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

[MEwaters]

My 16” AR is sub MOA. Shoots 73s, 75s, 77s great. Can swap my 3x9 trijicon for aimpoints or slap on other built uppers.
What would the 16” tikka give me over my current rifle as far as achievable goals?

 

[StupidLightweight]

My 16” AR is sub MOA. Shoots 73s, 75s, 77s great. Can swap my 3x9 trijicon for aimpoints or slap on other built uppers.
What would the 16” tikka give me over my current rifle as far as achievable goals?

A Tikka would be quieter if you're running suppressed. That's it. From a performance standpoint, it's hard to beat a quality AR.

 

[Elk botherer]

My 16” AR is sub MOA. Shoots 73s, 75s, 77s great. Can swap my 3x9 trijicon for aimpoints or slap on other built uppers.
What would the 16” tikka give me over my current rifle as far as achievable goals?

Not necessarily performance but when the weather is adverse (rain or snow) it is much easier to keep a tikka from getting corroded and get cleaned versus an ar with all the cutouts on the hand guard. Sucks trying to get mud splatter and slush out of the tight spaces and off the barrel underneath. Tikkas are much easier to clean after a wet hunt.

 

[MEwaters]

Are they whiter because ARs run on the gas system I’m assuming.
Valid point on the mud and rain, it’s not a joy, spraying wd40 helps.
I’m just trying to convince myself to spend the $700 on more ammo and not a tikka

 

[StupidLightweight]

Are they whiter because ARs run on the gas system I’m assuming.
Valid point on the mud and rain, it’s not a joy, spraying wd40 helps.
I’m just trying to convince myself to spend the $700 on more ammo and not a tikka

Yes, ARs are louder due to the semiautomatic action. I don't give the weather advantage to a bolt-gun unless you're in extremely cold or very dusty/dirty environments. Nitrided barrels and bolts, anodized aluminum, and polymer components of ARs are virtually impervious to corrosion.

 

[Schmo]

My 16” AR is sub MOA. Shoots 73s, 75s, 77s great. Can swap my 3x9 trijicon for aimpoints or slap on other built uppers.
What would the 16” tikka give me over my current rifle as far as achievable goals?

If you hunt with a bolt action, the AR does nothing for that mechanical autonomy. I also find it far easier to get behind a bolt gun and deliver precision that an AR.

 

[RockAndSage]

My 16” AR is sub MOA. Shoots 73s, 75s, 77s great. Can swap my 3x9 trijicon for aimpoints or slap on other built uppers.
What would the 16” tikka give me over my current rifle as far as achievable goals?

Eh...are you saying you get sub-MOA with other uppers you slap on?

Separately, while probably 95% of my rifle-hunting time in the field is with ARs across the year, I can tell you that a .223 Tikka is probably going to be a notably lighter, better-balancing field package over how most guys have their ARs set up. Especially sub-MOA ARs. Most people are also simply going to shoot a bolt gun better, because their mindset is better focused on making each shot count. You won't have any cycling issues with the same factory or handloads that may not function well in an AR. You can run a Tikka bone-dry with no lube, but doing so with an AR is moronic - which means the Tikka will be the more reliable option in the most extreme conditions, especially extreme cold. None of which negates the use of an AR - there's just more to account for.

That's what you'd get with a Tikka over your AR. Which is a different question from what you get with an AR over a Tikka.

 

[Marbles]

My 16” AR is sub MOA. Shoots 73s, 75s, 77s great. Can swap my 3x9 trijicon for aimpoints or slap on other built uppers.
What would the 16” tikka give me over my current rifle as far as achievable goals?

I like my bolt guns and would not switch to using an AR. However I see zero reason to switch from the AR to a bolt gun if you are happy with the AR.

My 223 Tikka is my favorite rifle, but I don't think it offers anything meaningful over an AR in most situations.

The other problem is while an off the shelf Tikka is more than adequate, it is easy to start improving them, then next thing you know you have several thousand spent. Even if you go $700 for the Tikka, $50 for Sportsmatch rings, and $300 for an SWFA 6x, that is a whole lot of ammo. Then you will end up wanting a dedicated muffler for it.

That said, I like my bougie Tikka's even if I would have been better off not spending the money.

 

[MEwaters]

Eh...are you saying you get sub-MOA with other uppers you slap on?

No that Was just versatility oriented. No other uppers have magnification on them and my longest rifle is 16”. They’re all 1/7 so they stabilize everything.
I would hope every Hunter, regardless of platform, would be conscious of making every shot count.
This will be my third deer season. I passed up 2 broadside shots at 40 yards my first season because I couldn’t control the adrenaline dump lol.
I was just generally curious. I’ve never shot bolt guns. Have only ran ARs for fun at steel and nothing really past 100 yards.

 

[justinspicher]

I prefer an AR over a bolt gun myself. I know the bolt gun can be quieter and more accurate, but I have a lot of sentimental value and memories of carrying an AR in my life.

 

[RockAndSage]

I would hope every Hunter, regardless of platform, would be conscious of making every shot count.

That would definitely be the ideal, but people gonna people. Generally speaking, the effect is worse in training, with guys not getting the most out of each and every training shot. But it also shows up if they miss their first shot in the field - second one tends to be a bit more rushed and less accurate with a semi-auto than with a bolt gun, or other manually cycled gun. There's absolutely nothing wrong with hunting with an AR though.

 

[FredH]

Not necessarily performance but when the weather is adverse (rain or snow) it is much easier to keep a tikka from getting corroded and get cleaned versus an ar with all the cutouts on the hand guard. Sucks trying to get mud splatter and slush out of the tight spaces and off the barrel underneath. Tikkas are much easier to clean after a wet hunt.

Just paint everything under the handguard. I have found AR's to be very weather happy.

 

[igethangry]

I’m finally going to give it a try this year... Averaging ~2550fps. Should be above 1800fps at 300yd which is about the longest shot opportunity for me where I hunt

 

[ztc92]

I’m finally going to give it a try this year... Averaging ~2550fps. Should be above 1800fps at 300yd which is about the longest shot opportunity for me where I hunt

View attachment 938044

Nice shooting. What barrel length is that with? And is that a compressed load?

 

[MEwaters]

77 TMK from a 16”
100 or 200 yard zero?

 

[ztc92]

77 TMK from a 16”
100 or 200 yard zero?

Depends on a few things:
- What is the maximum range?
- What kind of scope, set and forget or dialing?

If point and shoot, either could work and depends on max range. If dialing you definitely want a 100 yard zero.

 

[MEwaters]

Depends on a few things:
- What is the maximum range?
- What kind of scope, set and forget or dialing?

If point and shoot, either could work and depends on max range. If dialing you definitely want a 100 yard zero.

No dialing.
I want minimal holdover / under from 20-300 yards.
Trijicon credo 3-9. Max range 300 if it’s a point and shoot at lungs. Most of my terrain I hunt would be sub 100 yard woods unless I see one crossing the blueberry fields on my way into the swamp woodland

 

[igethangry]

Nice shooting. What barrel length is that with? And is that a compressed load?

That’s the 22” factory barrel. It’s crunchy at 22.0gr varget. I could maybe get 0.5gr more in there, but don’t really feel like I need to? It gets pretty cold here so wanted something temp stable.

 

[BOLIO]

No dialing.
I want minimal holdover / under from 20-300 yards.
Trijicon credo 3-9. Max range 300 if it’s a point and shoot at lungs. Most of my terrain I hunt would be sub 100 yard woods unless I see one crossing the blueberry fields on my way into the swamp woodland

Depends on your velocity but if you are getting 2550:

A 200 yard zero’s trajectory is
+2.5” / -9.9” at 300yds
/ - 6.7” at 275
/ - 3.9” at 250

Hope that helps. Sounds like a great rig. Enjoy.

 

[ztc92]

Depends on your velocity but if you are getting 2550:

A 200 yard zero’s trajectory is
+2.5” / -9.9” at 300yds
/ - 6.7” at 275
/ - 3.9” at 250

Hope that helps. Sounds like a great rig. Enjoy.

No dialing.
I want minimal holdover / under from 20-300 yards.
Trijicon credo 3-9. Max range 300 if it’s a point and shoot at lungs. Most of my terrain I hunt would be sub 100 yard woods unless I see one crossing the blueberry fields on my way into the swamp woodland

I grew up using a duplex reticle scope and a 200 yard zero for deer hunting at 0-300 yards. Our approach was to aim dead on 0-200 and then hold high at 200+, putting crosshairs on their back for 300 and guessing the difference in between. I DO NOT recommend that approach. It’s is not precise and resulted in bad shots on game.

I thought I would get smart and buy a BDC reticle and that would solve my problems. What I didn’t know then (but appreciate now after a lot more shooting and hunting) is that for the reticle to be accurate, you need to be at a given magnification (usually highest power), so 9x on a 3-9 scope like the trijicon credo you want. This is because 2nd focal plane reticles are only consistent size at a specific scope power. The problem with this is you don’t want to be using 9X at close ranges like 200-300 yards. It makes it near impossible to spot your the impact or the animals reaction. At those ranges you’d be better served to use 3-6x, which doesn’t easily work with a 3-9x BDC scope.

So having said all that, I’d strongly recommend you consider picking up a SWFA 6x scope with the mil-quad reticle. Right now, you can just use it like a duplex reticle, ignore the hash marks, set the zero for 200 as suggested above, and forget the turrets even dial. Then if you progress to wanting to dial, you’re already set to do so with a scope that makes it easy to learn.

If you want to stick within your criteria, then I’d buy the Credo 3-9 with the duplex reticle. Zero at 200 and then do your best to hold over from 200-300 with a lot of practice on deer-sized targets at that range. I’d also avoid the urge to ever use the scope above 6x at those yardages and therefore a BDC reticle would not be a good choice.

Attached is a more in depth look at the 77g bullets in a 223 at 2550 muzzle velocity from the shooter app. I guessed 2500 for density altitude as I’m not sure where you hunt but you could use a similar app and refine this information for your specific use case.

Good luck!

Edit - Note that the above chart has a 100 yard zero. You have to do a a little math to calculate the drop for a 200 yard zero but it’s close to the suggestion I quoted.