223 Ackley Improved

[Dschapp44]

Wondering if youve tried H414 with those 95s?

Just ran them with H4895, lever and AR-comp. picked up CFE223 but happy with my H4895 and 205 load.

I’ve included my seating depth tests with the 80 eldm, 88 eldm, 95smk and the 85.5 using both AR comp and H4895.


Bottom targets are gas guns so please disregard the groups as I’m not great at driving them yet.

 

[DIBBS]

My record keeping and memory suks, on a GOOD day.

Approximately how much does the case length on a 223 case shrink when fireforming to AI.

I have some 1F TZZ brass that is 1.762- 1.77 and am thinking about just trimming to 1.76 prior to fireforming.

 

[SLAYIN'SWEDE]

That's what I trimmed mine to before fire forming and I haven't had to trim them again so far with three firings on them.

 

[outlawkyote]

fireform the brass first, then trim it to the shortest piece.

 

[Twitchy]

Anyone pushing the 95s yet? I'm getting 2800 in straight 223 (28"/long throat). Curious if it would be worth 223AI or BR/Dasher/GT for my next barrel.

 

[Seandradamus]

I get 2800 in my 28” barreled .120 freebore AI
for 95s, so probably not much more to be had
22 dasher with .220 freebore runs em comfortably at 3080-3100 with 26”

 

[outlawkyote]

Anyone pushing the 95s yet? I'm getting 2800 in straight 223 (28"/long throat). Curious if it would be worth 223AI or BR/Dasher/GT for my next barrel.

I'm using h414 with great success. Half moa and SDs in the teens. my max safe load was 29gr with a velocity of 2922.
I've taken them to 1520yds including a third round hit on a milk jug.

 

[BoulderE89]

Hey fellas, I am just getting into 223 AI and have some AR comp and 80.5 berger bullets to shoot with it. I was wondering what I should I be looking for while I'm fire forming the brass? And what is a good starting load and desired velocity out of a 26" inch barrel. Any advice and reference would be really helpful.

 

[Moose]

For your FF loads just use what you reloading manual says for 223 and the bullet and powder your using.

 

[Moose]

My FF loads are 24 gr of RL-15 with 75 gr amax.My 223AI load is 25.2 gr of RL 15 with same bullet.

 

[Alpine 338]

What I did was buy 400-rounds of Lapua 69-gr OTM. Great for Fireforming, and supper accurate. Now I have 400-pcs of Lapua brass. I use both the 80.5 Berger and 77-TMKs.

 

[Dschapp44]

I used 24 grains of varget under a 80.5 I'd start around 22 and work up with ar-comp

 

[BoulderE89]

What are the ideal velocity ranges I wanna get into with a 26” barrel and AR comp?

 

[Aftermath]

Here is 100 rounds during bullet seating development. I had decided to adjust scope after first 10 sitting on the lands but forgot, so that first round at -0.001" was sort of shooter error. At -0.007" there is a flier out at about 8:30 that is most definitely shooter error. I love this little rifle! I should note that these are the first 100 fire-formed rounds and are rounds 101-200.

26.0 gr BLC-2
CCI 400
80 gr Berger VLD
0.006" jump
2738 fps
Krieger 1:7 @ 18.75"
Fireformed General Dynamics brass
Hitting a 1.5" target at 550 yards repeatedly.

 

[Dschapp44]

What are the ideal velocity ranges I wanna get into with a 26” barrel and AR comp?

You’ll get over 3000 FPS on the hot side but easily high 2900s. Mines a 28 inch but I didn’t gain any speed in this barrel over a 25 I had prior

 

[Dschapp44]

Obviously start low and work up. My rifle reamer was made for the 80 eldm so the freebore is longer than normal

 

[Dogsniper]

What are the ideal velocity ranges I wanna get into with a 26” barrel and AR comp?

I get 3103 with 75 amax and 25.5 gr. H4895
Out of a 22” carbon 6 barrel.

 

[Huckleberry75]

What I did was buy 400-rounds of Lapua 69-gr OTM. Great for Fireforming, and supper accurate. Now I have 400-pcs of Lapua brass. I use both the 80.5 Berger and 77-TMKs.

Excellent option. I found some Lapua 55fmj and did the same thing. I let my 10yr old son plink with the 55gn and then reload it with 80.5's/8208 which he then proceeds to whack deer and coyotes with.

 

[RogueTanker]

All of those tight groups with the 88s are right around 2840-2860 across three powders

26" 1/7 Barty

 

[Huckleberry75]

That h4895 at 24.1gn is pretty damn salty

 

[RogueTanker]

That h4895 at 24.1gn is pretty damn salty

Ran that at a local match and it was killing it out to the farthest we shot 900 or so. That's way better than I can actually shoot under pressure typically.

 

[Gtar]

My favourite load now is ADI cases, 80gr Nosler Custom Comp, 25.2gr 2206H (H4895), BR4 primer. 25" 7 twist barrel- 2940FPS, SD of 2-3.

 

[CaptArab]

I get 3103 with 75 amax and 25.5 gr. H4895
Out of a 22” carbon 6 barrel.

Hey @Dogsniper ,

I saw in the shorty thread you were rocking a 16" 223 AI or two.

Do you have velocity numbers on those as well?

Debating doing a shorty 223 ai for general handiness with the ultra 7 (Tikka, bravo, baby atacr).

Not sure if I wanna go 16", 18", or just leave well enough alone.

Edit- nvm I saw in another thread you said 2800

 

[Dogsniper]

Hey @Dogsniper ,

I saw in the shorty thread you were rocking a 16" 223 AI or two.

Do you have velocity numbers on those as well?

Debating doing a shorty 223 ai for general handiness with the ultra 7 (Tikka, bravo, baby atacr).

Not sure if I wanna go 16", 18", or just leave well enough alone.

Edit- nvm I saw in another thread you said 2800

Sorry for the late reply. I never got a notification.
16” bartlien 1-8 suppressed
25.5 gr. Varget
2826 with 75 amax
Lapua brass cci br4

 

[RogueTanker]

Did some testing with 6.5 staball and 88s. No velocity yet, but another person had posted 2806 at 27.7 grains, so I'm thinking it'll be 2850-2900 with the top end. Very little signs of pressure even at the end. See photos. No significant cratering, or flat edges. Most shot around 3/4 moa, which for a "temp stable" powder that I can drop on my progressive, is good enough. So easy to watch trace, even under 400 yards.

26" barty 7 twist
223ai

 

[IowaGeologist]

Did some testing with 6.5 staball and 88s. No velocity yet, but another person had posted 2806 at 27.7 grains, so I'm thinking it'll be 2850-2900 with the top end. Very little signs of pressure even at the end. See photos. No significant cratering, or flat edges. Most shot around 3/4 moa, which for a "temp stable" powder that I can drop on my progressive, is good enough. So easy to watch trace, even under 400 yards.

26" barty 7 twist
223ai


View attachment 7791055View attachment 7791056

That's pretty impressive. What are you thinking you'll go with?

 

[RogueTanker]

That's pretty impressive. What are you thinking you'll go with?

I loaded up and burned through 140 rounds Sunday. No issues with pressure, but my SD's weren't great. at 28gr I was at 2870 with an ES of 40 and SD of 23. I might need to increase the load as I have found this powder really shines at pressure. I feel like the sd's will get reasonable at 28.5 and up.

I'm very happy with this though. I can find this powder all day online and it throws well.

 

[DarinC]

Anyone have approx barrel life numbers? I’ve seen soup to nuts on standard 223, but curious what you guys have seen with these, as there are more than a few ‘on my last one’ type comments, so just curious what I should expect so I can order bullets accordingly
Thanks guys

 

[RogueTanker]

I'll let you know when it's shot out but commonly I hear between 3-6k. Depends on how hot you run it.

 

[CaptArab]

Did some testing with 6.5 staball and 88s. No velocity yet, but another person had posted 2806 at 27.7 grains, so I'm thinking it'll be 2850-2900 with the top end. Very little signs of pressure even at the end. See photos. No significant cratering, or flat edges. Most shot around 3/4 moa, which for a "temp stable" powder that I can drop on my progressive, is good enough. So easy to watch trace, even under 400 yards.

26" barty 7 twist
223ai


View attachment 7791055View attachment 7791056

Nice work.
I suspect you'd dig 'lever.

 

[RogueTanker]

Nice work.
I suspect you'd dig 'lever.

I'm not following?

 

[CaptArab]

I'm not following?

Hornady leverevolution.

Meters like water and outstanding velocity if you don't drink from the temp sensitivity fud well.

 

[RogueTanker]

Hornady leverevolution.

Meters like water and outstanding velocity if you don't drink from the temp sensitivity fud well.

Ahh gotcha. I might try it out next. I'd love to get 2900 with a load that isn't blowing primers out. I'm going to test to 29gr and see what happens, but I'm cautious. I'm in uncharted territory and don't want to blow my gun up.

 

[RogueTanker]

Went back with 28.5 and 29gr. Came out with disappointing results. With BR4 primers at 29gr my average was 2894 with an SD of 40. So terrible. Accuracy was great though.

I might try to mess with the jump at 28grs and see what happens. I've heard that jump can effect SDs

 

[Gtar]

I did some charge weight testing last week with the 80gn ELD-M's. It was interesting, they're 50FPS faster out of the barrel that 80gn Custom Comps with everything else the same. I am using ADI brass, ADI 2206H (H4895) and a BR4 primer. I ended up going with 25.8gn which gave me 3051fps with an SD of 4.4 in a 25" 1:7 twist IBI barrel. I'll do a seating depth test tomorrow and see how that goes, it was around .5" at 100m with the magnetospeed hanging off it so I should be able to improve on that.

 

[RogueTanker]

Went back and finally settled on shooting the 25.3 gr n140 load with 88s from last year that was around 1/4 moa or something like that.

Took the load and ran it from my CM1500 and then through my Hornady progressive powder thrower

CM 1500 - 2886 average, SD 6.6
Powder thrower- 2884, SD 16.6

Man is that fast and for local matches that's plenty good enough for me to use my progressive to load this ammo

 

[nrspence]

What reamer and freebore would you all recommend for 77 grain to 88 grain bullets? Looking to re barrel a Tikka in 223 ai.

 

[Gtar]

I ran out of 80 ELD-M's but got hold of a heap of 88's. I did a charge weight test yesterday to see what might work. I use ADI 2206H (H4895) with the 80's for around 3040 fps. It seems a bit fast for the 88's and 2208 (Varget) didn't look to give enough velocity without a compressed load. I ended up trying RL15 which seems to be pretty impressive. ADI brass, BR4 primer, 88 ELD-M. 7 twist IBI barrel 25" long. I tried up to 26.3 gn, primers still look good, no extraction issues etc. I was only shooting at a 300m steel plate with the magnetospeed on but it was grouping pretty well. I'll play with seating depths now and see how it goes.

 

[Shayne Ward]

New to this cartridge. Just picked up a nice 28” Bartlein barreled Impact and about to start fire forming some brass. I did get some good starting data from the previous owner but I am new to reloading and want a few more opinions since powder and bullets are so high these days. Figured if someone has been down this road already it might save me in the long run.

What I know is it’s a .100 free bore for what that’s worth and it shot 80eldms well.

What I want it a absolute tack driver and will be shooting this some in 500 yard bullseye matches and some PRS style matches out to about 1000.

I have Varget and CCI br and CCI 450s
I do have a small jug of XBR 8208
Lapua match brass

I have some 75 VLD that shoot awesome in another gun.

What bullet would y’all go with and what weight for what I am want to do? 75? 80?
Eldm? Don’t mind spending the extra for the VLD if I am gaining from it…

I appreciate any and all advice!

 

[nrspence]

If I was in your shoes go with 75 and 88 eldms. The best part about those bullets is you can actually find them. Use whatever AR burn rate powder you can find. If you search on here you will find loads that folks have worked up that shoot great with about any AR burn rate powder. Use Lapua brass, easy to find, lasts a long time. Just about any small rifle primer you can find will work as well.

 

[Alpine 338]

I did my fire-forming using factory Lapua 69-gr ammo. Got a good deal on it.

8208XBR Powder should work well. I personally use Varget. 77-TMKs and Berger 80.5s fly accurately out to 1050-yards for me.

 

[Huckleberry75]

I did my fire-forming using factory Lapua 69-gr ammo. Got a good deal on it.

8208XBR Powder should work well. I personally use Varget. 77-TMKs and Berger 80.5s fly accurately out to 1050-yards for me.

Ditto to this on fire forming. I use 8208 with the 77tmk and 80.5's.

 

[Shayne Ward]

Haven’t found any 80.5 Berger anywhere. Only the 80VLD
I was able to make the 75VLD shoot very good in a 223 Wylde what are your thoughts on the 80VLD?

 

[Huckleberry75]

I got an email last week from Berger. They are running 80.5's right now and they should be on shelves around the end of April. FYI

 

[chadrp]

Can a 223ai seater (223 forster ultra reamed to 223ai by my gunsmith that did the barrel) be used to seat standard 223? Have a new 223ai barrel and dies but would like to seat some new brass to fire form and wasn't sure if I needed to buy regular 223 dies also. Thanks.

 

[nrspence]

You should be able to use a 223ai seating die just fine. The full length sizing die is what’s going to be different.

 

[chadrp]

You should be able to use a 223ai seating die just fine. The full length sizing die is what’s going to be different.

Ok thanks, yeah I get the difference in sizing but thought I probably could get away with the seater. I will probably get another eventually but just want to get started testing.

 

[Huckleberry75]

80.5's in stock at Bullet Central

Berger Bullets - 22 cal, 80.5gr, FULLBORE Target 22427 / 22727 - Bullet Central

Berger 80.5 Grain Fullbore Target Bullets are often used by competitve shooters who seek the highest accuracy possible. FullBore Bullets are often used beyond mid-range distances out to 600 yards or more. The 80.5 Grain FullBore Bullet was specifically designed for accross-the-course competitive...

www.bulletcentral.com

 

[jLorenzo]

Anyone ever try IMR 3031 with something like a 88gr? I also hear lever might do the trick. I have some CFE223 and IMR4895 I am going to try.
Varget only getting me 2750 or so out of a 26" straight 223. At that velocity I might as well just shoot the 75 or 80gr. Same wind, less drop.

 

[nrspence]

80.5's in stock at Bullet Central

Berger Bullets - 22 cal, 80.5gr, FULLBORE Target 22427 / 22727 - Bullet Central

Berger 80.5 Grain Fullbore Target Bullets are often used by competitve shooters who seek the highest accuracy possible. FullBore Bullets are often used beyond mid-range distances out to 600 yards or more. The 80.5 Grain FullBore Bullet was specifically designed for accross-the-course competitive...

www.bulletcentral.com

Got 500 thanks!