Range Report MV for M118LR from short barrels - 18-20"?

[ReaperDriver]

Anyone have any good data for muzzle velocities for M118LR out of a shorter barrel rifle like an 18 or 20"? I know that shorter barrel sniper rifles are coming in vogue in the .mil and wondered if any data had been published for the M118LR through these rifles yet.

Or if anyone has chrono'd their own yet out of a shorter barrel?

Thanks.

 

[BHP9]

Re: MV for M118LR from short barrels - 18-20"?

I road tested some M118LR through My 26" barrel and it averaged 2650fps and IIRC (silly me, no notes make)it was about 150fps less from an HS Precision 2000 w/20" barrel.

 

[LongShot94]

Re: MV for M118LR from short barrels - 18-20"?

KAC's Bullet Flight has the M110 getting 2572 fps with it.

 

[ReaperDriver]

Re: MV for M118LR from short barrels - 18-20"?

Cool, thanks guys. That answers one of my questions. I've been in a quest for a good 175SMK Varget Load to get my 20" SPS tac out to 1000 yds accurately. I've been in a quest for speed to keep the bullet well supersonic out at distance and was thinking I needed at least 2600 fps out of my gun to get there. But if the M118LR is coming out in the mid 2500's and get to 1000 yds just fine, I probably don't need to be pushing my handloads quite so hard.

 

[Winny]

Re: MV for M118LR from short barrels - 18-20"?

I've had good success with 175 SMK over 44.5 grn of Varget out of a 19 inch barreled Savage to 1000 yards.

 

[kraigWY]

Re: MV for M118LR from short barrels - 18-20"?

I havent tested the M118LR, but they work in m1 M1A at 1000 yards.

For what its worth, I donated a rifle for my Grandaughters science project. She and her little friend are trying to determing how short you can cut a rifle barrel (308) and still have the recommend KE at 300 yards to humainly hunt deer/elk. She chose the 1800/2000 ft lbs as a guide line. They used the 180 grn Factory coreloc Rem ammo, (since this deals with hunting). Below is their results from cutting a 26" barrel to 16" (stopped there to keep from POing ATF). Now this isnt really a scientific test and means nothing, but take into account we are talking about a couple 13 year old girls.

Like I said, for the what its worth dept.

KE = V sq * w / 450240
Muzzle 300 yards
Barrel Vel Ke Vel KE

26 2826 fps 3,192 2240 2,005
24 2722 fps 2,961 2149 1,846
22 2713 fps 2,942 2141 1,832
20 2677 fps 2,864 2109 1,778
18 2654 fps 2,815 2089 1,744
16 2552 fps 2,603 2000 1,599

 

[acehigh]

Re: MV for M118LR from short barrels - 18-20"?

2675 from 20" Rock 5R.

 

[MitchAlsup]

Re: MV for M118LR from short barrels - 18-20"?

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: kraigWY</div><div class="ubbcode-body">
Barrel Vel Ke Vel KE

26 2826 fps 3,192 2240 2,005
24 2722 fps 2,961 2149 1,846
22 2713 fps 2,942 2141 1,832
20 2677 fps 2,864 2109 1,778
18 2654 fps 2,815 2089 1,744
16 2552 fps 2,603 2000 1,599
</div></div>
I ran a regression program (eXcel) and fit a straight line ot this data set.
The reason to so this was that the 26" barrel was significantly faster than expoected, and the 16" barrel was significantly lower than expected. The output of the regression program is as follows:

26 2805 fps
24 2759 fps
22 2713 fps
20 2667 fps
18 2621 fps
16 2575 fps

This does not question the taken measurements, but merely seeks to proved metrics for the overall dataset. In particular, this dataset shows a consistent 23 fps per inch of barrel. The regression dataset is at the 95.5% accurate level with a 29.7 fps standard deviation.

 

[8up]

Re: MV for M118LR from short barrels - 18-20"?

I have a friend that has a 20" SPS Tac., during this past summer I think he crono'd the M118LR around the mid 2500's.
This is from a factory setup.

 

[DAFAR]

Re: MV for M118LR from short barrels - 18-20"?

Perfect timing on this trhead I was just contemplating this very thing. Thanks guys

 

[Emilio]

Re: MV for M118LR from short barrels - 18-20"?

I got 2550 at 1600 ASL out of my STS Tactical.

 

[Hogstooth]

Re: MV for M118LR from short barrels - 18-20"?

I am at 350' ASL and got 2689fps out of 118LR at 75 deg ES of 38 out of a 22" Bartlein 1/11 twist tight bore results were for a 10 shot string.

 

[ReaperDriver]

Re: MV for M118LR from short barrels - 18-20"?

Thanks for the replies. My accurate 175SMK load with Varget that I'm trying to roughly duplicate the ballistics of the M118LR round is right in the 2550-2570-ish range. So I think I'll quit with the load development and just get back to shootin'.

 

[338LM]

Re: MV for M118LR from short barrels - 18-20"?

GAP AR10 20” Rock 5R barrel, Lake City M118LR, 2630 average

 

[Cegorach]

Re: MV for M118LR from short barrels - 18-20"?

Great thread, it’s all good information that will benefit me in the near future as well. Thanks guys.

 

[ReaperDriver]

Re: MV for M118LR from short barrels - 18-20"?

Thanks all. It just reinforces my observation that chamber dimension has as much or more to do with MV than just barrel length. Notice in this thread that every custom gun had at least 100+ fps more than a factory chamber with the same barrel length. Interesting.....

 

[Kopfjager 4-96]

Re: MV for M118LR from short barrels - 18-20"?

Surgeon Scapel with 20" Krieger Barrel, 1-10 twist, .338 muzzle break. Shooting M118 LR same lot.

+ 2635
- 2602
E 0033
M 2624
S 0013

 

[Rovieairto]

Re: MV for M118LR from short barrels - 18-20"?

I was out just the other day on a chrono with a friend who had 1k M118LR to burn.
We were testing the effect of the neck sealant on accuracy.
Anyhow an 18.5" AR-10 was only seeing about 2425 ft/sec. and a 26"? stock Sako TRG-22 was seeing about 2625 ft/sec.

35 deg F
800 MSL

This load contained 43.5 RL-15 and a 175 SMK.
This was genuine M118LR.

 

[redirt78]

Re: MV for M118LR from short barrels - 18-20"?

Tagging an old one.

 

[Pusher591]

Re: MV for M118LR from short barrels - 18-20"?

2010 headstamp M118LR I got 2620-2630 from a Brux cut at 17.5"

 

[redirt78]

Re: MV for M118LR from short barrels - 18-20"?

I don't have a chrono but trying to get as close of an fps number as I can to use with my Rock barreled 20" P308 and 175 SMK FDAC slide.

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: 338LM</div><div class="ubbcode-body">GAP AR10 20” Rock 5R barrel, Lake City M118LR, 2630 average</div></div>

That ought to help me ^

I really need to get one though.

 

[Kilmore]

MV from a 16 inch suppressed LMT MWS is 2770 fps using a muzzle mounted chrono.

 

[nervous]

G&A built Remington 700 with a M40A1 25" Rock Creek barrel shooting brown box 2010 M118lr 2,760fps measured at 12 feet from the muzzle, 1060' above sea level.

Nervous

 

[Cserv]

Glad I found this. I was gonna ask a similar question, since I just took my Savage 11 from 22 to 18". Factory sporter barrel with a 10 twist should handle 175's nicely.

Eric

 

[Shooter0311]

18 inch LMT 2505 average across 10 shots with magneto verified buy superchronono.
16 inch LMT 2465 "same process as above"

Fwiw, if you can get any mk316; I have found it to be much more consistent in terms of velocity/accuracy.

 

[smithpa68]

I know this is an old thread. But since I was looking for this info... so I thought I would contribute mine today.

Remington 700 SPS 20" 1:10 M118LR bought from Midway last year in loose round package.
MagnetoSpeed Sporter 58 degrees, 82% Humidity, 900feet elevation.

10 shots
Average: 2546fps
Hi: 2546
Lo: 2526
SD: 16
ES: 39

 

[wadebrown]

While working DARPA's OneShot program I shot a lot of M118LR from the XM3 (18.5 inch barrel IIRC) that would not reach a 1,000 yards at sea level supersonically. At a range just west of Perry I would test it at 800 meters and that was the edge of supersonics, I would fire some and all the holes showed supersonic speeds walk back to the line shoot another group and it would oftentimes be keyholed. It has been a while but I seem to remember the muzzle velocity with the XM3 was around 2,550 fps when fed M118LR.

At low altitudes I have found that the muzzle velocity of a 175 g SMK needs to be about 2,650 fps to reach 1,000 yards supersonically, I have had luck with M118LR at low altitudes out of a barrel 24 inches or longer.

 

[Mjolnir23]

2603 ten shot averages with an 18 inch Bartlein 5R with a surefire can at 65° and around 1500 feet elevation. FWIW I usually get a good 30 FPS faster average MV with 175 FGMM. The M118s are either loaded a little lighter, use a slower burning powder or maybe both.

 

[smithpa68]

oops... just noticed a typo in my post.. fixed.. Wasn't able to edit it.. maybe I am too new here or just blind for the edit button.

Remington 700 SPS 20" 1:10 M118LR bought from Midway last year in loose round package.
MagnetoSpeed Sporter 58 degrees, 82% Humidity, 900feet elevation.

10 shots
Average: 2546fps
Hi: 2565
Lo: 2526
SD: 16
ES: 39

 

[308Gunner]

I have an 18” Broughton that will push the 175 at 2585, this is suppressed and I have sent high angle indirect fire out to 1350.

 

[ratton]

2500fps from my XM-3 build with Hart 1-10 twist 18.5" barrel with Blackhills 175 Match Hollow Point at 1900 ASL.

 

[Hogstooth]

20“ M40A6 with 1/10 twist got 2640 FPS