.223 for everything, the gunnutz version

I have quite a few rifles in the vault that are more than adequate for hunting deer and moose, but I only get three tags a year, two for white tails and one for mule deer.
Given the choice between a 22/250 , 6.5MS, .303 Brit, 6.5X284, 280 Rem, and a few others as well as a 15 pound 45/70, the short list is pretty obvious!
My 6.5MS has a peep sight and weighs 6 pounds, and the 280 Ruger is right around 10 pounds scoped.
My .303 hunting rig is just over 8 pounds and the 22/250 is about the same.
Cat
 
iron cat said:
I have quite a few rifles in the vault that are more than adequate for hunting deer and moose, but I only get three tags a year, two for white tails and one for mule deer.
Given the choice between a 22/250 , 6.5MS, .303 Brit, 6.5X284, 280 Rem, and a few others as well as a 15 pound 45/70, the short list is pretty obvious!
My 6.5MS has a peep sight and weighs 6 pounds, and the 280 Ruger is right around 10 pounds scoped.
My .303 hunting rig is just over 8 pounds and the 22/250 is about the same.
Cat
Click to expand...

If I had a 6.5MS with a butter knife bolt handle and peep sights I would hunt that a bunch, purely for the nostalgia aspect as that would bring me a ton of joy. And thats the part that people forget some times, to find the parts of the hunt that make them happy, and maximize them.

In the classic “big game rifle” class of cartridges you have to try pretty hard to find a bullet that won’t give good results.
With the little stuff, bullets matter. A bunch.
 
KodiakHntr said:
If I had a 6.5MS with a butter knife bolt handle and peep sights I would hunt that a bunch, purely for the nostalgia aspect as that would bring me a ton of joy. And thats the part that people forget some times, to find the parts of the hunt that make them happy, and maximize them.

In the classic “big game rifle” class of cartridges you have to try pretty hard to find a bullet that won’t give good results.
With the little stuff, bullets matter. A bunch.
Click to expand...
I love that little carbine, but have only killed a few critters with it.
I have taken well over 30 animals with the .303 single shot though , it's my main hunting rig:)
For me, it's as much the rifle or shotgun I am hunting with as the hunt itself - the same reason I prefer black powder hammer doubles for birds!
Cat
 
iron cat said:
I love that little carbine, but have only killed a few critters with it.
I have taken well over 30 animals with the .303 single shot though , it's my main hunting rig:)
For me, it's as much the rifle or shotgun I am hunting with as the hunt itself - the same reason I prefer black powder hammer doubles for birds!
Cat
Click to expand...

I’m 100% with you there. For me, it’s my Kimber Montana 223AI. It just makes me happy to be outside with that little magic wand. It goes pretty much everywhere with me.
 
Might not create quite the wound the ELDMs do, but think I'll have to try these out this fall
 

Attachments

  • 20250515_202117.jpg
    20250515_202117.jpg
    103 KB · Views: 20
What is the difference between the 77 gr TMK and the ordinary 77 gr matchking from a hunting perspective?

Ya, I know one has a poly tip and the other does not. I'm asking about the difference in terminal performance.
 
CamV said:
I believe it's the tip that reliably initiates expansion
Click to expand...

77-GR-20-TMK20-VS2077-GR-20-SMK20-OTM-zps9q471eki.webp



At the very least, it covers up the bigass hollowpoint that ensures expansion! And keeps the bullet's BC higher than the garbage it would be without it haha
 
Mr.Rigpig said:
What is the difference between the 77 gr TMK and the ordinary 77 gr matchking from a hunting perspective?

Ya, I know one has a poly tip and the other does not. I'm asking about the difference in terminal performance.
Click to expand...

More consistency in the results. The tip drives back and starts expansion. The regular MatchKing can have erratic results apparently.

The Tipped version is incredibly consistent in its behavior on meat apparently. I only shot a deer and a coyote with them, so don’t have much experIence with them, but what I saw was what I expected to see.
 
I used to think the tip drives back and initiates expansion. That's what bullet companies say. But apparently (according to John Barsness and slow mo video) it just falls off and a hollow point does hollow point things
 
Joel said:
I used to think the tip drives back and initiates expansion. That's what bullet companies say. But apparently (according to John Barsness and slow mo video) it just falls off and a hollow point does hollow point things
Click to expand...
I was actually listening to a podcast on my way from work today (The Big Game Hunting Podcast) and he had the Sierra guys on talking about their bullets. That's exactly what they said. The plastic tip falls off to the side when hitting the animal exposing the big hollow point.
 
Ok thanks.
I was just wondering if performance was comparable, as the TMK does not seem to be available anywhere but the other one is.
 
bcsteve said:
I was actually listening to a podcast on my way from work today (The Big Game Hunting Podcast) and he had the Sierra guys on talking about their bullets. That's exactly what they said. The plastic tip falls off to the side when hitting the animal exposing the big hollow point.
Click to expand...
 
bcsteve said:
I was actually listening to a podcast on my way from work today (The Big Game Hunting Podcast) and he had the Sierra guys on talking about their bullets. That's exactly what they said. The plastic tip falls off to the side when hitting the animal exposing the big hollow point.
Click to expand...
While not a Sierra, the plastic tip is still visible on this TTSX out of an Elk.
Screenshot_20250515-221237.png
 
bcsteve said:
I was actually listening to a podcast on my way from work today (The Big Game Hunting Podcast) and he had the Sierra guys on talking about their bullets. That's exactly what they said. The plastic tip falls off to the side when hitting the animal exposing the big hollow point.
Click to expand...

This has been my experience as well. I had found several plastic tips off to the side in actual wound channels long before high speed photography became a thing.

In some cases, wound channels have been asymmetric, suggesting to me that the plastic tip can tear out of the hollow point as well.

I'm not an expert myself, just a terminal performance fanatic. I felt lucky to follow along with Hammer bullets as they developed their 'tipped' bullet line. A friend of mine was doing some serious testing for them and it was amazing to see his reports. Small changes in hollow point diameter and hollow point depth could result in significant changes to bullet performance on game. He culled thousands of Wallabies, hundreds of bovines and dozens of pachyderms. Not only that, he documented the results.

The big takeaway for me was that some of the designs were more consistent than others. The shape of the nose plays into it, but so do rarios like

Bullet length to. bullet diameter

Length of nose to length of shank

I'll reiterate again how changing one parameter could often result in vastly different performance on game. On the monolithic bullets, even small changes like .030" deeper hollow point could be the difference between consistent terminal performance and inconsistency.

Fordy calls a bullet that works across a wide range of impact velocities and target resistances a 'balanced pill'.

By all accounts, seems like the 77TMK might fit that description.

Just about any bullet will kill. Put it in the right place and good things happen.

Few will kill well, yielding DEEP and WIDE wound channels across a range of TARGET RESISTANCES and IMPACT VELOCITIES.
 
Hand Skills said:
This has been my experience as well. I had found several plastic tips off to the side in actual wound channels long before high speed photography became a thing.

In some cases, wound channels have been asymmetric, suggesting to me that the plastic tip can tear out of the hollow point as well.

I'm not an expert myself, just a terminal performance fanatic. I felt lucky to follow along with Hammer bullets as they developed their 'tipped' bullet line. A friend of mine was doing some serious testing for them and it was amazing to see his reports. Small changes in hollow point diameter and hollow point depth could result in significant changes to bullet performance on game. He culled thousands of Wallabies, hundreds of bovines and dozens of pachyderms. Not only that, he documented the results.

The big takeaway for me was that some of the designs were more consistent than others. The shape of the nose plays into it, but so do rarios like

Bullet length to. bullet diameter

Length of nose to length of shank

I'll reiterate again how changing one parameter could often result in vastly different performance on game. On the monolithic bullets, even small changes like .030" deeper hollow point could be the difference between consistent terminal performance and inconsistency.

Fordy calls a bullet that works across a wide range of impact velocities and target resistances a 'balanced pill'.

By all accounts, seems like the 77TMK might fit that description.

Just about any bullet will kill. Put it in the right place and good things happen.

Few will kill well, yielding DEEP and WIDE wound channels across a range of TARGET RESISTANCES and IMPACT VELOCITIES.
Click to expand...

Awesome post but really tied it all together in those last two lines.
 
Mr.Rigpig said:
Ok thanks.
I was just wondering if performance was comparable, as the TMK does not seem to be available anywhere but the other one is.
Click to expand...

From anything I’ve read, they are not comparable.
Occasionally the TMK pops up online, but a guy has to be quick. I bought a few hundred last fall when I saw them show up so I could give them a try to see what all the hype was about.

bcsteve said:
I was actually listening to a podcast on my way from work today (The Big Game Hunting Podcast) and he had the Sierra guys on talking about their bullets. That's exactly what they said. The plastic tip falls off to the side when hitting the animal exposing the big hollow point.
Click to expand...

Fair enough. I haven’t listened to that one yet, but it makes sense.
The tearing off to the side part would make a lot of sense in that it likely creates a similar effect on the bullet as what occurs with a 115 gr nose ring Dtac.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom