.223Rem Sierra GameKing 55gr load devalopment

 Deer Stalking Blog, Reloading  No Responses »
Jan 272013
 

Reloading for my .223Rem was something I wanted to do long, long time ago, but never found enough spare time to do it. Every time I was running out of factory ammunition I just went to the shop and bought what I thought to be the last box.

Shooting roe deer with .223Rem

Just when I got my Tikka M595 I got some varmint ammo with it. As I don’t shoot many foxes I used it for zeroing and target shooting. It was a mixture of 40, 50 and 55gr hollow points and BTs. I needed roe deer ammo and surprisingly, there was agreement among Scottish deer stalkers. :lol: All agreed Sako 55gr is best. I bought a box and it was shooting below 1″ and I just needed to test it on roe.

My first doe dropped on the spot as well as the second one. The third made 10m. After butchering carcasses I was also very pleased to find little meat damage. Sure, there was some bruising occasionally, but not too bad. No worse than from .243 or .308 and bullet was doing little muscle damage, but internal organs were a mess.

To be honest I also had one strage reaction to the shot, but it was when I shot a doe that spotted me and started running away. She looked back and I shot her aiming behind the shoulder. She ran 30-40m and stood. I shot her again and she dropped. As I examined the carcass both shots were good and maybe 1″ apart. So she would have gone down anyway, but was full of adrenaline and was running away, so not really caliber problem, but see for yourself.

Load development

Reloading_223Rem_2
My objective was to develop a load that would perform as well as Sako 55gr or better. My Tikka M595 really likes Sako ammo and would consistently shoot 0.5-1″ groups with it. The bullet is just a simple Soft Point so looking at what was available in local gun shops I decided to go for 55gr Sierra Game Kings SPBTs. It is nice little bullet with a boat-tail end that I think I paid £19 for.

My Tikka has very short 17.5″ barrel and after some research I went for Vihtavuori N130 powder. According to my data it should perform better than N120 and N133 with 55gr bullets in a short barrel. I looked up Vihtavuori load data and Sako load and decided to start from 20gr and load in 5 increments up to 23gr. I could just copy Sako load and they several years ago gave exact powder loads for their ammo, and they also use Viht powder, but in comparison with Viht data it looked hot at 24.2gr. I know Vihtvuori changed their load data to be more conservative over the last couple of years, but if I could not find good load in the 20-23gr range I could still go up to 24.2gr if safe.
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I never claimed to be an expert in reloading so do not know if this approach makes sense… :roll: I thought I could try a shortcut in load development by copying Sako’s COAL. So far my usual loading process consisted of two steps: find safe and accurate powder weight to suit a rifle and then find most accurate load by varying cartridge overall length. I thought I could skip second step if I copied Sako’s COAL. Both Sierra and Sako bullets look the same, so why not?

I measured all remaining Sako ammo to ogive using Sinclaire hex nut. Sinclaire hex nut is little cheap comparison tool. Much cheaper and easier to use than anything else I could find. Fist thing I noticed was that Sako’s COAL varied a lot… :roll: I had only a few Sako ammo left so I just took an average as my target COAL for reloads and it was 2.835″ measured to ogive with the hex nut.

I used my once fired Sako brass and only neck sized it with Lee collet die. I chacked randomly several cases and they never needed any trimming, so I just used Lee chamfer tool and cordless drill to prepare case mouth for loading.

Reloading_223Rem_4
I never had any problems with CCI primers, so went for CCI400 small rifle primers. I used Lee Auto Prime to prime all cases.

This time I had to be precise with 0.7gr load increments and could not rely on Lee scoops :lol: so used RCBS 5-0-2 model scales. I scooped the powder and used RCBS powder trickler to measure accurate loads. I loaded 25 neck sized cases. I loaded 5 different loads, 5 rounds each.

Results

I went to try my loads. Weather was not great so I hid myself under a sitka tree and fired all 25 rounds checking spent cases for any pressure signs. I found none. I am sure there were one or two fliers in some groups, but one group looked great at 0.5″. It was 21.5gr load and the next one 22.3gr also was about 0.9″ and one bullet could be a flier. I could work out another load around 21.5gr and 22.3gr, but it suppose to be a hunting load and 0.5″ group is great for me anyway. I don’t think I can shoot any better. All my shots are below 200m and 0.5″ is very accurate in my book. I loaded remaining 75 bullets and they should last for a while.

223_loading_results

LOAD 20.0gr 20.7gr 21.5gr 22.3gr 23.0gr
Group 1.0″ 1.4″ 0.5″ 0.9″ 1.7″

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Doe and kid

 Deer Stalking Blog  1 Response »
Dec 172012
 

When roe does and red hinds season started in Scotland I concentrated mainly on red deer. I wanted to get a hind before the snow as without 4×4 it is nearly impossible for me to get close to the forestry and even longer drag to get it from there. I saw quite a few red deer, but they were not easily accessible. They were staying near the far end of the forestry and often stayed the whole day on the hill, not coming back to the forestry during daylight, or spending the day at neighbouring plantation. In both cases it was a waste of time, so when we finally got a nice sunny evening I went after roe deer on the other side of the wood.
In theory that part of the ground supposed to be sunny in the afternoon and I thought maybe a roe would come out on the sun on this frosty and cold day. Stalking was not going to be easy as it was very crunchy and I decided to find a good spot where I could sit and watch.

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I was glad I took a jacket on top of my fleece as when the sun was coming down the wind was not very pleasant. I soon was a bit cold. I sat under the tree, set up my sticks for a sitting shot and waited. I was above the place where I could see a bit sheltered corner of the forestry and I hoped some roe would come out early. For some reason roe deer favour this part of the forestry and I never see roe deer in this part. Similarly far side of the forestry holds mainly red deer with very few roe.

The sun hid behind the hill (so much for my theory about roe coming out to enjoy sunshine… :roll: ) and I was getting a bit cold. I looked at my watch and decided to give it 10 more minutes.

Suddenly, I noticed a movement on the edge of the forestry. It was a white patch, an instant give away of a roe deer. It was a doe coming down along the forestry. Unfortunately, she was moving away from me… I put my rifle on the sticks just in case. I was sitting with my back against the tree and both elbows against my legs and the position felt very stable and I started thinking maybe it was not too far, but the doe was going away and not really offering a broadside shot what felt between 150m and 200m.

I was looking at the doe through the scope when a doe kid appeared. She ran to the doe and they both were now even further. The doe went behind the slope, but the kid paused for a few seconds. She was slightly quartering away, but I thought I could try a shot behind the shoulder from the position. I squeezed the trigger and saw a bullet strike. It looked like the kid was hit well and struggled on its feet for a moment and slowly walked in between the trees…

I watched the edge of the forestry for a while and saw the doe between the trees, but she did not offer a shot. It was getting late and it was better to start tracking that kid. I was confident I did not go far, but under the canopy it was difficult to see any blood.

roe_doe_2012

When I was maybe 100m away from the place the kid disappeared the doe popped out the trees and stood long enough for me to take the rifle off my shoulder, put it on sticks and squeeze the trigger. I could not see any reaction whatsoever and I though I missed.

I got to the place I saw the kid walked into the forestry and saw good blood trail, but it was soon difficult to see anything. I used my torch and soon found one deer. However, it was the doe! I was confident the kid was down and the temperature well below freezing, so the meat would have not spoiled. I quickly gralloched the doe and went back to the car.

Following day my wife volunteered to help me track the kid. When we got to the place it was obvious in daylight there were two blood trails disappearing in the forestry. My wife found the kid after a couple of minutes and it was no more than 50m away from the place I shot it. I was near it a few times the previous night and never saw it. It was already cold and after quick gralloch we were on our way back to the car.

The doe was 12kg and the kid was 9kg which was above average for this area.

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False rut roebuck

 Deer Stalking Blog  No Responses »
Sep 182012
 

After quite a long break from stalking I finally got out again. A friend kindly invited me (thanks mate) to join him hunting one September morning. We met just before 6am and after a quick drive to his ground I was on my way to the high seat. I knew the area quite well, but the place had not been my lucky spot so far. First time I was there was during doe season and three deer were making their way across the field when I scared them away loudly opening Buttler Creek scope covers… :roll: The second time round I got a nice buck feeding just behind the high seat, but it was not safe too shoot… I was quite optimistic as the ground is superb and holds good number of deer, but September is rather quiet month for roebucks when most of them are resting after the rut, but younger deer should be moving about. At least I was hoping to see one and I knew there was a nice six-pointer still in the area.

I climbed the high seat, attached my camera to the rail and loaded my .223. It was still early, a bit too windy to my licking, but at least dry… :lol: Previous week was very wet and forecast for today was not very optimistic, but enjoyed every second anyway…

False rut

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8Sept2012 013

There was no movement for nearly an hour. Only pigeons and crows woke up and were flying around making a lot of noise. There was eventually enough light and I turned on the camera to film pigeons, clouds and anything that looked more interesting than a telegraph pole in the middle of the grass field in front of me. :lol: I was playing with the camera when I spotted a deer running across the field no more than 80m to my right. I grabbed the rifle, but film maker got the better of me and I wasted a few precious seconds to zoom in on the buck… He was looking straight at me on the high seat and I could not move to shoulder the rifle. After a short pause he ran away without stopping… I cursed myself for wasting the opportunity…

I was not more concentrated and was more frequently glassing the right-hand side of the field. The buck was running away from something, I hoped maybe bigger buck chased him away and st. Hubert would still give me the second chance :roll: A few minutes passed when I saw a deer jump across the field. I grabbed my 8×56 Zeiss binoculars, but could not locate the deer. It was when I realized how tall was the grass out there! Another few minutes later I saw another movement closer to the telegraph pole. I spotted a pair of ears and later another pair of ears with antlers between them :lol: The deer soon disappeared but I saw them again and it looked like the buck was chasing the doe. Chasing repeated a few times and I found the call in my pocket, called a few times, but the deer were too busy and never reacted to the call. To be honest it was also quite windy and I never really blown hard as was afraid too spook them. It was September after all, the rut should have been long gone, but it looked like they were rutting.

Neck shot

I was considering my options as most of the time I could only see ears or heads. The buck was also on the move most of the time only taking a bite here and there. It looked like there was no point risking a shot in a long grass as they were slowly getting closer to the high seat. This time I got rifle in my hand when the doe suddenly ran towards me and paused no more than 60m away. The buck followed and stopped facing the high seat. Immediately he knew there was something not right as was looking straight at me. He was not going to give me a second chance and was about to bump when I squeezed the trigger with the cross hairs high on the neck. He dropped on the spot and the doe jumped off, looked back on the buck, he was not going to follow her so she ran away. I quickly climbed down to bleed the buck, but by the time I got there he was already dead.

A nice young buck, 15kg larder weight.

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Cubs out

 Deer Stalking Blog  No Responses »
Aug 162012
 

I often get many questions on YouTube why I do not shoot foxes when out stalking. I often do, but as principle I do not shoot mature foxes when cubs still depend on their parents. I know many treat a fox as a pest and shoot them all year round, but I come from the country where we have closed season for foxes and it does not feel right to leave any animal to starve to death… I know many would not loose and sleep and call me squeemish, but I would… I do not feel bad shooting cubs when they are out and mature foxes from now on when cubs are out and become independent. In June and July young foxes start to leave their parents and wonder everywhere and roads are full of ran over cubs.

It was wet and cloudy day, but I decided to go out anyway. When I got to the forestry it did not look good and the clouds were very low and it soon become very misty. I walked up the forestry track, but soon it become apparent that it was not going to get any better. It was very still with no wind and I could only see up to 50m…

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I sat on a tree stump for a while, but it was very misty and would not be safe to shoot so I slowly walked back to the car. It was very quiet and no deer were moving, but when I got out the woods it cleared a bit and the mist lifted. I slowly walked back to the car when I spotted a movement out on the track in front of me.

There was a red fox cub coming out on the track. He wondered around for a bit and sat on the track facing away. The mist lifted for a bit revealing the fox was close to the bend of the track and there was safe backstop behind him. I took the rifle off my shoulder and dropped on one knee. The cub moved and was about to go when I squeezed the trigger.

The fox dropped on the spot hit with 55gr Sako bullet from my Tikka M595 .223 Rem. I was thinking whether I should go back and try deer stalking but the mist lifted only for a moment and it soon started raining so I went home.

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