Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Longest 223 kills on medium game

I was doing a review on a Cooper Model 21 .223 single shot rifle about 30 odd years ago, and my handload using the then 53gn Barnes X bullet was sighted 3" high at 100 yards.
During a 'roo cull, I took out a 6 footer with a guessed 4 foot holdover. (2 over the head to allow for 2 more to drop into the chest) The upright stance was an asset during culling.

After a few more animals fell, it was a lesson in the value of a good bullet over the paper ballistics we all used to rely upon back then. Back then, the BC and SD would have been frowned upon for any long range work, especially for those that didn't do it.

Closest was a boar at around 80 yards also during a cull. He wasn't happy about it either, but once the first bullet connected he started clicking his tucks as they sometimes do until the second one hit home.

Was not! Mebbe doin’ about 30 kts and was shootin’ just a lil bit uphill.

I love the sight of tracers in the afternoon. It looks like victory.

Besides coyotes and javelina, I've only killed a few Texas WT does with head shots out to 115.

Big mule deer buck, somewhere around 250 yards, wouldn't do it again. The first two shots failed to break the near shoulder, sight followed him for quite a ways before he laid down. Without snow and being in low sagebrush he would have gotten away.

Maybe 100 yards on a 9 point. At the shot he ran 60 yards or so, stopped and started backing up a few yards and fell over.

GreggH

Large wild boar at 270 yards, head shot and lights out. Shot was at dusk with a Kimber Montana 223 and a Leupold M8 4x. Bullet was the 70 grain Speer Semi-Spitzer. Awesome bullet…

I shot a small mule deer buck with the 65gr Sierra out of 1:9 twist 222 at about 325 yards. Had been poorly hit by another hunter and made it onto our place.

Fall of 2021 shot an antelope at 200 yards with 55gr GMX out of same rifle.
Pictures of recovered GMX. Starting velocity is about 2990fps.

I killed my largest whitetail with a 70 gr TSX from a .223 around 150 yards.

Cow elk out to just a touch under 500 yards, 75 grain Amax @ 2750.
Deer out to 575, same rifle setup.
Antelope at 400ish, 52 grain whatever Black Hills loads in their blue box reman ammo.
Shot a six point bull elk this season at 325 yards in the bleedy-breathy region; died most promptly and slid down the hill in the right direction for a closer pack out. Same 75 grain setup as before.

Wow. Any boolits recovered?

Out of that bunch, most animals were packed out, so the bullet stayed with the carcass. The cow elk had the 75 grain Amax bulging the skin on the far side of the heart/lungs, so it had good penetration. As I recall the bullet looked like a typical cup and core - fairly mangled. Don't think I kept it to bring home and ascertain weight.

150 yards, control hunt, skinny sick deer mostly at night. 55 grain M93 fmj.

oddtimr1: I have shot tens of thousands (thats right I said TENS OF THOUSANDS!) of Varmints "out the vehicles window" over the last 6+ decades!
It is perfectly legal under most circumstances where I Varmint Hunt, and quite ethical, as I get a VERY solid rest from a VERY comfortable position, for more humane kills!
I know the ranchers and farmers sure appreciate me doing so.
Try it sometime and see what I mean.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

And you can run the A/C, too.




P

My kids have shot whitetails with a RAR compact and 50 gr GMX’s from 90- 177 yards, hand full of recovered bullets that were all 95%+ retention - most have been quartered to and onside shoulders broken and bullets caught under the hide by the last rib. One was facing dead on, shot in the lower throat and the bullet travelled down his spine smashing vertebrae for a couple feet.
A couple ex gf’s have shot some pretty big muleys with my 223AI’s, one with a Sako Vixen and a 45 TSX at 160-ish yards, both shoulders broken and bullet under the offside hide.
The other gf shot a great buck quartering to at 394 yards with a Kimber Montana 223AI and a 75 Amax. Broke onside shoulder, bullet under the hide behind the last rib.

Buddy of mine has used that Montana out to 300 on a couple whitetails, usually both shoulders broken and the bullet under the hide.

I’ve used that rifle with 45/53/62 TSX and TTSX’s on whitetails and black bears, shots from 75 to 200-ish yards.
And with the 75 Amax black bears and whitetails from 3 feet to 450 yards.

I’ve used the 88 ELD m from a Remington 700 223AI on a black bear and a couple moose. All three of those were between 151 and 166 yards. Bear and one moose both square through the shoulders with both blades punched. Moose caught the bullet under the hide - 48% retention I think I remember, the bear was an exit.
Other moose was this year and quartered to me, shoulder knuckle at the bottom of the scapula smashed to dust, and bullet was under the hide at the last rib or so. 68% retained.
One moose and the bear both went straight down, one moose managed 3 hops and got a second round - nothing but ribs and lungs - as he was falling sideways, just for giggles. That one exited.

Buddy used his 223AI on a nice muley this year, 404 yards (I think at any rate, somewhere around there) in at the last rib, caught on the offside just behind the shoulder. 80% retained weight.

Beautiful rifle shrapnel, I like the cool checkering!

225 yards. Whitetail. 55 TTSX over TAC.

Great work! Those moose were the Western Canada subspecies, and they were bulls? How much do you figure those guys weigh?

Northeast BC bulls, less than 200km from the Northwest Territories.

The 2 point was 196 lbs of meat, so roughly 475lbs on the hoof.
The 10pt/tripalm bull this year was 404 lbs of meat, so 950-ish pounds I think. Although, possibly a bit heavier than that as his neck had some big infected puncture wounds that gushed out a liter or so of mint green pus so some of that stayed with the spine.

Bigger than a southern whitetail at any rate….(grin)

I can’t catch eld-m or tmk bullets at distance.

I’m pretty sure I could run a 75gr eld-m or 88gr for the rest of my life and never blink (if legal)

That would include moose, grizz and buffalo.


Ribs on any critter I’ve pulled a tag on are absolutely minimal, and lungs are very soft tissue.. thin heavy eld-m and 77gr tmk do more tissue damage then what hunters traditionally use bullet/cartridge wise.

My elk at just under 500 had a way bigger exit and internal damage with a 108gr eld-m from a 6br then my stag did at 550 with a 270win this last summer.

Guys claiming marginal success with a 223 either makes me think they didn’t use a good bullet, or they can’t shoot.


2” plaster at 100.

20second shot timer. Standing and pack on.

A hit gets ya 2$.. let’s call a miss what an average hunt costs… 5grand.

10 shots..

10lb 6br is the only rifle I can clean it everytime.. a 223 doesn’t change hit probability but the absolute lack of fuss finding loads, coupled with it being elk legal where I draw tags means I stick with 6br.