 2 inch exit out the chest. Ran 30 yards. Bullet travelled 14" or so.

Second antelope shot was 175 or so head shot. Gruesome and deadly.

Third was 50 lung shot on a nice buck. 2" exit. 25 yard run

4th lope was not my hunt but my rifle. 230 yard Down through neck (and spine) into offside front shoulder. Bang flop and no recoverable bullet. 12" of travel or so.

5 lope again not my hunt but my rifle shoulder hit at 155 yards. Damage into offside. No exit. No major bullet fragments to be found.

Last kill was a mule deer doe hunt for meat. 15 yards straight on head shot. Bullet entered above the nose and below the eyes. Total destruction into throat area. Unfortunately I had to dispatch her with a quick neck shot. I measured 10" of good penetration and the tail just missed the spinal chord. Neck shot was ping pong ball exit size and didn't hit bone.

Read ur own conclusions, just thought I'd share.

Ps what works for pics besides photobucket?

 

[wind gypsy]

Nice! 77 TMKs are primarily what I punch paper and shoot steel with out of my 20" AR. I figure they'd do well on game but I appreciate the result sharing.

 

[justinspicher]

I wish I could use my AR on big game. So far it's just for coyotes.

 

[Formidilosus]

The 77gr TMK is a monster of a bullet.

303 yards. 18-20" penetration. Shoulder, ribs, lungs, rings, caught under skin on offside. Slid about 10ft downhill.

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A bit over 100 yards. Again 18-20" penetration. Shoulder, ribs, lungs, liver, ribs, caught under skin on far side.

 

[5MilesBack]

Is there any difference between the TMK and SMK in terminal performance? In CO we can't use anything smaller than a .24 cal for big game, so have only used the SMK's for target and coyotes.

 

[Ndbowhunter]

After perusing tons of forums arfcom in particular, the smk relies solely on fragmentation, general consensus seems to be about 2200fps is the lower limit. Molon and doc do extensive gelatin tests with 77gr smk.. whereas the tmk acetal tip will allow the bullet to expand to about 1800fps or so. Below 2100 the bullet imbues a more typical mushroomed meplat.

Basically your expanding the bullets range with the tmk

From formids pics and my own experience fragmentation happens even in shitty atmosphere out to 300-350 yards reliably with the tmk so I'm guessing the acetal tip being driven backwards into a wider meplat does help.

My 18" rifle length gas pushes bha 77 tmk at 2750 almost exactly. I call it a safe 450 yard round.

With a strike j comp compensator it is so ridiculously easy to shoulder and shoot from awkward stalking positions.

 

[Formidilosus]

Is there any difference between the TMK and SMK in terminal performance? In CO we can't use anything smaller than a .24 cal for big game, so have only used the SMK's for target and coyotes.

Yes, there is a difference. While SMK's can be effective on game, they exhibit too much variability in tissue. Some expand/fragment immediately offering nearly ideal performance, some penetrate 4-6" before expanding/fragmenting, and every once and a while one will penetrate deeply and not fragment.

The TMK's are similar to AMAX's- short neck length, rapid expansion. Best when heavy for caliber weights are used on big game.

 

[Ndbowhunter]

As a follow up I shot a 160 class Muley at 35 yards this year on opening day.

.. Straight through humorous bone and into the vitals dropped like a ton of bricks.. Was a big deer.


And another lope at 225 and it piled up.

 

[backcountry_hunter]

ND.... what's your wylde twisted at? Thinking about trying to hunt w/ 77 TMK's in my AR (1x9) but not sure if it's tight enough. Shoots fusions lights out though.

 

[Ndbowhunter]

1-8 twist..

Pretty hard to find the black hills loaded ammo at the moment.

Barrels are pretty cheap and ez to swap out but if ur stuck try some frontier 75gr.. the t2 bullet will stabilize in 1/9 twist and will do beautiful work out to 400 or so. Most guys are getting 2700fps from 16" mids

 

[backcountry_hunter]

1-8 twist..

Pretty hard to find the black hills loaded ammo at the moment.

Barrels are pretty cheap and ez to swap out but if ur stuck try some frontier 75gr.. the t2 bullet will stabilize in 1/9 twist and will do beautiful work out to 400 or so. Most guys are getting 2700fps from 16" mids

Yea I've noticed online the 77's are hard to find. About a month ago, Wouldn't you know it I found a dozen or better boxes @ a local hardware store and picked up a few for my bolt gun. Just haven't ran em yet and was thinking about chasing deer this year with my AR

 

[mcr-85]

I shoot the 69 TMK out of a 1-9 twist 22-250. They are accurate and hell on coyotes. I'm shooting them at 3400 fps. I would love to shoot a deer with them but I'm not packing a heavy coyote gun up the mountain.

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

 

[Thinkingman]

HSM also loads 77gr SMKs and they shoot tiny groups out of my Rock River 1/8.

 

[cornfed]

I shoot the 69 TMK out of a 1-9 twist 22-250. They are accurate and hell on coyotes. I'm shooting them at 3400 fps. I would love to shoot a deer with them but I'm not packing a heavy coyote gun up the mountain.

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My buddy says the 69mk pencils thru the ghogs and yotes he tried them on out of a 8 twist 22/250. Next time I see him I'll tell him to try the TMK's.

 

[mcr-85]

They don't pencil thru. They knock the shit out of coyotes. They blow jackrabbits up.

My buddy says the 69mk pencils thru the ghogs and yotes he tried them on out of a 8 twist 22/250. Next time I see him I'll tell him to try the TMK's.

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

 

[Ndbowhunter]

All matchkings are known to pencil at times.

Surprising that from the 230gr 308 to 69gr 224 bullets this rings true


Small meplat? Hard linotype? Thick jacket.

I'm sure annealing above the ogive would help but seems to be not worth the hassle when so much better bullets are available cheaper

 

[Beendare]

Its stupid you cannot use .223 for big game species in CA......I'm not saying use it on your elk hunt but some of the bullets for these are fantastic.

Put it this way, I've seen some great performance from 50gr Vmax....Lets leave it at that. /grin

And that .223 is a pleasure to shoot...in an AR or a bolt.

 

[marty0]

Its stupid you cannot use .223 for big game species in CA......I'm not saying use it on your elk hunt but some of the bullets for these are fantastic.


Put it this way, I've seen some great performance from 50gr Vmax....Lets leave it at that. /grin

And that .223 is a pleasure to shoot...in an AR or a bolt.

Are you sure about no 223 in ca? It’s always been any centerfire and I can’t find on the fish and game website where it says it has to be 6mm or bigger...

 

[draebi]

I know this is old thread but wanting to revive and ask if any noticeable on game performance differences noted between 77 TMK and heavier(75,80,88) eld-m bullets? 22-250 up to 22 Creedmoor velocities of most interest

 

[False_Cast]

I know this is old thread but wanting to revive and ask if any noticeable on game performance differences noted between 77 TMK and heavier(75,80,88) eld-m bullets? 22-250 up to 22 Creedmoor velocities of most interest

Form said the tmk’s are a little deeper penetrating than the eldms post 267 of this thread https://www.rokslide.com/forums/threads/223-for-bear-deer-and-elk.130488/page-14

I’ll probably be trotting out both 77tmk and 75eldm at deer camp this year. Propelled via 223/5.56.