True, I can't use this to shoot 55 grain bullets, but I imagine it will shoot the 80's pretty well. I use the 80 gr. eld for my 1000 yd load. I like that it is 24 inches long too. That will help get a couple more FPS out of my load.
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223 version of the RPR
- Thread starter D̷e̷v̷i̷l̷D̷o̷c̷A̷Z̷
- Start date
The 6.5 twist was developed by the Army Marksmanship Unit in order to successfully shoot the Sierra 90 gr Match King.
Can't seat it to magazine length tho, but that doesn't matter for the use that the 90 MK was meant for.
Isn't the 6.5 twist REALLY fast for the 55 grain stuff?
The reason I picked up my RPR is because my Remington 700 had a 1-12 twist and wouldn't shoot the heavies for anything. It shot the 55 grain stuff just fine though.
Maybe, maybe not. It depends on bullet construction (mostly jacket thickness) and muzzle velocity (to which rotational velocity of the bullet is directly proportional).
You should try it. You will gain first hand knowledge, which is far more valuable than what you read on the internet.
I guess I should have said "shoot 55 grain stuff accurately". I will post my results when my barrel comes in.
I would guess it would not change accuracy much at all. But the only way to know for sure is try it. Every barrel is different.
Well I got the shipping info sent, I should have the barrel in next Wednesday. I’ve got some 55 grain Norma, wolf gold, and some American eagle 55 grain stuff.
Well when your 2+ MOA ammo shoots 2+ MOA in your 6.5 twist don't come on here blaming the twist. Thats mostly where the myth of 7 twist only shooting heavies well came from.
If it’s the old black box Norma 55 it might shoot okay. The other two are more for ar blasting ammo. If your not hand loading it will be difficult to find economical ammo to shoot in that barrel. Hornady makes a 55 vmax load you could try. Or Australian outback has some more price friendly ammo. Otherwise the good stuff is going to cost you such as black hills or federal gold medal match. You could try some of this https://globalordnance.com/case-lot...3-rem-69gr-sierra-hpbt-matchking/#tab-reviews
I have about 220 rounds of hand loaded 80 gr eld ammo to try for that. And to the guys saying the ammo I listed is crap, you aren’t wrong.I am more interested in how it shoots 80, 85 or even 90.
The 55 grain Norma ammo, I was able to get to shoot sub moa with my last RPR factory barrel. The other stuff, I expect to shoot sub 3 moa. If it shoots 4+ moa, that will answer a question for me. I don’t plan on ditching my factory RPR barrel, so I look at this as really a comparison between the two.
I shoot Black Hills 52gr remanufactured thru my 5.56 RPR with great results. It can be found for ~$30 per bx of 50 which is a decnet deal and I cant reload it any better for less including my time.
I dont understand the fascination of trying to load 80, 90, and great weight bullets for this rifle. If you want to get to that next class of bullets, why not just get a 6mm RPR?
There are many benefits to shooting heavy bullets from a 223. Biggest for me is barrel life. My 223 RPR shooting 80 grain ELD's will have a barrel life 2-3 times that of the 6mm RPR's. Another is recoil, a 223 has less recoil than a 6 creed. It's cheaper to reload for, uses less powder and bullets are cheaper.
So I got the White Oak Arms barrel in and mounted it up. To compare, I shot 6 groups with my RPR factory barrel and then shot the same exact ammo out of the new WOA barrel. I know that the 55 grain stuff isn't match grade, but I was curious if one barrel shot one better than the other. The picture below shows the ammo I used.
The first day I took the barrel out, I shot a total of 55 rounds through it to get it sighed in and to get groups. All groups were at 100 yards. Honestly I was pretty unimpressed. Below are the targets comparing the two barrels. WOA on left, factory on right.
Again, I know that the 55 grain stuff wasn't going to be very accurate. But I was expecting the 77 and 80 grain stuff to be. Both barrels shot sub MOA groups with different ammo. Both barrels like Norma 77 grain match ammo as they both shot it sub 0.5 MOA. The factory barrel didn't shoot IMI 77 grain very well compared to the WOA barrel and I thought the 80 grain ELD hand loads was a wash between the two.
I talked to @lennyo3034 telling him that I thought the barrel was a wash. It wasn't bad, but it really didn't perform better than the factory barrel. He mentioned that it should tighten up once it is broken in a little bit, so today I had some time. I went out and put another 150 rounds through it. I used 55 grain stuff to break it in and then shot groups with the heavies. And yea, it did tighten up, ALOT.
The break in process was tedious as hell. I didn't want the barrel to get to hot. It took 4 hours of shooting and taking breaks to get the target above. My barrel cooler ran out of battery half way through. But once broken in, the WOA barrel shot everything sub MOA. I even shot my best 223 group ever at 0.228" @ 100 yds using factory Norma 77 grain ammo.
My first impression was that I was unimpressed. But after putting more rounds through it, my first impression was WAY off. For the money, I don't think you will find a better barrel for your RPR in 223. I'm glad I bought mine. Plus I get about 50 fps more out of the WOA barrel on my 80 gr. eld load over the factory barrel. For those interested, I would definitely recommend this barrel.
The first day I took the barrel out, I shot a total of 55 rounds through it to get it sighed in and to get groups. All groups were at 100 yards. Honestly I was pretty unimpressed. Below are the targets comparing the two barrels. WOA on left, factory on right.
Again, I know that the 55 grain stuff wasn't going to be very accurate. But I was expecting the 77 and 80 grain stuff to be. Both barrels shot sub MOA groups with different ammo. Both barrels like Norma 77 grain match ammo as they both shot it sub 0.5 MOA. The factory barrel didn't shoot IMI 77 grain very well compared to the WOA barrel and I thought the 80 grain ELD hand loads was a wash between the two.
I talked to @lennyo3034 telling him that I thought the barrel was a wash. It wasn't bad, but it really didn't perform better than the factory barrel. He mentioned that it should tighten up once it is broken in a little bit, so today I had some time. I went out and put another 150 rounds through it. I used 55 grain stuff to break it in and then shot groups with the heavies. And yea, it did tighten up, ALOT.
The break in process was tedious as hell. I didn't want the barrel to get to hot. It took 4 hours of shooting and taking breaks to get the target above. My barrel cooler ran out of battery half way through. But once broken in, the WOA barrel shot everything sub MOA. I even shot my best 223 group ever at 0.228" @ 100 yds using factory Norma 77 grain ammo.
My first impression was that I was unimpressed. But after putting more rounds through it, my first impression was WAY off. For the money, I don't think you will find a better barrel for your RPR in 223. I'm glad I bought mine. Plus I get about 50 fps more out of the WOA barrel on my 80 gr. eld load over the factory barrel. For those interested, I would definitely recommend this barrel.
were you able to seat the 80 ELD in your old barrel?
I could not do it. It would be all the way under the shoulder.
I could not do it. It would be all the way under the shoulder.
I was with no problem. I even had room for a little jump.
I just ordered a woa barrel what a fantastic value. They now have one left in stock.
At $300 this is an unbelievable value. I’m not mad at paying $375 for my barrel, $300 would have been amazing.
Not sure I really need it but there is one local for $775 so I guess my question is, at that price is it worth it or would I be better off rebarreling my 1in12 twist Rem 700?
If you have one available for $775 locally, I would jump all over it. If you don't like it I think you could sell it here on the hide pretty easily for more than that.
Good call, I hadn't thought about that. Any percieved issues with it having been discontinued?
I imagine ruger had issue with how many they were getting back for primer issues, mine included. They replaced my bolt, barrel, and some other minor things and it didnt' fix the problem. It made it better, but didn't solve it.
I sent the bolt off to be bushed, and that fixed the primer issues I was having.
It was recommended by some that I just send the bolt off to be bushed without getting ruger involved. In hindsight, that would have been better, but I wanted to try ruger customer service as I've heard good things about them. They were easy to deal with, but they didn't ultimately fix the issue.
Spoke with John at White Oak about potentially running a batch of .223 RPR barrels. He mentioned this would be a “custom” production run since they technically no longer make or stock them anymore, but they have the blanks, all the tooling, etc. needed to do them.
He did mention they are pretty backed up so delivery timing is TBD, but that if we could get at least 6-12 guys interested that he’d likely be able to slot us in.
I’d be willing to facilitate if there is enough interest. I know Proof makes them currently as well so it may not be worth the hassle, but figured I would at least ask.
He did mention they are pretty backed up so delivery timing is TBD, but that if we could get at least 6-12 guys interested that he’d likely be able to slot us in.
I’d be willing to facilitate if there is enough interest. I know Proof makes them currently as well so it may not be worth the hassle, but figured I would at least ask.
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