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

[ztc92]

Here’s the same exact specs with a 200 yard zero if you or anyone else is curious…

 

[MEwaters]

The 3-9 credo is what is on my rifle currently. At this time the swfa isn’t an option

 

[JackButler]

I think the new easy button is 338arc. Throws a bullet about 50% heavier. Only variable you can control with subs.

The easiest button…

https://www.hornady.com/ammunition/rifle/45-70-government-gr-sub-x#!/

 

[Schmo]

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.

Just saying: switch powders and you should be able to shoot 2800 - 2900 fps

 

[Thegman]

A little long post, but a big bodied spike moose, at about 70 yards, this time with one 75 Fusion @ 2,770, frontal chest shot and a follow-up broadside shot with a 75 ELD-M @ 2,700. Didn't find the Fusion, but was pretty impressed with the 75 ELD-M.

Bull almost dropped from the Fusion chest shot, but regained his feet so put the next round, the 75 ELD-M through the back of the left shoulder, which ended up stopping against the offside hide behind the right shoulder. That bullet weighs just under 50 grains, so retained about 66% of its weight.

ELD-M entrance

ELD-M path through shoulder

ELD-M entrance into body cavity and path through lungs

ELD-M from far side hide

ELD-M bullet cleaned up

75 Fusion entrance through chest

The "trophy bull"...

 

[Deere_Man]

A little long post, but a big bodied spike moose, at about 70 yards, this time with one 75 Fusion @ 2,770, frontal chest shot and a follow-up broadside shot with a 75 ELD-M @ 2,700. Didn't find the Fusion, but was pretty impressed with the 75 ELD-M.

Bull almost dropped from the Fusion chest shot, but regained his feet so put the next round, the 75 ELD-M through the back of the left shoulder, which ended up stopping against the offside hide behind the right shoulder. That bullet weighs just under 50 grains, so retained about 66% of its weight.

ELD-M entrance
View attachment 938778
ELD-M path through shoulder
View attachment 938779
ELD-M entrance into body cavity and path through lungs
View attachment 938780
ELD-M from far side hide
View attachment 938781
ELD-M bullet cleaned up
View attachment 938782
75 Fusion entrance through chest
View attachment 938783
The "trophy bull"...
View attachment 938784

Nice! That will put a hurting on a freezer.

From two separate rifles? Or do you load two different types of 223 ammo into your rifle?

 

[Thegman]

Nice! That will put a hurting on a freezer.

From two separate rifles? Or do you load two different types of 223 ammo into your rifle?

From one rifle, one of my UL-ULs.

I like testing different bullets. I used a 77TMK on last year's bull. This year 75 Fusion, 75 ELD-M and 62 TSX were in the lineup for testing. I have loads for all of those and 77TMKs that all impact within an inch or so @ 100 yards, which is fine for where I hunt moose, since one can't even see beyond 100 yards in most spots.

I loaded 75 Fusion on top, followed by 75 ELD-M, 62 TSX and 77TMK, in that order. Only got to #2 which is about as far as I figured I'd get. I want to test the 75 Fusion and 75 ELD-M more, but both seemed to work well in this case.

 

[FredH]

Well I am playing this year with the 75 gr. Fusion and the 80 gr, ELDM out of my 16" 22 ARC going right at 2700 fps. My other rifle will mostly be a 300 Ham'r. No Moose down here but a lot of deer and feral hogs.

 

[280ai_alaska]

I killed a caribou 2 weeks ago with Barnes 55 grain tsx. The shot when right behind the shoulder and had great expansion for a 150 yrd shot

 

[Nine Banger]

We broke in the Left Hand 223 last night that Jake @Unknown Munitions was kind enough to import from Finland.

Junior got his first deer ever at around 85 yards. Liver shot with a hint of lung, probably from a fragment. The deer kicked up the front and back legs in unison at the thowp and ran straight for 35 yards or so and crashed into heavy grass. It tried to get up once that I could see and that was it.





I got my first left handed deer. He passed his rifle to me and I bang flopped a 67 pound doe at 184 yards. I held around .3 up on the mil quad reticle and went for high shoulder since we weren't exactly sure where the buck was and it was his first one.





I was at 26gr Lever last year and it worked fine but it went over pressure this summer so I backed it off to 25gr. Loaded at 2.26". I haven't checked lands.



Rifle is a left handed t3x with 20" barrel that I cut a few inches off the factory stock, reattached the pad and wrapped about 4 layers of paper towels on the comb with vet wrap that also covers the hook from the too large recoil pad. Scythe Ti on the end. Gen2 Swfa 6x is great for spotting shots.



Position was sitting supported with the front of the rifle on the strut that flops over after you get in a ladder stand and I handed him a hiking stick and helped him hold it upright while he supported with his off hand. Check out that trigger control in the pic below, atta boy. All the training is hard and drawn out, but it pays off in dividends.



Checkout what we're dealing with invasive warm season grasses and tracking:

 

[sierracharlie338]

We broke in the Left Hand 223 last night that Jake @Unknown Munitions was kind enough to import from Finland.

Junior got his first deer ever at around 85 yards. Liver shot with a hint of lung, probably from a fragment. The deer kicked up the front and back legs in unison at the thowp and ran straight for 35 yards or so and crashed into heavy grass. It tried to get up once that I could see and that was it.

I got my first left handed deer. He passed his rifle to me and I bang flopped a 67 pound doe at 184 yards. I held around .3 up on the mil quad reticle and went for high shoulder since we weren't exactly sure where the buck was and it was his first one.

I was at 26gr Lever last year and it worked fine but it went over pressure this summer so I backed it off to 25gr. Loaded at 2.26". I haven't checked lands.

Rifle is a left handed t3x with 20" barrel that I cut a few inches off the factory stock, reattached the pad and wrapped about 4 layers of paper towels on the comb with vet wrap that also covers the hook from the too large recoil pad. Scythe Ti on the end. Gen2 Swfa 6x is great for spotting shots.

Position was sitting supported with the front of the rifle on the strut that flops over after you get in a ladder stand and I handed him a hiking stick and helped him hold it upright while he supported with his off hand. Check out that trigger control in the pic below, atta boy. All the training is hard and drawn out, but it pays off in dividends.

Congrats to the young man on his first deer! Thanks for sharing, those are some memories for a lifetime.

 

[FredH]

From one rifle, one of my UL-ULs.
View attachment 938802
I like testing different bullets. I used a 77TMK on last year's bull. This year 75 Fusion, 75 ELD-M and 62 TSX were in the lineup for testing. I have loads for all of those and 77TMKs that all impact within an inch or so @ 100 yards, which is fine for where I hunt moose, since one can't even see beyond 100 yards in most spots.

I loaded 75 Fusion on top, followed by 75 ELD-M, 62 TSX and 77TMK, in that order. Only got to #2 which is about as far as I figured I'd get. I want to test the 75 Fusion and 75 ELD-M more, but both seemed to work well in this case.

This seems like pretty controlled expansion. Hung together pretty good.

 

[FredH]

We broke in the Left Hand 223 last night that Jake @Unknown Munitions was kind enough to import from Finland.

Junior got his first deer ever at around 85 yards. Liver shot with a hint of lung, probably from a fragment. The deer kicked up the front and back legs in unison at the thowp and ran straight for 35 yards or so and crashed into heavy grass. It tried to get up once that I could see and that was it.


View attachment 939271


I got my first left handed deer. He passed his rifle to me and I bang flopped a 67 pound doe at 184 yards. I held around .3 up on the mil quad reticle and went for high shoulder since we weren't exactly sure where the buck was and it was his first one.

View attachment 939256

View attachment 939255

I was at 26gr Lever last year and it worked fine but it went over pressure this summer so I backed it off to 25gr. Loaded at 2.26". I haven't checked lands.

View attachment 939258View attachment 939257

Rifle is a left handed t3x with 20" barrel that I cut a few inches off the factory stock, reattached the pad and wrapped about 4 layers of paper towels on the comb with vet wrap that also covers the hook from the too large recoil pad. Scythe Ti on the end. Gen2 Swfa 6x is great for spotting shots.

View attachment 939260

Position was sitting supported with the front of the rifle on the strut that flops over after you get in a ladder stand and I handed him a hiking stick and helped him hold it upright while he supported with his off hand. Check out that trigger control in the pic below, atta boy. All the training is hard and drawn out, but it pays off in dividends.

View attachment 939259

Checkout what we're dealing with invasive warm season grasses and tracking:

View attachment 939254

Cool can't ask for better than that. I am running 26.1 of Lvr under the 75 gr. Fusion getting a bit over 2900 fps out of a 22" barrel. My magazine and throat allows me a 2.325 OAL and the bullet is shorter than the 77 TMK. Guess thats why I haven't noticed any pressure issues. Possibly my 1-9 twist gives a bit lower pressures. It's max for sure loaded to fit a magazine in a 5.56 or Wilde chambered AR.

 

[FB Trout]

WY antelope 370 yards 77 TMK one shot through heart, shot by my son. 2070 FPS impact velocity. Ran about 20-30 yards and collapsed.

Entrance


Heart


Exit with bullet caught on off hide

 

[RockAndSage]

WY antelope 370 yards 77 TMK one shot through heart, shot by my son. 2070 FPS impact velocity. Ran about 20-30 yards and collapsed.

Entrance
View attachment 939580

Heart
View attachment 939581

Exit with bullet caught on off hideView attachment 939582

View attachment 939583

Nice buck. Amazing how much damage those TMKs do, even at that relatively low of an impact velocity.

 

[Thegman]

WY antelope 370 yards 77 TMK one shot through heart, shot by my son. 2070 FPS impact velocity. Ran about 20-30 yards and collapsed.

Entrance
View attachment 939580

Heart
View attachment 939581

Exit with bullet caught on off hideView attachment 939582

View attachment 939583

That's interesting to compare what the 77TMK did at 2,070 to what the 75ELDM @ ~ 2,560 did on my moose. I'm sure that varies quite a bit for both of them but the 77TMK is an amazingly destructive little bullet.

 

[FB Trout]

Nice buck. Amazing how much damage those TMKs do, even at that relatively low of an impact velocity.

Thank you, I continue to be amazed at how destructive that bullet is. I love it.

 

[FB Trout]

That's interesting to compare what the 77TMK did at 2,070 to what the 75ELDM @ ~ 2,560 did on my moose. I'm sure that varies quite a bit for both of them but the 77TMK is an amazingly destructive little bullet.

Yes it is. It really alters the paradigm of what I was taught regarding bullet construction and performance.

 

[JGRaider]

Thank you, I continue to be amazed at how destructive that bullet is. I love it.

Seriously, what's to love about a bullet explosion like that? Other than killing the animal, I'd want no part of on game performance like that.

 

[Deere_Man]

Seriously, what's to love about a bullet explosion like that? Other than killing the animal, I'd want no part of on game performance like that.

It checks a lot of boxes. A proven track record for lethality, good penetration, available as a component and as factory ammo, fits in an AR magazine and by default an OEM Tikka T3 magazine, decent ballistic coefficient, and it holds together fairly well. Is it perfect? No, probably not. A 75gr ELDM may be somewhat better in some aspects. But that won’t fit in the magazine.