Part I
I decided to write this article to give other my findings on 223 Remington bolt action load data for bullets 75gr and higher. I was having trouble in the past finding starting loads to work with so I decided to do it myself.
PLEASE TAKE CAUTION WHEN REPLICATING THESE LOADS!!! THIS IS WHAT WORKED FOR ME, IT MAY NOT WORK FOR YOU. START LOW AND WORK YOUR WAY UP!!!
The bullets I decided to test were as follows:
75gr ELDM
77gr SMK Tipped
80gr ELDM
85.5gr Hybrid
88gr ELDM
The rifle specs are as follows:
Action: Bighorn TL3
Barrel: Rock Creek 26” chambered by Patriot Valley
Muzzle Brake: PVA Jet Blast
Stock: Manners PRS1 with Mini Chassis
Optic: Nightforce 7-35x ATACR
Bipod: Atlas
Chronograph: Magnetospeed V3 with custom adapter to keep off the barrel
Magazine: Accurate Magazine modified to get 2.55" OAL
The other parts of the reloading:
Powder: Varget (all the same lot)
Primers: CCI #400 (all the same lot)
Brass: Lapua (all the same lot/once fired/ sized 0.002” back for my chamber with 0.003” neck tension)
The Test:
The way I decided to test this was with a poor man’s version of a shot marker. I set up a white paper backdrop with Shoot’N’See targets as aiming points. Directly behind my shooting position was a friend on a Vortex Razor HD 27-60x Spotter with a Phoneskope attached to record the impacts in order to verify their position later. I set up the target at 300 yards. I was looking for vertical dispersion amongst the impacts.
*While I did test the RDF, it was with 8208XBR and was unsuccessful in the long run. Will retest with Varget in the future.
Here are photos of the targets with numbers showing which bullet went where.
75gr ELDM
77gr SMK Tipped
80gr ELDM
85.5gr Hybrid
88gr ELDM
Continued in PART II
I decided to write this article to give other my findings on 223 Remington bolt action load data for bullets 75gr and higher. I was having trouble in the past finding starting loads to work with so I decided to do it myself.
PLEASE TAKE CAUTION WHEN REPLICATING THESE LOADS!!! THIS IS WHAT WORKED FOR ME, IT MAY NOT WORK FOR YOU. START LOW AND WORK YOUR WAY UP!!!
The bullets I decided to test were as follows:
75gr ELDM
77gr SMK Tipped
80gr ELDM
85.5gr Hybrid
88gr ELDM
The rifle specs are as follows:
Action: Bighorn TL3
Barrel: Rock Creek 26” chambered by Patriot Valley
Muzzle Brake: PVA Jet Blast
Stock: Manners PRS1 with Mini Chassis
Optic: Nightforce 7-35x ATACR
Bipod: Atlas
Chronograph: Magnetospeed V3 with custom adapter to keep off the barrel
Magazine: Accurate Magazine modified to get 2.55" OAL
The other parts of the reloading:
Powder: Varget (all the same lot)
Primers: CCI #400 (all the same lot)
Brass: Lapua (all the same lot/once fired/ sized 0.002” back for my chamber with 0.003” neck tension)
The Test:
The way I decided to test this was with a poor man’s version of a shot marker. I set up a white paper backdrop with Shoot’N’See targets as aiming points. Directly behind my shooting position was a friend on a Vortex Razor HD 27-60x Spotter with a Phoneskope attached to record the impacts in order to verify their position later. I set up the target at 300 yards. I was looking for vertical dispersion amongst the impacts.
*While I did test the RDF, it was with 8208XBR and was unsuccessful in the long run. Will retest with Varget in the future.
Here are photos of the targets with numbers showing which bullet went where.
75gr ELDM
77gr SMK Tipped
80gr ELDM
85.5gr Hybrid
88gr ELDM
Continued in PART II