Help me choose... 223 or 7mm RM

[Speaks]

What range are you comfortable shooting? I would be fine with 223 within its reasonable range limits. That said I spun a 6 creed barrel on to my 7rm and feel a lot better about that than either 223 or 7rm as an elk gun.

That said I never planned on my 223 being my main deer gun. But I shoot it 20x all my other rifles combined and that outweighs all other considerations for what I grab when walking out the door. Though I am just not going to get shots past 400 yards anyway (most being inside 250) so 223 is not any kind of limitation.

 

[KurtR]

This argument baffles me. I want the biggest caliber I can possibly handle to inflict the most trauma in the fastest amount of time possible. Damn the recoil, damn the cost of the round. I want that bastard dead NOW. I want his chest pushing out blood like a sump pump.

I’ve caused and seen the results of a 556 wound in real world applications. It absolutely would NOT be my first choice to bring down an animal that is damn near a thousand pounds. Can it be done? Sure, I suspect so. But it isn’t my idea of ethical hunting.

Thats why bullet choice matters. 55 grain green tip isnt a 77 tmk.

 

[RockAndSage]

Hey bro, I hunt with all legal weapons (bow, muzzleloader, rifle) in multiple states. So would you recommend the OP hunt elk with the 7RM or .223? Which caliber has the greatest margin of error in a real life situation?

No internet dickishness intended in this statement here: this question is revealing how little you have actually looked into what people are actually saying does work - and why it works. And providing extensive evidence for. Respectfully, the comments are revealing the homework just hasn't been done.

In the .223 for big game thread, that's somewhere around 700 pages long at this point, there's extensive evidence gathered from hundreds of dead animals, that tipped match bullets of .223 caliber are incredibly lethal in big game. These posts and photos show the same thing: a coke can diameter hole bored out going over a foot deep. My .54cal patched round ball never did anything that severe, nor my .30 cal 165gr TTSX.

But it's not just about bullets - it's the virtuous cycle of shooting a lot more that comes from shooting low-recoil. And how that helps prevent rodeos that often come when guys shoot big magnums. It's an entire approach - not just some jackwagon claiming that .55gr ball is great for elk, or anything like that.