Criterion 223 Remington match chamber

EODsniper · Mar 25, 2025

Looking at a criterion prefit shouldered barrel for a Zermatt action chambered in 223 Remington match with a 1:7 twist. It will be fed from mdt .223 aics mags. My question is will this chamber shoot 69gr/
77gr SMK loaded at 2.26” just fine with the .090” freebore? I also intend to shoot heavier reloads which is why I am leaning towards the match chamber vs the Wylde. Anyone have experience with this?

spife7980 · Mar 25, 2025

The smk are supposed to be jump tolerant but the longer match freebore is nicer if you handload. For factory only I don’t see an advantage over the wylde.

whatsupdoc · Mar 25, 2025

I have had two criterion 223 rem match chamber barrels

My COAL's with bullet jammed for my new one are.

berger 75vld 2.473
berger 80vld 2.464

In my old barrel I have shot probably a dozen different bullets from 69 to 80 and have had good
accuracy.

77 Sierra MK bullets are designed for a AR15 magazine there are way better bullets for a
bolt action rifle.

EODsniper · Mar 25, 2025

whatsupdoc said:
I have had two criterion 223 rem match chamber barrels

My COAL's with bullet jammed for my new one are.

berger 75vld 2.473
berger 80vld 2.464

In my old barrel I have shot probably a dozen different bullets from 69 to 80 and have had good
accuracy.

77 Sierra MK bullets are designed for a AR15 magazine there are way better bullets for a
bolt action rifle.

Yeah I get that there’s better but I have a large stockpile of 77gr so was just curious

m1match · Mar 25, 2025

I used to have a criterion 223 barrel with their match chamber and it shot 77 SMKs very well

EODsniper · Mar 25, 2025

my plan is once I shoot all my ADI 69gr SMK and federal 77gr is to reload that brass using 80gr SMK or bergers

King_beardsly · Mar 25, 2025

I’ve been getting mine dialed in and it eat the 73gr GMM like a champ while throwing rounds through it before going to deep into load development with a fresh barrel. I’ve even run hornady 55 fmj’s through it with pretty good results considering the jump they are doing.

The couple powder charges I’ve run through it with 75 ELD-M’s have been pretty solid, not exactly to my standards (I’m used to the easy button 6BR stuff) but the barrel had less then 100 rounds through it at that point.

EODsniper · Mar 26, 2025

King_beardsly said:
I’ve been getting mine dialed in and it eat the 73gr GMM like a champ while throwing rounds through it before going to deep into load development with a fresh barrel. I’ve even run hornady 55 fmj’s through it with pretty good results considering the jump they are doing.

The couple powder charges I’ve run through it with 75 ELD-M’s have been pretty solid, not exactly to my standards (I’m used to the easy button 6BR stuff) but the barrel had less then 100 rounds through it at that point.

That’s good to hear. My main concern was basically getting a barrel that wouldn’t allow me to use factory ammo but from the sounds of it there is no issue whatsoever. The only deciding factor is that having criterion make a Wylde chambered barrel is a 18 week lead time and northland has the 223 rem match in stock. I have a Krieger 6arc barrel in another bolt gun and 220 rounds is where it finally shrank groups and sped up about 60-75 fps. Everything has still been less than an inch but now we are getting cloverleaf groups. Time to start the handloads.

King_beardsly · Mar 26, 2025

Northland is a great company to deal with and they keep a good variety of stuff on the shelf. I wanted a bull contour in 24” but didn’t want the lead time, so I called up northland and had a 26” to my door in under a week.

TommyD11730 · Mar 26, 2025

Anyone have a print for this chamber by chance?

Southpaw357 · Mar 27, 2025

TommyD11730 said:
Anyone have a print for this chamber by chance?

Post #13

.223 Rem match chamber?

Does the 223 Rem match chamber require neck turning? Mike

www.snipershide.com

TommyD11730 · Mar 28, 2025

Southpaw357 said:
Post #13

.223 Rem match chamber?

Does the 223 Rem match chamber require neck turning? Mike

www.snipershide.com

Thanks, I have seen that one before. Just wondering if it's a "universal " reamer for the match chamber.

spife7980 · Mar 28, 2025

TommyD11730 said:
Thanks, I have seen that one before. Just wondering if it's a "universal " reamer for the match chamber.

There is no universal reamer for anything “match”
There isn’t even a definition of what match means.

TommyD11730 · Mar 28, 2025

spife7980 said:
There is no universal reamer for anything “match”
There isn’t even a definition of what match means.

I agree, guess the only way to know for sure would be to ask your smith who chambered your barrel.

EODsniper · Mar 28, 2025

I think my reload once I get some rounds down this barrel is going to be lake city brass, varget and 85gr barnes match burners.

EODsniper · Friday at 8:48 PM

King_beardsly said:
I’ve been getting mine dialed in and it eat the 73gr GMM like a champ while throwing rounds through it before going to deep into load development with a fresh barrel. I’ve even run hornady 55 fmj’s through it with pretty good results considering the jump they are doing.

The couple powder charges I’ve run through it with 75 ELD-M’s have been pretty solid, not exactly to my standards (I’m used to the easy button 6BR stuff) but the barrel had less then 100 rounds through it at that point.

What were the results you were getting with the 75 eldms? The price seems too good to be true on those. My biggest challenge is finding a bullet to go with before buying in bulk. Everything will be over varget since I have a very large amount of that and it already shoots great in my 6arc. So far I’ve narrowed it down to
75gr Berger vld
75gr Hornady eldm
77gr Sierra matchkings
77gr Hornady aeromatch
80gr Sierra matchkings

Partsunavailable · Friday at 10:10 PM

Don't rule out the 80 ELDMs over varget. Seemed to get the best balance of weight and speed for me.

King_beardsly · Friday at 10:50 PM

EODsniper said:
What were the results you were getting with the 75 eldms? The price seems too good to be true on those. My biggest challenge is finding a bullet to go with before buying in bulk. Everything will be over varget since I have a very large amount of that and it already shoots great in my 6arc. So far I’ve narrowed it down to
75gr Berger vld
75gr Hornady eldm
77gr Sierra matchkings
77gr Hornady aeromatch
80gr Sierra matchkings

I’ve been able to get .5” groups if do my part with the ELD-M’s but most have been like .7” or smaller. I haven’t really worked up a load since I just hit 150ish rounds down the barrel, so I’m thinking it’ll shirk a bit more once I get them dialed in better.

TommyD11730 · Friday at 11:10 PM

When the SMK 80s were unobtainable a few years ago I started shooting 80.5s. I'll never go back to the 80s.
Also the Berger 80VLDs when jammed I found to be very accurate.

EODsniper · 2025-04-05T13:31:01-0400

TommyD11730 said:
When the SMK 80s were unobtainable a few years ago I started shooting 80.5s. I'll never go back to the 80s.
Also the Berger 80VLDs when jammed I found to be very accurate.

Are you talking about the Berger fullbore? I’ve heard that the vlds are nitpicky about seating depth.

TommyD11730 · 2025-04-05T13:36:51-0400

EODsniper said:
Are you talking about the Berger fullbore? I’ve heard that the vlds are nitpicky about seating depth.

Yes, the 80.5 are the fullbore. I found them easy to tune.
Like I said about the VLD.. I believe I started at touch and worked my way in. I can lookup the recipe later if you like.

EODsniper · 2025-04-05T13:39:48-0400

TommyD11730 said:
Yes, the 80.5 are the fullbore. I found them easy to tune.
Like I said about the VLD.. I believe I started at touch and worked my way in. I can lookup the recipe later if you like.

I am looking up the difference between the hybrid target, fullbore and vld from Berger.
I’m always down to see a recipe to tune in my starting point.

Criterion 223 Remington match chamber

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