Thread: 223 on deer

Originally Posted by Goldfish

In the UK we are not permitted to shoot the larger deer species with a .223 even though it would be capable, just not ideal in the hands of recreational stalkers.
I cull a lot of deer in the UK and on the smaller deer such as Chinese Water Deer, Muntjac and Roe it is an excellent round.
VMax is an excellent bullet for head shots but for body shots I would certainly follow the advice of using a stout soft point in as heavy a weight as your barrel will stabilise.
For a 1:10 twist you should be good up to 65g soft points.
Attachment 221513

What are the details on the rifle and suppressor ? Looks fantastic

Cheers she is nice
The rifle is a Sako 85 .223 in 1:8 twist stainless laminate varmint with a fluted 20” heavy barrel and set trigger with a Wildcat Evolution 50% over-barrel modular moderator, prints one ragged hole at 100 meters with 69g matchkings, perfect for the UK smaller deer and fox control

The hares are Muntjac, usually about 8 to10KG when dressed out, found in Asia and the UK and excellent eating, they breed all year round and are seen as a pest!





The Chineese Water Deer are slightly larger, no antlers just enlarger canine teeth.



The boiled and bleached skulls make for a very unusual book end, sabre-toothed hare

Here’s a couple of yearling hinds dropped with 73gr ELD-m projectiles. Needed a Waterman magazine to run them in a Tikka T3.

378m bang flop double lung, still doing 1940fps and 600 f/lb at that distance.


260m, I was fighting off sand flys at the time and had a bad shot placement blew up on shoulder blade and punched through a little, it dropped on the spot but lucky I could still see her and gave it another to finish her off.

Originally Posted by tikka

Here’s a couple of yearling hinds dropped with 73gr ELD-m projectiles. Needed a Waterman magazine to run them in a Tikka T3.

378m bang flop double lung, still doing 1940fps and 600 f/lb at that distance.


260m, I was fighting off sand flys at the time and had a bad shot placement blew up on shoulder blade and punched through a little, it dropped on the spot but lucky I could still see her and gave it another to finish her off.

What OAL are you running with the 73 ELD-M? I am using them in my X-Bolt at 2.33" but could go to 2.4" in the magazine. The chamber is the limiting factor.

Originally Posted by Goldfish

Cheers she is nice
The rifle is a Sako 85 .223 in 1:8 twist stainless laminate varmint with a fluted 20” heavy barrel and set trigger with a Wildcat Evolution 50% over-barrel modular moderator, prints one ragged hole at 100 meters with 69g matchkings, perfect for the UK smaller deer and fox control

The hares are Muntjac, usually about 8 to10KG when dressed out, found in Asia and the UK and excellent eating, they breed all year round and are seen as a pest!

Attachment 221553

Attachment 221555

The Chineese Water Deer are slightly larger, no antlers just enlarger canine teeth.

Attachment 221554

The boiled and bleached skulls make for a very unusual book end, sabre-toothed hare

Ive shot 6 kg hares!!!!!

73gr should work in a 2.25" standard mag

Yeah. The 73 are designed to work in the the short 2.25 inch AR mags. The same as the 77 Sierra tipped.

73gr ELD-m OAL 2.371” and using adi 2208, easy sub MOA, 1/4 MOA if I’ve got my shit together ( shooting fundamentals and prone position ) and not shooting off rocks boulders or walking sticks along with a 29 degree incline as was the case with these two deer.

Originally Posted by Tahr

Have a casual read through these 173 pages and then make up your own mind.
https://rokslide.com/forums/threads/...-moose.130488/

Currently working my way through the linked thread. Again…. Like a good movie, sometimes it takes a second time round to completely ‘get it’. I’ve hunted with smaller cartridges before, but not properly. I’m eagerly awaiting the arrival of a .223 T3 so I can get after it with some 77gr TMKs. I’ll be adding to this thread soon…..

I've got 77tmk loaded ready and waiting to try.

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73gr ELD just barely works in an AR mag. You wouldn't want to seat them any deeper. My rifle doesn't seem to like them which is annoying.

The TMKs sound good but I can't stomach the price. They can't be that much better than options available surely?

Originally Posted by Shearer

The TMKs sound good but I can't stomach the price. They can't be that much better than options available surely?

I know what you are saying

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Originally Posted by Shearer

The TMKs sound good but I can't stomach the price. They can't be that much better than options available surely?

The 77 Sierra do seem to be the best but gimp swears by the (cheaper) 80 eldm and I have had great success with the 80 Targex and still have 80 odd left of them.

Nathan seems pleased with the 69 Targex, and Ive got 200 74 grn Targex loaded to use for the first time on Wallaby and deer for an early May trip. So there are plenty of options.

In the mean time Im sitting on 250/300 of the 77 Sierra Tipped and at their price am almost too scared to use them

I would struggle to agree that the 77tmk are the best due to the credibility gap of a prominent user on that rokslide thread who is the primary self-appointed authority and advocate for the TMK. Bruce has had good results with the 77TMK, I have had good results with the 80 ELDM, I haven't tried the TMK and I don't believe Bruce has tried the 80 ELDM. That's the facts we have.

I'd certainly agree they work and happily try/use them but the comparative advantage info I'm aware of comes from a sketchy source.