88 ELD-M in .223 Rem

[beetroot]

I'm seeing 3000 FPS with Leverevolution and 88s in a 26" long throat 223. I haven't messed with seating depth yet, no time. I imagine I'll settle on a slightly lower charge but I saw no signs of pressure with any of these charges on a pretty warm day. 5000". COAL is around 2.54ish" jumping around .030"

LC brass, CCI 41s

That's a very impressive velocity, you've basically got 6BR performance there!

 

[jLorenzo]

That's a very impressive velocity, you've basically got 6BR performance there!

Well see, I haven't done any group testing yet. Just have heard that Lever is kind of a secret sauce for 223 with heavys in some circles. Shooting all those different charges at the same POA showed some promise, even though the charges were different. Obiviously not going to be as temp stable as an extruded powder but heading into winter I'm not too worried about it.

 

[beetroot]

Well see, I haven't done any group testing yet. Just have heard that Lever is kind of a secret sauce for 223 with heavys in some circles. Shooting all those different charges at the same POA showed some promise, even though the charges were different. Obiviously not going to be as temp stable as an extruded powder but heading into winter I'm not too worried about it.

Never heard of it being used before but a few minutes of Googling suggest that you are correct.
Seems like the burn rate is very similar to CFE223, have you tried that also or just jumped straight in on the leverevolution?

 

[reelserious]

I have a 26 inch Criterian 223 match chamber in 1/6.5 twist. I am using 24 grain of varget and getting 2700 fps . chamber is a super long throat and I am seating them jammed. shoots well out to 1000 yards.

 

[jLorenzo]

Never heard of it being used before but a few minutes of Googling suggest that you are correct.
Seems like the burn rate is very similar to CFE223, have you tried that also or just jumped straight in on the leverevolution?

I have both but I have more Lever. A experienced guy on another forum suggestions lever is the way to go between the two. I havent tried CFE other than with 75gr hornady bthps, velocity was killer, accuracey was the worst Ive ever seen. Didnt try and tune it or anything though. Well see it may be that it is the same case with lever but others state that is not the case. Pushing these heavy 223 pills really fast is awesome though. 75gr ELDs at 3050 fps with XBR 8208 is magic inside of 1,000y.

 

[shreddykruger]

@jLorenzo - did you ever get back out with the lever 88 load? Curious how it went?

I ended up buying one of @padom 's wylde TL3 prefits from a guy and had great results shooting the 80.5 bergers initially and 88s more now. Looking at notes, my load with the 88s is typically 23.6gn 8208 and they're loaded at about 1.940 BTO going 2825 (~.020 off). Good velocity and accuracy.

I actually ended up needing to run another barrel on my TL3 so got one spun up from a preferred blanks cert I had here last year to match (or get close) to that one. I sent along a dummy round at .020 off with it and they came back that the 223 match reamer was actually a better choice than the wylde and we went with it.

I've got about 1200 rounds on this one now for my impact which I am still shooting today for club matches. It liked 75 ELD-M's more than 88s initially but I'm just about to give them another run in it now that the throat has opened up a bit. I had never seen any rifle stack shots as well as this one was placing the 75s so I just kind of didn't want to fight to make the 88s be better and went with them until now. Was shooting same powder charge as the 88s but just adjusted to the lands with the different bullet.

Anyhow, not sorry to bump this thread - it helped me get on track early on and the 88s are awesome.

 

[jLorenzo]

@jLorenzo - did you ever get back out with the lever 88 load? Curious how it went?

I ended up buying one of @padom 's wylde TL3 prefits from a guy and had great results shooting the 80.5 bergers initially and 88s more now. Looking at notes, my load with the 88s is typically 23.6gn 8208 and they're loaded at about 1.940 BTO going 2825 (~.020 off). Good velocity and accuracy.

I actually ended up needing to run another barrel on my TL3 so got one spun up from a preferred blanks cert I had here last year to match (or get close) to that one. I sent along a dummy round at .020 off with it and they came back that the 223 match reamer was actually a better choice than the wylde and we went with it.

I've got about 1200 rounds on this one now for my impact which I am still shooting today for club matches. It liked 75 ELD-M's more than 88s initially but I'm just about to give them another run in it now that the throat has opened up a bit. I had never seen any rifle stack shots as well as this one was placing the 75s so I just kind of didn't want to fight to make the 88s be better and went with them until now. Was shooting same powder charge as the 88s but just adjusted to the lands with the different bullet.

Anyhow, not sorry to bump this thread - it helped me get on track early on and the 88s are awesome.

I havent done much more with the 88s. Tried Varget, CFE 223, RL 15.5 ts and lever. One Varget charge shot ok but for the most part they all shot a loose MOA. Good enough for casually banging steel. My 7.5 twist may be marginal, the holes in paper were clean though no keyholing. I have moved to Berger 85.5s for now. Shot some of the best groups Ive ever shot with the Bergers. Saving the 88s for when I rebarrel to a 7 twist. Best group was 24.4gr of Varget if I remember but not sure.

These are all different charges with the 88s. The blank paper group is the 85.5 hybrids.