223 prs rifle for 15 yo daughter

[anisbet75]

Building a .223 rifle for my daughter to get started in PRS. Understand not ideal caliber. I have a donor Rem 700 with a Bix trigger Seekins 20moa rail and rings with VPSTII scope in a KRG chassis.

I need help with barrel length and chamber. Pretty much settled on a Proof carbon 7 twist.

Thinking 24” but would
26 or 28 be better? It will wear a suppressor sometimes which makes longer more difficult but mostly an MDT comp brake.

What chamber? SAMMI .223 or wylde? What freebore? Plan is to run SMK 69’s up to Berger 90’s but would be nice to shoot LC 556 green tips as cheep practice ammo for one shot drills.

Thank you for your information. Alan

 

[Danrobberg]

I shoot 88 grain eldms out of several 26 inch barrels that I’ve chambered with a Sami spec .223 reamer. I load them long so they are jammed in most of the chambers. The one barrel I didn’t chamber myself has a very long freebore, something like 190. I took 4th a few weeks ago at a one day prs match with it so they can get the job done. Even with a can 26 inches should be perfect. I’m going to build a rifle for my son whose 9 and I’m going to go with 20 inches because I want him to be able to maneuver the rifle himself but at 15 and carbon fiber 26 inches should be good.

 

[stevieb92]

Last year I built a .223 PRS trainer rifle and went with the .223 Wylde chamber at 26 inch length. I would not recommend a carbon fiber barrel because balance of the rifle is really important in this game and you want more weight in the barrel. Ideally, you want the rifle to balance just in front of the mag well (see pic). I shot a one day regional match with it last month just for shits and grins. It performed well (I still need more practice), but I could definitely tell the 75 ELD-M was being pushed around more than the 107 SMK that I run in my 6 CM PRS rifle. That was expected, but it was a good exercise to require me to pay more attention to the wind with the .223.

 

[FimRire RongLifle]

Building one also for 'cheaper' shooting and wind challenge. went 223 chamber only because i have plenty marked 223 55/62 for the plinking overlap. I intend to shoot 75s and 80s

I did manage to balance a 24 carbon once. It took an MPA ultralight and a carbonsix m24 profile carbon build for a fat carbon barrel. Its just under 12lbs with an mk5. It would be suboptimal for prs and it baolances but way easier to 'tip off' compared to example above. It would NOT balance in a matrix chassis

 

[Rob01]

Building a .223 rifle for my daughter to get started in PRS. Understand not ideal caliber. I have a donor Rem 700 with a Bix trigger Seekins 20moa rail and rings with VPSTII scope in a KRG chassis.

I need help with barrel length and chamber. Pretty much settled on a Proof carbon 7 twist.

Thinking 24” but would
26 or 28 be better? It will wear a suppressor sometimes which makes longer more difficult but mostly an MDT comp brake.

What chamber? SAMMI .223 or wylde? What freebore? Plan is to run SMK 69’s up to Berger 90’s but would be nice to shoot LC 556 green tips as cheep practice ammo for one shot drills.

Thank you for your information. Alan

.223 is a great cartridge for a younger shooter to get in the sport and built right it can reach to 1000+. I understand you want to keep it lighter but I would go with a thinner profile steel barrel over a carbon fiber. Carbon fiber is more money and some have shown shot placement movement when hot and the rifle will get hot in matches. The KRG is lighter in the rear so balance shouldn't be tough.

Putting a suppressor on a rifle you are trying to make lighter and more compact is counterintuitive. Put a brake on it and let her run it. I would go with something like a 26" med palma contour in 7 twist. For chamber go .223 Wylde as you can shoot anything in it. And I would suggest shooting some of the 75/77grn bullets to keep her in Tac class and get some good BCs. Get some MDT poly .223 mags and you can load out to 2.550" but should be under 2.5" with the Wylde chamber.

 

[anisbet75]

Thanks for the replies. This is exactly what I needed to hear.

 

[kentuckyMarksman]

Nothing wrong with a 24" 223 barrel. I shoot 500 yard F-Class with a 24" 223 barrel. Some guys I shoot with think I should rebarrel to a 28", but I'm happy with how my current barrel shoots.

 

[Baron85]

I firmly believe that most new shooters will actually perform better shooting a 223 than some of the other popular calibers. Less recoil helps with spotting hits and misses as well as helps with timid shooters being able to relax and not worry as much about the recoils and blast.

Also most points at least at the local matches I shoot are under 600-800 yards and at that distance the 223 is not holding you back. Below is my ballistics on my 223 26” Wilde chamber rifle shooting 88 eldms vs my 6br running 108 eldms. 800 yards 10pm cross wind.

My current dasher running 112 match burners is a step up in performance but I sold my BR, the 223 is really a great round that won’t hold most people back and likely will improve the average shooters scores.

I also agree, go with a lighter weight steel barrel instead of carbon. You can always add weights to the chassis to help with balance and stability if needed.

 

[Dead Eye Dick]

Our Son put together a .223 Wilde chambered rifle for Brenda to shoot. I shoot it occasionally and even though it is "just" a .223, it screams for a brake. My 6.5 stayed on target much better and when re-barreled to 6GT, it is night and day compared to the .223 without a break.

I also vote for the steel over the carbon barrel. Yes, I know I am putting a carbon barrel on my RPR, but it is being built more for plinking and maybe general shooting as opposed to precision rifle. That's what the two 6GT's are for.