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Do you shoot your .223?
- Thread starter Notdylan
- Start date
I confused my loads also. The 24.5 was the 8208 and the Varget was 25.1. Last one tested was the 8208 and probably why it stuck.
223AI and 75gn eldm's is a serious combo. Extremely efficient cartridge price/performance wise and if I am going shooting, or think I might end up shooting, mine always comes along with me. The only thing I shoot more of is 22lr.
The ONLY downside I have come across is that some people at the range with little peepee syndrome try and snob you for "only" shooting .223, but fuck em. We know what they're capable of.
The ONLY downside I have come across is that some people at the range with little peepee syndrome try and snob you for "only" shooting .223, but fuck em. We know what they're capable of.
@reubenski Have you considered running TAC? I've been loading it with 73gr & 75gr ELDM's for PDog ammo to use in my .223 Remage since 2018. It works great with CCI 450 or 41's in LC or Lapua brass. 3025fps and 2975fps are the respective velocities for the 73gr & 75gr with the same load of TAC out of my 26" Criterion barrel with Wylde chamber.
Yeah if running it through a progressive then the ball powder would work better. CFE223 works good for that too. I use the 75 BTHP for that type of loading in my AR too.
I run .223 Wylde chambers in all my ARs and bolt gun. Reasons I don't use the 75BTHP in my Tac .223 is the BC and I can load longer in the MDT mags. I just want more performance and can't run any of the others in Tac class
I run TAC with 75 gr pills with 25.2gr for my 223 and it's great. 2950 fps I think, but mine is. 21" barrel.
I'm solidly in this camp too. Buy bulk, use bulk milsurp 1x fired brass, load in bulk on a 1050. I personally go for a moderate conservative load. Around 23gr of XBR, 75 ELD-M in the low 2800 fps range has always shot good for me. My current load had almost no load development other than to shoot a quick 5x5 ladder to get speed and see how it grouped. It shot good, so I ran it. No seating depth tests, I think it's jumping around 60-70 thou now.
Here's the most recent group I shot about 3k rounds after initial tests without changing anything. This was just rezeroing last week after a barrel swap, 5 shots. Black dots are 1/4" in diameter.
Holy crow, Sheldon! This is why I LOVE 223's! They seem easy to load for, and honestly you're not that handicapped until you get past 600 or so. The biggest issue is energy on target. Who did that barrel for you?
I know, right?
Stupid thing groups better than my BRA match rifle.It's a Bartlein 7.5 Twist Heavy Palma 26" spun up by Jonathan Elrod of Modacam Custom Rifles in NC. Rifle is a Bighorn TL3 in a Foundation MG2.
What barrel are you using on your bolt gun? I'm using the same powder, powder charge weight, and bullet in my 223, but only get about 2750fps. I'm using a 24" Tikka barrel on mine.
Edit: I suppose elevation may make a difference too. My elevation is about 450' above sea level.
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Elevation wouldn't have anything to do with the velocity at the muzzle. Tikkas are known to have slower barrels so might be partially that.
That low 23’s of 8208XBR with 75/77 and even 69SMK’s is such a great universal load.
Consistent and doesn’t destroy brass.
The eldms are sort of particular but I also suck at shooting but I get good results with them once Ive found their sweet spot.
Do you know your reamer specs?
I’m thinking of cutting a 223 barrel for 75/77’s and a bit longer OAL bro a bolt gun.
I had used the 23.6 from the old lot and they always grouped like that when I would verify zero, makes it real easy to zero, from summer to winter.
I did all of the original footwork for it back on an old phone and I lost the original work up pics going to the new phone so I only have that one of the 7x fired brass where I was verifying it was still best since it had been awhile since I checked.
For the test on the new lot of bullets on the brass that now has twice the firings on it, I only did that last weekend so Ill probably do a bit more seating depth etc to make sure Im not missing anything, but that will have to wait a couple weekends.
I loaded up a few of the 23.6 again to verify that a xylo chassis for a creed rifle isnt the cause of my issues with it though so I can see how it holds together through a handful of those.
Edit: the sight in target paper I did it on got thrown in the trash while we are hosting a party so no pic because I’m not digging through 40 peoples cake mess- the 10 shot sample of 23.6 looked like if you took the 23.6 in the above and made it rounder and that’s with the xylo action screw dragging heavy on the bolt lug from 5 to 6 o’clock of rotating it closed. The xylo continues to piss me off more.
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Mine is a .062 freebore wylde too and with the old lot of bullets I was 1.900 to touch when new and seated at 1.873 on the ogive.
I seated this new lot to the damn near the same spot without adjusting the seating die and the oal is ~2.416 for these new ones.
You can go a bit further with the freebore if you wanted and I dont think you would have any issues.
The barreled action I have in it right now shoots like shit more often than it shuold, only the occasional good group but no rhyme or reason to it. So I want to make sure the chassis isnt the cause while I wait on other 6.5 bullets to show up to test that aspect of it. Ive had to grind on the xylo way more than I feel should be necessary to make a plain jane rem700 fit so Im sort of skeptical on it until I get something to shoot well out of it to prove itself to me.
I've got a .223 ackley that I really enjoy shooting. I use the 88 grain ELD match bullets. I switched to Vihtavuori powders awhile back and have been pleased. I can't recall off the top of my head which V powder I'm using for my .223, but I'll have a look at my log book and report back for anyone that's curious.
Why did you switch to V powders? Availability or did you choose to switch for some other reason. Temp sensitivity is the first thing I look for when looking at new powders because it gets so hot here. Virtually no powder does great at the temps it is here for all of summer and a lot of the year really.
I'm thinking similar.
Between being 223 and MODBB it would last forever. I'd probably go a little longer (24" or 26") and get it fluted.
I started experimenting with N570 for my 300prc. Then experimented with other V powders for my other cartridges I reload. I was impressed enough that I decided to switch. Plus I could buy a lot of V powder at the time (no idea what it’s like now). So, it was a matter of availability (big factor) and performance.
23.8 of N135 behind a Berger 90 or Hornady 80 or 88 eld all end up super accurate in my .223 Palma rifle. Usually single digit SD's at 1000 yards.
31" 1:7 twist Bartlein, Origin action, CG Xtreme trigger, Eliseo chassis, Eric Hollis match rifle sling. This was my clean string at 600 a couple of weekends ago.
It'll do the trick at 1000, but I'm struggling with it compared to my 600 yard scores. That, and iron sights at 1000 are hard.
One of these days I'll step up to a big boy caliber for 1000 yards, but its sure nice to load one caliber at $0.40/each for everything I shoot. One set of dies, one or two powders, etc. Its nice keeping it cheap and simple, and you aren't giving up a thing at 600 yards and in.
31" 1:7 twist Bartlein, Origin action, CG Xtreme trigger, Eliseo chassis, Eric Hollis match rifle sling. This was my clean string at 600 a couple of weekends ago.
It'll do the trick at 1000, but I'm struggling with it compared to my 600 yard scores. That, and iron sights at 1000 are hard.
One of these days I'll step up to a big boy caliber for 1000 yards, but its sure nice to load one caliber at $0.40/each for everything I shoot. One set of dies, one or two powders, etc. Its nice keeping it cheap and simple, and you aren't giving up a thing at 600 yards and in.
Attachments
I shoot mine more than any bolt gun due to the east of using wolf primed brass. The ballistics are essentially identical with a 88 eld to a 6BR with a 105.
I use 24.9 grs of H4895 under the 75 gr ELDM out of my 223 Varmint. Using NAMMO brass and CCI450s, I get 3020 fps. I am loading mine to almost 2.50" COAL.
