Here we ago again... .223 bullet selection given following parameters.

[Stocky]

Ive shot probably 30 or 40 animals (pigs, deer, and goats) with the 64 grain Speer Gold Dot LE factory rounds as I have it in bulk from when we used to be allowed ARs. It works decently but its definitely a step back from the likes of the elds or tmks. Here is a red hind Scapula shot at roughly 1000ft DA at 378m (420ish yards) its destroyed it and dropped the deer on the spot.

The 73 ELD are very consistent and I tend to find them marginally less damaging than the 77TMKs.

I have had 73 and 77TMKs exit almost every Red Hind, Red Stag, and my Caribou bull i wouldnt worry about pentration or holding together. Your kid wont care about that but he will care if you lose an animal.

The below is a 73 eld from the offside skins of my Caribou bull.

In any deer it would have exited completely.

 

[BLJ]

10-4. Most places here are cleaned out right now. It’s kind of weird. Probably cause I’ve never looked for it before and now that I want it I can’t find it.

Post #13 in this thread has a link to a reputable source for the 73 ELDM’s.

The guy who posted it knows his stuff.
Good looking dude, too.

 

[HairyScandinavian]

I wonder if OP regrets making this thread now.

I read the first couple pages, OP the answer is many options are great so best thing to do is buy a variety and see what the rifle shoots well and go from there. I have no qualms with TMK, ELD M/X, Win PP, Fusion, Gold Dot, etc etc. We typically have tons of 55gr Gold Dots for the ARs so that's what we end up shooting deer and hogs with when we use a 223/556. I'm not sure if it's a thing but there's a chance the 77's in 556 may have a heavier recoil than a plain 55gr 223 so that's another thing to consider depending on your son's age.

 

[Panhandler80]

Well, I got this little bastard dry fit.

I think she’s gonna work. Who knows. looking forward to hunting it, or at least shooting it

It really is for him. It’s not gonna be a Carrie round gun for him. It’ll be a walk to Treestand. Sit there and let him shoot his own gun. I’m kinda excited.

 

[Panhandler80]

Well, this weekend is the big reveal. I'm going to wrap the suppressor, the rifle, scope and ammo boxes separately, then we'll mount scope and hopefully do some shooting at some point. Speaking of ammo... I went ahead and ordered three boxes of 73 grain ELDMs. So, on hand I'll have

Hornady 73 ELDMs
Federal Fusion 62 grain
Barnes with 69 grain tipped game king

Hopefully he likes his first rifle. Good news is that just yesterday he was asking if we had any cameras going in the woods! Said he was curious if we have any good bucks. Asked if he'd like to go a few times again this year and he said "Definitely!"