Thread: 223 on deer

Originally Posted by Nathan F

Just been in and ordered my .223 this morning. I cant wait to join in this thread next year. .222 will retire to the safe for 15 years .

@Nathan F How long do you have to wait for the new one?

@Tahr Not long. The rifle is here Just need the mods done. I couldnt justify 6 k for another carbonlight. I brought a T3X superlight. Having the barrel cut 2". Lightweight over barrel supressor. Replace stock with a carbon one. Flute the bolt . Replace the bolt handle. Lighten the trigger. Put the swaro on top and job done. Hammer time !

Originally Posted by Nathan F

@Tahr Not long. The rifle is here Just need the mods done. I couldnt justify 6 k for another carbonlight. I brought a T3X superlight. Having the barrel cut 2". Lightweight over barrel supressor. Replace stock with a carbon one. Flute the bolt . Replace the bolt handle. Lighten the trigger. Put the swaro on top and job done. Hammer time !

@Nathan F Nice. A rifle like that is on the list for one day but a dream for now. What did it cost all up if you don't mind sharing?

Originally Posted by Hahn

@Nathan F Nice. A rifle like that is on the list for one day but a dream for now. What did it cost all up if you don't mind sharing?

Honestly dont know. Didnt ask. Less than a carbonlight anyway

I had the opportunity this past weekend to go fill the freezer with some venison and to help the farmer out with their deer 'problem'.

My usual deer huntin' rifle has no scope on it currently, so it's smaller sibling got to go out instead. I've got good loads with two bullets that are suitable for the job. Deer numbers one and two were poleaxed by a neck/base of skull shot and a head shot respectively. Realistically I could have taken these shots with the 53 V-Max I use on wobblies and smaller critters, but what I actually used was the Sierra 77g TMK as weilded very effectively by @Tahr. I thought if a shot on a fallow or red yearling presented itself I could slot one precisely through the ribs and would be fine. Circumstances meant I had perfect shooting position available and was able to take the very emphatic meat-saving head/neck shots - very happy with the outcome. I'll write up something about the weekend over the holidays.

Deer number three got smacked over by a different bullet - the Speer 75g Gold Dot. We had been told there was a good likelihood of seeing pigs in the area we went to Saturday evening, so the Gold Dot seemed like a good choice as they are reputed to expand well but not lose any weight of note.

After my trusty offsider @Pommy had ventilated one unwary fallow spiker with an Eld-M from his 284 his two mates appeared to run off. But spikers being spikers at this time of year, they reappeared out of the scrub and mostly seemed confused as to why their mate was taking a nap! Now I had to get off a good shot promptly before they ran off and Pommy had my pack, so prone off the elbows it was, threading the shot through the tall grass in front of us. At the shot there was a solid whump and the deer reared up on its back legs then tumbled over and died.

The bullet entered low in the chest smashing the near leg, travelling through the chest and popping out slightly higher at the back edge of the leg. I didn't gut it so wasn't able to examine organ damage. When we skinned and chopped it up there was considerable damage on the entry side including pooling of a clear jelly like substance. The exit hole seemed to indicate it had expanded nicely - perfect result really.

Originally Posted by Nathan F

@Tahr Not long. The rifle is here Just need the mods done. I couldnt justify 6 k for another carbonlight. I brought a T3X superlight. Having the barrel cut 2". Lightweight over barrel supressor. Replace stock with a carbon one. Flute the bolt . Replace the bolt handle. Lighten the trigger. Put the swaro on top and job done. Hammer time !

Yay.

Originally Posted by Hahn

@Nathan F Nice. A rifle like that is on the list for one day but a dream for now. What did it cost all up if you don't mind sharing?

Not hard to roughly figure.

1,600 for rifle
1,200 for stock
400 for sup and thread
100 for bolt handle

A half price carbon light and just as good.

Originally Posted by Tahr

Not hard to roughly figure.

1,600 for rifle
1,200 for stock
400 for sup and thread
100 for bolt handle

A half price carbon light and just as good.

Thank you It's on the list for when I can justify it to the other half.

Originally Posted by Nathan F

@Tahr Not long. The rifle is here Just need the mods done. I couldnt justify 6 k for another carbonlight. I brought a T3X superlight. Having the barrel cut 2". Lightweight over barrel supressor. Replace stock with a carbon one. Flute the bolt . Replace the bolt handle. Lighten the trigger. Put the swaro on top and job done. Hammer time !

And a mag that allows a decent OAL to load an 80 out long ideally

Originally Posted by gimp

And a mag that allows a decent OAL to load an 80 out long ideally

Thanks for the tip. What sort of OAL are we talking ?

66mm in the case of these. https://www.watersrifleman.com/magazines/

I can't vouch for the quality of that option personally but there are other options also. A longer OAL mag gives a lot more options for flexibility with 75+ gr bullets

Originally Posted by gimp

66mm in the case of these. https://www.watersrifleman.com/magazines/

I can't vouch for the quality of that option personally but there are other options also. A longer OAL mag gives a lot more options for flexibility with 75+ gr bullets

@Nathan F I have a spare Waterman Tikka mag if you need it - we can do a deal. They give you quite a bit of extra length and work just fine. But the 77 grain Sierra Tipped that I use are especially designed to operate in short magged MSSA rifles and work just fine in the standard T3 mag.

Originally Posted by Tahr

@Nathan F I have a spare Waterman Tikka mag if you need it - we can do a deal. They give you quite a bit of extra length and work just fine. But the 77 grain Sierra Tipped that I use are especially designed to operate in short magged MSSA rifles and work just fine in the standard T3 mag.

Beautiful. Thank you @Tahr & @gimp . Will sing out once load development starts . Probably be late Jan im pcking. Have a good xmas. Chur

Here is another one i thought worth asking on here.
How does the 69gr SMK go on deer at 223 velocities? I have a little stash of them for on of my 22-250's and they work great at that velocity but have only shot animals up close with it so far.
Do they expand at 223 velocities out to say 300m? i read places that they pencil through deer whithout opening but i am a little bit doubtful of that.

Originally Posted by NewbieZAR

Here is another one i thought worth asking on here.
How does the 69gr SMK go on deer at 223 velocities? I have a little stash of them for on of my 22-250's and they work great at that velocity but have only shot animals up close with it so far.
Do they expand at 223 velocities out to say 300m? i read places that they pencil through deer whithout opening but i am a little bit doubtful of that.

I had heard that they don't expand too. But I lung shot a Fallow at about 150 yards odd while wallaby hunting with fairly anaemic Fiocchi factory 69 grn SMK and it worked just fine. It ran about 20 yards and tipped over. The bullet was nicely mushroomed in the off side ribs. Its the only time Ive used them though. They killed wallaby just fine too.