Had a great day at the range today. 55 degrees & Sunny. There were only 3 other guys there & all shooting 308 bolt guns. None of them reload
. So I came home with a pile of once fired Black Hills match brass & My 6 ARC bushings delivered while at the range.
The Valkyrie also put a smile on my face today.
I posted some results in another thread from my first outing with Valkyrie & 6.5 Staball loads. Reubenski shit on my parade by showing equal results from his 223. He was getting 2800 with 75HPBT from a 20" 223. My 224 V speed was about 2770 with 77SMK & results with 85.5 Berger's sucked.
For round 2 I stepped on the gas with the Staball & got 77 SMK to 2850 & grouping well. 85.5's to 2800 hanging out the front of the windowed mag. The Berger's still did no better than 1.2" & pressure was showing at those speeds. Threw it in the safe & built a 6 ARC. Back ordered bushings had ARC on hold, so I loaded round 3 for the Valkyrie shot today.
After today I'm no longer doubting the value of this round.
Gun specs.
BCM thermal fit upper (lapped + Accushim), Anderson lower
Craddock 18" RL + 1" gas, medium profile .750 GB, 7T
Centurion M-lock 13.5 rail + Nelson 10" Arca rail.
SLR adj GB, Heathen 3p brake
Sharps XPB low mass carrier, LWRC hp bolt.
Trigger Tech adaptable set to 2.5 + Trigger tech ambi 45 degree safety
Geissele Super charging handle
Wilson/BCM mod 3 grip
VLTOR A5 spring, std A5 buffer, & tube
LuthAR stock
MK 5 HD 3.6-18 TMR scope with Leupold mount and MK machine level
View attachment 7821574
This was a down and dirty load test just to short list bullets and speeds for further development. Not going to bother with SD #'s since not many rounds fired. I will note the loads that showed low SD
There's not much Lever info for 224. these loads worked in my gun with my case prep etc. They may be hot AF in your gun so I'd start lower then what I've got below.
Unless noted otherwise, all were Hornady once fired, annealed, trimmed, & fucking primer stakes removed (WTF Hornady, there not mil rounds!).
Shot at 100y, bench, Ckye pod, & rear bag. All groups shot fast, but consistent speed for each group.
Baseline speed with factory Hornady 88 eldm from this 18" barrel = 2502
All loads CCI #41 primers & Leverevolution powder
Sierra 77 TMK coal 2.245 (-.005 from lands)
26.6 = 2833 low SD .750"
26.9 = 2968 .595" Plus 130fps for .3 gr holly cow.
27.2 = 2942 .452" Brass good slight ejector mark
Hornady 75 HPBT 2.215 coal (-.010 from lands)
In Hornady 1 x brass
27.3 = 2968
New Starline Brass
27.3 = 2938 SD 2.8 .596"
27.5 = 2995 Shot steel
@300 Kestral check, no group. Brass & primer good, no marks.
Hornady 75 eldm 2.290 coal (.055 jump)
27.2 = 2966 1.260"
27.5 = 3022 2.915" swipe on 3 of 5 Great speed, shitty groups.
Hornady 80 eldm 2.290 coal (.055 jump)
26.7 = 2929 1.082"
27.0 = 2937 .835" pressure
Nosler 85 RDF 2.265 coal (-.010 from lands)
26.1 = 2818 .578" Brass good couple slight ejector marks
26.4 = 2863 .740" Swipes on 3 of 5
Berger 85.5 @2.285 coal (.072 jump)
26.2 = 2828 1.6" POI shifted 4" high & 1 hole looks slightly oblong
26.5 = 2866 4.5" POI shifted 5" high & 2 holes looked oblong
Berger suggests 8 twist for these so I don't know WTF is going on here. My gun hates them.
Mexican Match Federal pulled 75 TMJ with collet puller & replaced with 77TMK
These had zero neck tension once pulled. To make this work I ran the brass (still powdered) into a full length bushing die .248 bushing, then set a 21st Century mandrel die shallow & ran a .222 mandrel in just far enough.
Seated 2.245 coal
2889 fps x 5 on Chrono & 5 round group was 1.150" No pressure signs.
Still have 10 left so I'm going to try 2 more seating depths with these.
What I'll be working with for the next outing.
77 TMK 27.0 - 27.4 + seating depth
75 HPBT 27.4 - 27.6
80 ELDM 26.6 - 26.8 + seating depth
85 RDF 26.0 - 26.2 +- .005 seating depth
Overall I'm pretty impressed with the MV from this 18" barrel. The 85 RDF's were a pleasant surprise. At 320fps faster then the factory 88's hell yeah. I'd really like to try the Berger 80.5's, but I've got plenty to work with out to 1000y already.
It'll be interesting to see how this stacks up against 6 ARC Lever loads.