Posted this on another site, figured I'd try here too.
I now have enough formed brass to start diving into the 223AI loads using 75gr ELDs. I've went out once already and wasn't blown away by the results. Figured I'd get some more input from the folks on here to see if I might want to tweak things or start from scratch.
Some background info:
26" CBI 223AI barrel on Origin action
Standard 0.062 freebore
Formed LC brass
CCI 450s
75 ELD Base to Ogive - 1.938"
Temp was about 70 deg
I decided to try out Varget and CFE223 first. Went 25.5, 25.8, and 26.1 gr Varget. Went with 26.9, 27.2, and 27.5 gr CFE223 as well. Overall, most groups were under an inch. About the best I did was 0.5". STD/ES numbers were pretty bad for CFE (20s/50s avg) and slightly better for Varget (15s/30s avg) but not great. Velocity from my magnetospeed are below.
Varget:
25.5 - 2941 (best ES/STD
25.8 - 2989 (best group)
26.1 - 3034
CFE223:
26.9 - 2965
27.2 - 3003
27.5 - 3035
So I'd like to be a little faster. I've seen quite a few people with 26" barrels pushing 75ELDs and 80 SMKs/ELDs around 3100-3150. Good news, I have plenty of bullets and powder. I also had no pressure signs from anything shot. I went ahead and loaded up another 3 test groups for Varget, at 26.3, 26.5, and 26.8 gr. Only the 26.8 gr load had noticeable compression. Not sure if I'll put much more into CFE223 after the mediocre showing and the fact it's not temp stable.
I've also seen a few people having luck with H4895 in the AI with 75s, so might give that a shot if these next Varget loads don't turn out how I'd like them to. Anything else I might want to take a look at? Any experience with H4895/Varget/CFE223 loads and 75/80 class bullets you might want to share? Thanks for any input.