What did you do today in the reloading room?
- Thread starter Deerhunter
- Start date
Yes. I've got a few boxes of the 110 eldx I may try as well. But the 134 is the whole reason I'm here.
You going to hunt with the 134 eldm?
A friend has killed a whole bunch of stuff with the 150 eldm 6.5mm and the 108 eldm 6mm. They're hammers, I would expect the 134 to behave similarly.
Eventually I'll probably only use the eldm or tmk. I've seen enough evidence and talked with enough people that I'm convinced the eldm is probably a more devastating bullet. The tipped match bullets are fairly violent at impact leading to some pretty nasty wound channels. I've killed with an eldx and eldm, I'll take the m.
That should say 140 eldm 6.5mm
I don't kill a lot of deer these days, I try to let my oldest do the killing when she goes. The 123 eldm in a Grendel is an eye opener, even under 2400 fps. I've used a 178eldm at 2700 and it was devastating. I'll alternate between a 223 with 73gr eldm and the 25cm this fall. One thing that I think helps a lot of those using tipped match bullets, they're mostly all using the upper end of the weight chart for them. The plastic tips are helping with reliable expansion where the old style OTM bullets might open, they might collapse, they might pencil, but whatever they did it wasn't consistent.
I've used the 105 Hornie HPBT from my 243 quite a bit and it's a great killer. I've used the 123 HPBT from my Grendel on hogs and have had success.
I tried the 68 HPBT from my 223 on coyotes but they were erratic. I went back to the 55gr SP for everything including hogs with the 223 for now. I still shoot the 68's for steel out to 600 or so.
I "need" a new 223 with more RPM's than my 9 twist offers problem is short mag boxes limiting length.
I'd like to have a tikka 223 ctr 8 twist but they discontinued them.
I just got a tikka compact 1-8 twist. The magazines are stupid short. There's a solution and it's costly. My intent was to use 75gr eldm but the bearing surface is short and the nose is ridiculously long. 73s are much better and are designed to be loaded at AR mag lengths, which is nearly what the tikka mag is. You can use a 77tmk in the tikka mag too, but they're quite a bit more expensive. You might be able to use the 69gr tmk with a 9 twist.
If it wasn't for my youngest child, I'd probably picked up a 22-250 with the 8 twist. That would be fun
The Tikka compact 223 was rifle #2 on my list, an 8 twist 22-250 with 88's is #3.
I'll have to keep an eye out for your 223 compact updates.
I have wondered about pulling the 223 mag apart, changing the follower to a 308 and cutting the back partition to the standard M mag length. May be a total waste of time and a mag though.
I found a thread where it was done but don't remember where. Nearly ruined the mag. You can order a mag from overseas for $160 and it'll let you load them to nearly length you'd want. It's pricey lol. I'll update you on the 223 in a bit, I got some 73s in but haven't shot them. Shot a decent group with the 75s but abandoned them for now. I like your 88s idea. The only question is should you stay with 22-250 or go 22cm. Decisions….
22cm can't be a bad idea but I'd probably just buy a factory T3x stainless, some Sportsmatch T084 rings, an swfa 6x, brass and 88's and pretend it was a custom 22cm, lol
I like everything you said but the swfa 6x. I never could see the subtensions in mine, but I had an moa.
if you were gonna have to recharger, I'd just use the 22-250
Mine is mil/mil
Found this on the Nosler board, now I'm looking at 22cm and 22-250 stuff, lol
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I started out last fall wanting to move a 6.5 Grendel upper to get my youngest daugter a 6 arc. Here I am now, sold half of what I had, and 2 new rifles in complete different directions lol.
223 update….
Tried 75gr eldms with xbr powder. Got one decent group but the rest were terrible.
Ordered some 73s. You'll notice the nose on the 75s are exceptionally long compared to the 73s. They're more mag friendly if you're restricted in that area. The 75s I had to single feed.
You can see the in the mag box I've loaded them tight. I think I have .060" jump here. Nothing excessive and should yield good results. The round in the mag is a 73, and I've got a 73 and 75 laid out for size comparison
I'm hoping to be in the 2800-2850 range with this setup.
Tried 75gr eldms with xbr powder. Got one decent group but the rest were terrible.
Ordered some 73s. You'll notice the nose on the 75s are exceptionally long compared to the 73s. They're more mag friendly if you're restricted in that area. The 75s I had to single feed.
You can see the in the mag box I've loaded them tight. I think I have .060" jump here. Nothing excessive and should yield good results. The round in the mag is a 73, and I've got a 73 and 75 laid out for size comparison
I'm hoping to be in the 2800-2850 range with this setup.
I tried to use my cm mag but it didn't work lol
I was testing to see if my standard m or mountain tactical mags would work with the 223, el negative-o.
There's a huge issue with the mountain tactical mags and I'm not sure what it is, but they're supposed to be revising it. I think most of the first run of the gen2 is replacing the originals
