Thread: 223 on deer

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.