223 on deer

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Originally Posted by TeRei

How does Bella respond to the less than Kings English.

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Pretty much ignores me. No change there :)
Nah, she understands the tone.

Everyone taking their pee shooters out for the roar?or are the big guns coming out the cupboard ?

A .223 is the most powerful rifle I own, so yup it'll be going out with me during the roar.
I could borrow more powerful rifles, my brother in law has a very nice Tikka 7/08 that's never left the safe but I trust and enjoy using my .223

Last evening. Hind, size Large. 200 Yards. 80 grn Targex. Straight down.

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Here's the hole out the ribs and through the off shoulder (shoulder peeled back). Bits of bullet were just under the shoulder skin.

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80 ELDM

220m just behind shoulder exited big red hind
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200m through spine (misjudged the range and held for 250m - small yearling red), euthanized with head shot
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320m red stag, through shoulder bullet smashed opposite rib cage but didn't exit
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Nice @gimp[emoji106] I must have just missed you, warden said you popped down to use the phone reception [emoji41]

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77TMK 223 clearly bounced of the red stag but he was kind enough to let my brother pose next to him for a picture.
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Originally Posted by kukuwai

Nice @gimp[emoji106] I must have just missed you, warden said you popped down to use the phone reception [emoji41]

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Did you have the bottom block? We popped out for a forecast on Sat, came home today. How'd you go?

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Originally Posted by gimp

Did you have the bottom block? We popped out for a forecast on Sat, came home today. How'd you go?

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Yep thats right. We went down on wed back sunday. Had a great time [emoji106] I put a 'bullet' point yarn in the magazine section [emoji41]

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150m headshot in the torch light just after dark. My daughter was disappointed that her shot hit 20mm left of dead center between the eyes :ORLY:
We'd targeted a buck that was croaking earlier, called him in to 30m but her glasses had fogged after slogging up the hill. This yearling was a consolation.

75gr eld-m @2920fps mv, shattered the skull but no exit. Squishy soft head.

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@nzspearo she loves that pikau.

80 grn Targex went right through this big doe at about 250 yds. Low shoulder shot.
What is it about .223 hunters seeming to be always floundering around in the dark?
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Originally Posted by Roarless20

150m headshot in the torch light just after dark. My daughter was disappointed that her shot hit 20mm left of dead center between the eyes :ORLY:
We'd targeted a buck that was croaking earlier, called him in to 30m but her glasses had fogged after slogging up the hill. This yearling was a consolation.

75gr eld-m @2920fps mv, shattered the skull but no exit. Squishy soft head.

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@nzspearo she loves that pikau.

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Thats very cool.

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Originally Posted by Roarless20

150m headshot in the torch light just after dark. My daughter was disappointed that her shot hit 20mm left of dead center between the eyes :ORLY:
We'd targeted a buck that was croaking earlier, called him in to 30m but her glasses had fogged after slogging up the hill. This yearling was a consolation.

75gr eld-m @2920fps mv, shattered the skull but no exit. Squishy soft head.

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@nzspearo she loves that pikau.

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Epic! Glad that she likes it and its getting used to good effect!

Couple of bush deer. 80 ELDM. Good effective kills on shoulder shots, hind ran 20m, spiker stumbled over on the spot. Exited hind with a good blood trail, bullet under the skin on the off side of spiker.

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Has anyone had experience with the Browning Xbolt superlight loaded with the heavy 223 projectiles? And also how it performs with factory ammo with the 16” barrel?

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Originally Posted by gimp

Couple of bush deer. 80 ELDM. Good effective kills on shoulder shots, hind ran 20m, spiker stumbled over on the spot. Exited hind with a good blood trail, bullet under the skin on the off side of spiker.

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Thats cool. Those deer are light, eh. High population area?
It's interesting how because of the effectiveness of the heavy for caliber .223's Ive drifted away from head and neck shots. Used to be my go to shots but hardly think of doing it now.

The other night. 230 yd 80 grn Targex exit from an angled lung shot. Ran about 15 yards. Effective.
9th April. He had that musty rutty smell about him. Meat for charity. They casserole or mince it so it will be ok. Butcher puts the rutty carcasses in a seperate chiller away from domestic stuff this time of the year.

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I thought I’d give the 73g ELDM a try in the 223.

All shoulder shots 100-220m and they didn’t make it far.

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Originally Posted by Tahr

Thats cool. Those deer are light, eh. High population area?
It's interesting how because of the effectiveness of the heavy for caliber .223's Ive drifted away from head and neck shots. Used to be my go to shots but hardly think of doing it now.

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They're not big for reds yeah. Lots of deer around if a crap bush hunter like me can stumble onto a few. I don’t think twice about just whacking it in the shoulder.

I actually lost a stag with the .223 on Thursday. He came in to a roar in the bush, and I took a headshot because i wanted to save the caul fat, hit a bit far forward and low, got a 2nd shot in that must have hit an antler or something - got target focused on the head rather than putting a good shoulder shot in. Blood tracked for a couple of hours but didn't find him in the end and the blood ran out. Didn't feel too happy about that one. Hard to imagine it going differently with any other cartridge.

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Originally Posted by GlenM

Has anyone had experience with the Browning Xbolt superlight loaded with the heavy 223 projectiles? And also how it performs with factory ammo with the 16” barrel?

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Used to load 55gr TSX for my mates XBolt but he has switched to 65gr GMK. Gave those to him to try. Best so far is 365m one shot dead. 1 foot above spine.

Red yearling - quartering slightly to. Entry through point of shoulder, exit behind opposite shoulder. .223 80ELDM 2750fps MV and probably 2700fps impact.

Entry into rib cage behind onside shoulder
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Exit out of rib cage
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Lungs - permanent cavity is a bit hard to see with the angle
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Red spiker. Roughly broadside. Entered through one shoulder and most of the bullet penetrated as fragments through to under the skin on the opposite side. Died on the spot. .223 80gr ELDM mv 2750 impact 2675 maybe.
Entry to rib cage under onside shoulder
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Exit from rib cage under offside shoulder - dragged a bit of lung out
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Lungs - impact side lung more or less vaporized. Nerve cluster ("hilar") shredded.
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Knife has a 4.5 inch (114mm) blade (cold steel master hunter 3v) for scale. All the wounds look about 50-60mm diameter which is consistent with what I've seen in gel and animals with this combo between 1900 - 2750 fps impact V

Also it's a good knife if anyone is wondering

Shot 3 fallow in the weekend with the 223 and 77 TMKs. All shots offhand at ranges from 30 to 80/90M with animals having already spotted me and shot in that first pause when they look back with that WTF are you doing here thing. All 3 decked but no bang flops due to shot placement or lack of, shooting steep up or down even at short range is challenging for this old fart.

Had two easier offhand shots at 80 and 110ish when the 308 was in hand for two emphatic bang flops, better shot placement on both but does I think point to the fact that there's no substitute for "horsepower ".

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Originally Posted by Tentman

Shot 3 fallow in the weekend with the 223 and 77 TMKs. All shots offhand at ranges from 30 to 80/90M with animals having already spotted me and shot in that first pause when they look back with that WTF are you doing here thing. All 3 decked but no bang flops due to shot placement or lack of, shooting steep up or down even at short range is challenging for this old fart.

Had two easier offhand shots at 80 and 110ish when the 308 was in hand for two emphatic bang flops, better shot placement on both but does I think point to the fact that there's no substitute for "horsepower ".

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I dunno. Anecdotes like this are nice but then you get posts like this -

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Originally Posted by Oldbloke

Have shot fallow, but mainly hunt sambar. A few weeks ago took an off hand shot at a small sambar, about 30 yards. Not big, about goat size. Side on 30.06 180gr interlok. Entry slightly behind R shoulder. Exit, L shoulder, smashed. Big exit hole. I mean, about 50mm dia. (I remove the tips of those bullets)

She ran about 50 yards up a gentle slope, jumped an old fence, did a big U turn and fell over. All up about 70 yards. When I found her 5 minutes later still alive so, shot again in the head.

Shot fallow buck last year, 30.06 130gr bullet, 2900fps, 100 yards.

Same placement. Exit L shoulder. Ran about 60 yards. DOA.

A bit bigger is always better IMHO.

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Reading that - maybe .30-06 isn't big enough for fallow. Doesn't sound like it works very well. There's posts here recently complaining about the performance of 162gr ELDX from 7mm magnums on deer.


without a decent sample size, looking at the actual real performance including actual realised placement and using an objective measure of effectiveness - it's futile trying to make conclusions.

This was perplexing. 150 yards, 6.45pm day/night scope in day mode. It was croaking and mucking about sniffing the ground. Good high-ish shoulder hit that angled out midway off side. I expected it to drop on the spot. But you will see I had to pop it in the head (vid).
80 grn Targex which are always reliable, but not as frangible as the ELDM. Maybe the angle resulted in reduced lung damage. We will never know.

https://youtu.be/cLS2jw8Y5-4

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Got this little one on the way home in the IR. 324 yards and I was very careful with shot. Dropped.

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Originally Posted by Tentman

Shot 3 fallow in the weekend with the 223 and 77 TMKs. All shots offhand at ranges from 30 to 80/90M with animals having already spotted me and shot in that first pause when they look back with that WTF are you doing here thing. All 3 decked but no bang flops due to shot placement or lack of, shooting steep up or down even at short range is challenging for this old fart.

Had two easier offhand shots at 80 and 110ish when the 308 was in hand for two emphatic bang flops, better shot placement on both but does I think point to the fact that there's no substitute for "horsepower ".

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Don't matter,the deer are down.:thumbsup:

Took the kids for an afternoon walk today. 17km round trip, 2 hinds and 1 young stag spotted. Mr Stag got a 73gr Eldm at 330m. Instant lights out. Haven't been out for just over a year. My longest stretch of no hunting. Super pumped.
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Quality time. Cant beat any time with the tamariki. Podium.

The young lads look pretty happy there,well done.

17k for a afternoon is a run not a walk. Well done, boys will be stoked with that. :cool:

I took my son out last night, first time I have been out in 6 months.
We parked the truck and walked 50 meters when we saw a hind grazing on the farmers sweeds, the hind was 200 meters away and facing front on, I scoped it up on the front of its chest and fired.
I heard a solid thud but the deer turned side on so I fired a quick follow up shot through the front shoulder and with that it went straight down.
I was just wondering if anyone can suggest a smaller calibre than the 223 to use on deer as the 223 appears to be way too much gun on deer.

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200 meter shot using a 77gr TMK

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1st shot through chest exiting behind the ribs then entering back leg blowing it to bits, also follow up shot through front shoulder.

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Photo of follow up shot through front shoulder

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Photo of damage to back leg

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Photo of internal damage on front shoulder shot

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This is what was left of the 77gr TMK on the front shoulder shot lodged againgst the spine

In summary the 223 has absolutely destroyed the hind and if anything has proved to be too much gun.

Try a Tikka T1X in .22 rimfire and put the 40g CCI sub projectile in the spot behind its head (where the spine meets the skull)

way less meat damage than that big boomer your using :)

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Originally Posted by 7mmsaum

Try a Tikka T1X in .22 rimfire and put the 40g CCI sub projectile in the spot behind its head (where the spine meets the skull)

way less meat damage than that big boomer your using :)

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Thanks for that advice, I have shot deer with a .22 and it did the job well.
I just hunt for meat and it almost brought a tear to my eye when I saw all the waste from that deer last night using the 223.

I might have to go back to head shots :thumbsup:

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Originally Posted by 7mm Rem Mag

Thanks for that advice, I have shot deer with a .22 and it did the job well.
I just hunt for meat and it almost brought a tear to my eye when I saw all the waste from that deer last night using the 223.

I might have to go back to head shots :thumbsup:

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Destroyed it.

It's the projectile, not the caliber. Plenty of good slightly harder projectiles. Ive never had that with the 80 or 74 Targex.

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Originally Posted by 7mm Rem Mag

Thanks for that advice, I have shot deer with a .22 and it did the job well.
I just hunt for meat and it almost brought a tear to my eye when I saw all the waste from that deer last night using the 223.

I might have to go back to head shots :thumbsup:

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Pretty sure you still have a dozen Barnes loads... Try them. Even if have your destroyer load in mag,it may just may be what you looking for.

As you know,broad side is best.308 front on not good either.

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Originally Posted by Micky Duck

Pretty sure you still have a dozen Barnes loads... Try them. Even if have your destroyer load in mag,it may just may be what you looking for.

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You are right MD, I still have your deadly missiles to try but keep forgetting about them. One of these days I'll remember to get them out :)

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Originally Posted by Trout

As you know,broad side is best.308 front on not good either.

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You are correct, I have heard many bad experiences shooting front on even with the bigger calibres

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Originally Posted by 7mm Rem Mag

You are correct, I have heard many bad experiences shooting front on even with the bigger calibres

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300 wsm for front on, but then again you're just taking the piss here.