Heavy-for-caliber bullets in .223 WSSM

[mcfred]

SInce the WSSM's not very popular there's a general lack of load data especially for projectiles heavier than 70gr, so out of curiosity I put a 26" 1:8 barrel on a .223 WSSM to drive heavy .224s for my local steel matches. I already had everything but a reamer and I chamber my own barrels so it's an easy experiment. I figured I'd see what happens when you run a little more powder at a lower pressure instead of a pinch of powder at high pressure (.22BR, .22-250AI, .22 C'moor). Maybe the throat'll last longer than the cartridge has a reputation for. Since I own the reamer and a bore scope I can monitor erosion/fire cracking over time.

The local steel matches (~550yd average shot distance and >4500' elevation) limit velocities to 3200fps to prevent damage to their steel, so I was looking for the sweet-spot that will give me competitive ballistics/accuracy, low recoil and decent(?) barrel life.

I'm not really interested in the max velocity, but I've bumped into the pressure limits on a few powders since there's virtually no load data published for heavy .224s in the WSSM. Quickload seems to underestimate pressure badly and many predicted starting loads were already over pressure and/or past 3200fps. As usual YMMV, but here's what I got, which is more than there was:

88 Hornady ELD-M (.5MOA@200; .8MOA@965) Low pressure, lots of room to go faster.
37gr H4350
3072 avg

88ELD
40gr Superformance (high ES, poor case fill and 1.25 MOA accuracy)
3045 avg

88ELD
46gr Retumbo
3129 avg

-----------------------

85 Nosler RDF (.6MOA@200)
46gr Retumbo
3173 avg

85 Nosler RDF
43.25gr Reloder 26
3156 avg

-----------------------

90 Sierra Match King
42gr Superformance ((Too hot, hard bolt lift, ejector swipe) inconsistent neck tension, high ES, poor accuracy)
3102 avg

90SMK
43.25gr Reloder 26
3148 avg

Brass was processed to include turning necks (for clean-up only), PP uniforming, annealing and weight sorting. I've only used Remington 9.5 primers since I have a lot of them. I've been working on getting consistent next tension with some Redding Bushing dies. Thick necks and non-VLD seating stems are putting a little ring in the projectiles' ogives. I'm still ironing that out. Hopefully, the throat lasts long enough I can collect more data with other powders, but if I find a combo that works (88ELDs and H4350 are promising) I might stick with that until the barrel's toast.

I also have data for the 95SMK in a tight-bore Krieger 30" 1:7 twist, but it the 95SMKs routinely don't make it to the target (340,000rpm), so the data's not very useful.

 

[Dobbs02si]

Have you any h1000 on hand? For some reason I hang around the barrel burners that like h4831/h1k/retumbo and generally get the most consistancy from h1k.

I'll be keeping an eye on this as I have a couple pieces of wssm brass that sit by the press that keep me wanting to chamber a 7 twist savage in this.

 

[MarinePMI]

Tagged.

 

[mcfred]

In terms of "slow" powders I have the following:

WC860
Retumbo
H1000
H4831sc
WXR
H4350
Re26
Re17
Re16
Superformance

and probably something I'm forgetting.

Since I'm meeting most of my objectives with ~37gr of H4350 I have been a cheap bastard and neglected extensive testing of slower powders. I've run up to 47gr of Retumbo, but that starts getting less cost-effective. Reloder 26's a good compromse between cost (case-fill/ES), accuracy, and velocity, but it's not really available in bulk right now, same with all the other Hodgdon "Extreme" powders.

Careful with the 7 twists, much past 3000fps and it starts getting easy to disassemble them before the hit the target.

 

[Dobbs02si]

I have always tried to use the bulkiest powder to get a full case and velocity. Cost a little more to shoot, just the way I've always tried to load.

Yeah it is horrible trying to find hodgdon right now. I don't panic buy, but it landed perfect where I'm down to my last powder of varget. That was exciting to find..

I bet you are right about over spinning them. I had closer to 300k in my head thinking a '250 and 90s.

 

[mcfred]

The bulk does matter. For example my experience with Superformance is that it likes to be run at full pressure with high load density. Many of the loads suggested on Hoddon's site (for other cartridges) are very full or compressed loads running max pressure. Otherwise it burns dirty and with high ES. With the WSSM 42gr of Super's at the pressure limit with the 88s and only about 80% load density.

I'd be fine running a lot of powder if it wasn't $200 a jug and hard to find/rationed. 46gr of Retumbo/H1000/Re26 only nets 1200 rounds a jug. If I'm lucky there isn't a 1-to-1 ratio between 8lb powder and a new barrel.

Lighter powder charges are also better for lower recoil. It's pretty poor etiquette to run a brake in the circles I shoot where the extra gas energy could be used to reduce recoil.

 

[Steel head]

I’m really curious as to Barrel life.
I’ve always wanted to play around with the 22 and 243 WSSM with the same idea.
Maximize case fill and use a slow powder with heavies and reasonable speeds.

If H4350 is working then R16 and IMR4451 might be really interesting.

 

[Dobbs02si]

I feel like 12-1500rd would be acceptable barrel life considering it would hold the same charge of h1k(46.7gr) as my 243. I've yet to shoot one out but 1800rd seems to come up quite a bit with a 243 and 105s.

If I remember correctly 44-45gr of h1k was a good load for north of 3k with 90s, but don't quote me on that...

 

[Juma]

We use ours as a hunting rifle in NZ. 62gr TSX Barnes with 44gr 2209 aka 4350.Love the speed.

 

[mcfred]

Had a chance to put some things over a chrony just one shot per charge over an Oehler 35P, but conditions were not suitable to try for groups in earnest.
60sF˚, sunny, windy/gusty.

H4831sc
88ELD-M, Rem 9.5 2.410"OAL, neck sized.
38.0gr 2928
39.0gr 3012
40.0gr 3056 primers flattening somewhat, but ejection fine.

WXR (I have a lot of it)
88ELD-M, Rem 9.5 2.410"OAL, neck sized.
38.0gr 2930
39.0gr 2981
40.0gr 3030

WC860 (I have a lot of it)
88ELD-M, annealed Rem 9.5 2.410"OAL
48.0gr 2750
49.0gr 2792
50.0gr 2840
51.0gr 2860
52.0gr 2918
53.0gr 3003 light compression, primers still rounded. Slight bore trash.
EVERYTHING with WC860 was sub MOA at 200yds even in the wind. Running a throater in a ways might get you another 50fps.

This barrel has about 120 rounds through it so far and the throat doesn't look too bad yet, so we'll find out how long it will hold up, then I'll see how much more I can get by setting it back about 4-5". Before I rechamber it I might have Manson reduce the neck diameter on the reamer. SAAMI's neck is spec-ed at .275" and loaded rounds are about .265".

 

[mcfred]

It's been a while, but the barrel's up to 250 rounds and the throat does not look too much different than it did after 70 rounds.

Last week, I threw together a quick fireforming load using Nosler 77 Custom Comeptitons and H414. They ran about .7 MOA at 200 yards. There were some vertical stringing at longer ranges, and wind would blow them around a lot, but for a fireforming load it was fine.

37gr of H414:
2.285" OAL (.005" off the lands)
3059fps 10 shot AVG
12 SD
41 ES

Homebrew induction annealing op:

Neck turning op:

After forming, I resized the brass and turned the necks to ø.265" on a .224" mandrel, then annealed them, and loaded some up at 37gr of H4350 with Hornady 88 ELDs and compared them to my original set of 50 brass over a chrony. They were about 24fps slower, I suspect this is due to differences in neck tension after being treated slightly differently for neck-turning before bullets were seated. To bump the velocity back up I added a quarter grain and compared them on steel at 525 yards.

5 rounds of the original set of 50 on the right, adjusted windage .4 mil left, and shot 5 more with the new lot of brass.
Cold bore shot is the high, right-of-center shot.

 

[mcfred]

I'm just updating the thread here. Round count's up to 355 and the throat doesn't look bad. Some fire cracking, but nothing too concerning yet. Now all the brass have been re-processed in the same fashion so the next 100 rounds should be uniform. The other day I installed some HD flushcups in this laminate stock, and today I took my 16lb rifle for a test-drive: 4.5 mile hike to a deserted mine wtih a convenient ridge to shoot from 1100yards away.

Every once in a while I try for groups to confirm it's still behaving like I think it should.
Here's another group at 525 yards, seems consistent so far (.59MOA)

And here's 965 yards (.75MOA). Target's roughly 15" x 19"

965yd shooting position:

Had a great weekend outdoors.

 

[Smp2500]

Very interesting write up. Just picked up a pair of 223 wssm‘s for me and my son to dink around with. One is going to need a barrel the other is brand new. Was looking at an 8 twist so I could run a heavier round and this is perfect information for me. Please keep the info coming!

 

[mcfred]

Sounds fun! The Super Short Magnum's unpopularity can score you some deals on older rifles.

If your new .223 factory rifle is to SAAMI spec, it should have a 1:10 twist, and at your elevation you might be able to run the 70gr class of projectiles designed for short AR-15 mag lengths. 69SMK, 70VLD, 70RDF, maybe the longer 69TMK 73ELD too. Load data is available for those projectiles, and they will really move at max pressures!

For the rifle you want to re-barrel, If you want to push the pressures with full-cases with a tight twist, you might spec a barrel with 5R rifling and a looser .219" bore as it might be gentler on the jackets over time.

I would like to hear how it turns out for you.

 

[mcfred]

Since my accuracy requirements are met, I'm gearing up to shoot this at the local steel matches. There's no penalty for heavy rifles, so I figured I'd try to fatten up this gun in a way I can undo. After some measurements, a pine 2x4, a 3/4" endmill, and a propane burner, I cast a removable lead weight that fits in the barrel channel. The weight's attached by the bipod rail fasteners. This added 670g without affecting balance too much. This adds about 6.5% to the weight.

Yesterday, I threaded the muzzle for a brake for good measure. Celebrated a job-well-done with a New Year's pint. This portly rifle won't have much recoil.

 

[Sniperwannabee]

Beautiful scenery

 

[mcfred]

Beats Kansas.

 

[mcfred]

Recently I shot this at the local LR steel match and it did alright, better than me at least. The wind screwed me, but it ran fine. I got coldbore 3/3 hits at 500 first thing in the morning followed by 2/3 at 910yds and 2/3 hits at 1195yds in switchy left/right winds. Alpha Industries 10-round magazines ran without a hiccup. Everything got filled with sand/dust.

Today I took everything apart and cleaned it. Removed the scope, pulled the barreled action from the stock, removed the trigger and factory bolt stop (to debrurr it), ran some Wipeout and patches through it, then put it all back together. I also re-processed all the brass and loaded up a few 90 SMKs and put them on 100yd paper/over the chrony out of curiosity. Same load as the 88 ELDs just .005" off where the lands used to be (~2.385" OAL, 37gr H4350). They're slow at 2860fps, but they show a lot of promise:

On top are six 90 SMKs.
The 3 on the bottom are foulers for the clean bore, the high one is the cold/clean bore. The other two 88 ELDs settle in line afterward.

Overall round count now is about 470 rounds. The throat has certainly seen better days, but velocity and accuracy are still good. Some fire cracking; nothing dramatic. There's general errosion of everything in the first 1/4" where the lands/leade are less well-defined. There's a marked color change at about 10" of bullet travel where it all cleans up looks pretty much virgin bore.

 

[MOE71]

Wow Great info!
I have just finished building a 223 wssm with a 6.5 twist. I will be running a OAL of 2.43”. Any recommendations for loading 90 SMK with 4350? I also have imr 4895, 4064, 4831, and R15. Any advice would be appreciated

 

[accurate_okie]

SInce the WSSM's not very popular there's a general lack of load data especially for projectiles heavier than 70gr, so out of curiosity I put a 26" 1:8 barrel on a .223 WSSM to drive heavy .224s for my local steel matches. I already had everything but a reamer and I chamber my own barrels so it's an easy experiment. I figured I'd see what happens when you run a little more powder at a lower pressure instead of a pinch of powder at high pressure (.22BR, .22-250AI, .22 C'moor). Maybe the throat'll last longer than the cartridge has a reputation for. Since I own the reamer and a bore scope I can monitor erosion/fire cracking over time.

The local steel matches (~550yd average shot distance and >4500' elevation) limit velocities to 3200fps to prevent damage to their steel, so I was looking for the sweet-spot that will give me competitive ballistics/accuracy, low recoil and decent(?) barrel life.

I'm not really interested in the max velocity, but I've bumped into the pressure limits on a few powders since there's virtually no load data published for heavy .224s in the WSSM. Quickload seems to underestimate pressure badly and many predicted starting loads were already over pressure and/or past 3200fps. As usual YMMV, but here's what I got, which is more than there was:

88 Hornady ELD-M (.5MOA@200; .8MOA@965) Low pressure, lots of room to go faster.
37gr H4350
3072 avg

88ELD
40gr Superformance (high ES, poor case fill and 1.25 MOA accuracy)
3045 avg

88ELD
46gr Retumbo
3129 avg

-----------------------

85 Nosler RDF (.6MOA@200)
46gr Retumbo
3173 avg

85 Nosler RDF
43.25gr Reloder 26
3156 avg

-----------------------

90 Sierra Match King
42gr Superformance ((Too hot, hard bolt lift, ejector swipe) inconsistent neck tension, high ES, poor accuracy)
3102 avg

90SMK
43.25gr Reloder 26
3148 avg

Brass was processed to include turning necks (for clean-up only), PP uniforming, annealing and weight sorting. I've only used Remington 9.5 primers since I have a lot of them. I've been working on getting consistent next tension with some Redding Bushing dies. Thick necks and non-VLD seating stems are putting a little ring in the projectiles' ogives. I'm still ironing that out. Hopefully, the throat lasts long enough I can collect more data with other powders, but if I find a combo that works (88ELDs and H4350 are promising) I might stick with that until the barrel's toast.

I also have data for the 95SMK in a tight-bore Krieger 30" 1:7 twist, but it the 95SMKs routinely don't make it to the target (340,000rpm), so the data's not very useful.

I am looking at doing a 243 WSSM with 115gr and you make it look promising. what mags are using and have you had any problems with the rounds moving around in the mag?