Thread: 223 on deer

So, despite Belmont 55gr ammo being good enough for about 124 deer in the last 17 months I thought I’d have a play with 73 gr ELDM’s. Loaded a few from 22-23 gr of Varget at std OAL. After spending the night out shooting a farm last night I decided to have a play with them. Was just shooting 3 shot groups to get an idea of what load to settle on when a deer showed up in a scrubby gulley @ 274m. So, why not? I sent a 23gr powder load it’s way. One dead animal later might be on to a useful load. Bullet expanded alright, found near offside shoulder. Bit later on shot a turkey at similar range with last 22gr load and a magpie at 362m with last 23gr load. Lucky shooting considering I was taking pot luck and using StrelokPro data for Belmont Black 55. Apparently it’s close enough. Load fine tuning could be interesting but then I might not bother, why fix what might not be broken.Might just validate drops properly. Just loaded a few more at 23 gr Varget, will go test on some animals tomorrow. Now to sit back and watch Indian MotoGP practice.

Originally Posted by woods223

So, despite Belmont 55gr ammo being good enough for about 124 deer in the last 17 months I thought I’d have a play with 73 gr ELDM’s. Loaded a few from 22-23 gr of Varget at std OAL. After spending the night out shooting a farm last night I decided to have a play with them. Was just shooting 3 shot groups to get an idea of what load to settle on when a deer showed up in a scrubby gulley @ 274m. So, why not? I sent a 23gr powder load it’s way. One dead animal later might be on to a useful load. Bullet expanded alright, found near offside shoulder. Bit later on shot a turkey at similar range with last 22gr load and a magpie at 362m with last 23gr load. Lucky shooting considering I was taking pot luck and using StrelokPro data for Belmont Black 55. Apparently it’s close enough. Load fine tuning could be interesting but then I might not bother, why fix what might not be broken.Might just validate drops properly. Just loaded a few more at 23 gr Varget, will go test on some animals tomorrow. Now to sit back and watch Indian MotoGP practice.

Interesting. I have just done it the other way around. My number one load is the 73gn ELD-M with 2206H but I was given some 55gn Belmont Black to use this week (sorry @Tahr, I thought they were 62gn) and they gave the same POI as my 73s at 100m. I have just been using them on goats and pigs and my first impressions is that they don't kill as well. Especially on the bigger animals.