Anyone shooting these? Looks like they were released in the latter half of 2018. I'm contemplating loading some up for my 22-250 but it has a 14 twist barrel so I'm not 100% sure they will stabilize. Anyone have any that they could take a measurement of the entire bullet and then a measurement of just the plastic tip for me? Or have any of you guys run these through a 14 twist 22-250? Thanks!
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Sierra #7160 .224 60g TMK
- Thread starter UpNorthAndy
- Start date
For anyone who's wondering, they are .897 overall length, with .147 of that being a plastic tip and require a 10 twist barrel to stabilize properly. Looks like they will be a no go in my 22-250. I have a 10 twist .223 bolt gun that I will try to get them to shoot in...
Just ordered some of these as well. Going to see what happens in a 1-9 twist bolt. Have you thought about powders you are going to try? I was thinking Varget, H335, and maybe some Benchmark. So little info about these, I have a bad feeling they'll do great for me and find out Sierra drops them a week later.
I know they do really well out of 1-8" twist .223 bolt gun over 25.6 grains of Varget. I really expected to need a hotter load to get good grouping, but starting low and working up, I got 0.471" group at 100 yds with 25.6 grains. Hodgdon had max at 27.0.
I will most likely run benchmark. I load all of my current .223 loads with benchmark. I like the way benchmark meters in my Hornady LNL AP when I load my 77tmk loads that my AR loves. I do load my 22-250 rounds with varget and feel it's a good powder. It just doesn't meter very well so I dispense one at a time on my Hornady auto powder measure. I'll be sure to put up pics and I for when I get around to developing a load for these bullets.
I haven't had a chance to work up anything on these yet. I'm hoping I may be able to make some up for my .223 bolt gun these next days off.
I have 350 on my bench I need to load as well. Going to try Varget and Benchmark I think.
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Also, if anyone is interested, I checked out Sierra's online reloading manual which lists data for the 60 TMK. Powders I wrote down that they had listed:
60 gr Sierra TMK - 2.270" COAL, 24" 1-12/1-8
Varget - Min: 20.1 (2540 fps) - Max: 24.1 (3010 fps)
Benchmark - Min: 20.0 (2680 fps) - Max: 23.0 (3000 fps)
CFE 223 - Min: 22.0 (2650 fps) - Max: 26.4 (3130 fps)
Their numbers seem very tame. Hodgdon lists, albeit for the 60 Vmax, a Varget starting load at 25 gr (2924 fps) and max load at 27 gr (3159 fps). And that's with a COAL of 2.250" instead of Sierra's tested at 2.270". I understand there are some bullet differences between the two, but having a starting charge 1 gr over the listed max for the other seems crazy to me. I'll probably go somewhere in the middle of them to start and check for pressure on the high end.
If anyone has some luck be sure and let us know what's working for you.
60 gr Sierra TMK - 2.270" COAL, 24" 1-12/1-8
Varget - Min: 20.1 (2540 fps) - Max: 24.1 (3010 fps)
Benchmark - Min: 20.0 (2680 fps) - Max: 23.0 (3000 fps)
CFE 223 - Min: 22.0 (2650 fps) - Max: 26.4 (3130 fps)
Their numbers seem very tame. Hodgdon lists, albeit for the 60 Vmax, a Varget starting load at 25 gr (2924 fps) and max load at 27 gr (3159 fps). And that's with a COAL of 2.250" instead of Sierra's tested at 2.270". I understand there are some bullet differences between the two, but having a starting charge 1 gr over the listed max for the other seems crazy to me. I'll probably go somewhere in the middle of them to start and check for pressure on the high end.
If anyone has some luck be sure and let us know what's working for you.
Benchmark or Imr 8208 xbr should work very well and drop from a powder measure. I have 500 on the way to try. Price on the 60 tmk was 17 cents and the 69 tmk was 25 cents. I doubt the prairie dogs will know the difference.
Anyone get around to trying these yet? Just loaded up a few last night. Decided to go with Benchmark and followed Hodgdon 60 gr VMax data as opposed to the Sierra numbers I listed above. I'm loading them pretty long at 2.350" so I should have some wiggle room with pressure.
Benchmark, 1.750 LC Brass, CCI 400, Rem 700 1-9, and 2.350" OAL/1.920" BTO at 0.010" off the lands.
23.6, 23.9, 24.2, 24.5, 24.8, 25.0
Hope to get around to trying them in the next week or two. Hoping someone might be having some luck with them already.
* PS - these are some of the sexiest 224 bullets I've seen. I don't care if they shoot worth a shit, going to keep some around for sure.
Benchmark, 1.750 LC Brass, CCI 400, Rem 700 1-9, and 2.350" OAL/1.920" BTO at 0.010" off the lands.
23.6, 23.9, 24.2, 24.5, 24.8, 25.0
Hope to get around to trying them in the next week or two. Hoping someone might be having some luck with them already.
* PS - these are some of the sexiest 224 bullets I've seen. I don't care if they shoot worth a shit, going to keep some around for sure.
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Just stumbled across this. How did they end up shooting??? Sadly i sold all my 224 barrels so i dont get to play with these anymore.
I haven't had time to work up any loads yet. HOping to one of these days. Too many irons in the fire! Deer season is coming up in a couple weeks and I have a bit of development to do before then for my 6.5 so maybe while I'm in the swing of things I can get something worked up with these as well. I'll be sure to post results!
Running them in an 8tw 16" ar with 25.3gn of H4895. Doing quite well, now I just need to thump some critters with them to see how they perform.
I'm running them in my Cooper 1in 8 twist 22-250. They shoot great with 33 grains of Varget!
I am new to reloading, (maybe a year or so) and I want to double check my load data with you guys.
Sierra .22 cal 60gr TMK
Benchmark starting load at 22.5gr
CCI 400 primers.
C.O.L. 2.260
Does this sound like it will be a safe starting point?
Thanks,
Sierra .22 cal 60gr TMK
Benchmark starting load at 22.5gr
CCI 400 primers.
C.O.L. 2.260
Does this sound like it will be a safe starting point?
Thanks,
That looks fine for a starting point. Sierra's max is 23.0 and I believe that is very conservative. You could also play around with seating depth (if in a bolt gun) and not worry about going well over that. I'd say go with your 22.5 for a starting point and go up to 24 gr or so watching for pressure signs.
I never got around to using the 60TMKs, I wanted to use them for my 223AI fire forming loads but decided on another option for that and ended up pulling all I had loaded. I'll get around to using them in the AI soon I hope.
Thank you for your response. I am still a little gun shy on jumping into a new load. I really appreciate the info!
I just bought a 223 wylde upper 18" 1/9 twist. Would these 60gr tmks work in this or would it need to be a 1/8?
I expect they would shoot well in your 1-9 twist.
You should be able to go heavier even. I shot the 69 SMKs in my 1-9 barrels.
My shooting partner tried the 60 gr TMKs in a 12 twist 223 Rem. Best he could achieve is 1.5” group at 100 meters. He seems to be able to get 60gr Vmax to shoot though.
Ive never tried the 60 smk tipped but the standard 60 grain sierra hollow point and the 60 grain vmax both like for me in winchester brass 24.5 grains of benchmark out of several barrels. I know this is over max in some books but under in others.
I've got my upper and lower put together tonight. Plan to do some load work up this weekend. I have benchmark, blc2, cfe233 and h322 available for me to try. I have probably 15lbs of h322 but is that something that would be an option for a 60gr bullet?
From the Hodgdon web site.
Case: Winchester
Twist: 1:12"
Primer: Winchester SR, Small Rifle
Barrel Length: 24"
Trim Length: 1.750"
Bullet Weight 60 GR. HDY V-MAX
Hodgdon
H322
.224"
OAL 2.250"
Starting Loads
22.0 gns
2,873 fps
40,300 CUP
Maximum Loads
23.5 gns
3,063 fps
49,800 CUP
Figured I'd bump this. Did some load development with the 60 TMK in my 223 AI. Will need to redo chrono on them as I can't find the data, which was needed anyway as I only used 1 rd every 2-3 increments for a general idea. Trying to get some final loads figured out. No highly noticeable pressure signs on these with my Origin, although I could trick myself into thinking the CCI 450s were just a hair flatter on the final load, can't tell for sure.
Sierra 60gr TMK
Varget
CCI 450s
2-3x Formed LC15 brass
1.960" +/- .002 CBTO
26" 1-8 CBI, 223 AI
Origin Action with Razor Gen2
Shooting off bipod and rear bag
***Edit - found chrono:
27.1 - 3306, 3284
27.4 - 3335, 3326
27.7 - 3357, 3361
28.0 - 3387, 3415
28.3 - 3427, 3432
28.5 - ?
POI seems to be very similar at 27.7-28.3 gr. Should have went in 0.2 gr increments, but maybe next time. I'd like to just redo 27.7 and 28.3 gr and confirm seating depth, but something tells me maybe I should try out 27.8/9 and 28.1/2 to make sure I'm within that node going forward. Obviously, I'd like to be on the faster side, but wanted to see what you all thought. Thanks for any insight.
Sierra 60gr TMK
Varget
CCI 450s
2-3x Formed LC15 brass
1.960" +/- .002 CBTO
26" 1-8 CBI, 223 AI
Origin Action with Razor Gen2
Shooting off bipod and rear bag
***Edit - found chrono:
27.1 - 3306, 3284
27.4 - 3335, 3326
27.7 - 3357, 3361
28.0 - 3387, 3415
28.3 - 3427, 3432
28.5 - ?
POI seems to be very similar at 27.7-28.3 gr. Should have went in 0.2 gr increments, but maybe next time. I'd like to just redo 27.7 and 28.3 gr and confirm seating depth, but something tells me maybe I should try out 27.8/9 and 28.1/2 to make sure I'm within that node going forward. Obviously, I'd like to be on the faster side, but wanted to see what you all thought. Thanks for any insight.
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Midway just had these on sale so I grabbed a box, very cool bullets, for 16c a piece I'm not going to complain. 27.7 and be done with it. Did you get velocity data?
I just dug through my notes and found it. Apparently I did two shots for each, since I don't keep the magnetospeed on for groups.
27.1 - 3306, 3284
27.4 - 3335, 3326
27.7 - 3357, 3361
28.0 - 3387, 3415
28.3 - 3427, 3432
28.5 - ?
I agree with you, no point in going AI if you aren't gonna run it. I don't think there is a node all the way through 27.7 to 28.3, but I bet there is one between 28-28.3-4, the velocities for 28 are half one way or the other, maybe some kind of transition zone, or just a fluke like a weird primer etc, but 27.7 and 28.3 are 60fps apart, do you want that 60fps cause 27.7 looks magical
So I shot these today, might have pulled off one of my smallest groups ever, i also did a 14 round saterlee in .3 gr increments and that group was right at an inch, I'll measure them tomorrow and post em, amazing bullets.
Here is my 15 round saterlee, the top right group were to see if my 1:9 would stabilize horandy 75's
After getting my chrony data I had 5 rounds I loaded up with 23gr of varget, they were slow but that's ok
Awesome bullets. @100y
After getting my chrony data I had 5 rounds I loaded up with 23gr of varget, they were slow but that's ok
Awesome bullets. @100y
Nice groups. Just loaded up some of them for my new 224 Valkyrie upper using CFE223. Hoping for some decent groups with them, not as worried about pushing velocity as anything I can gain over a 223 would be a bonus.
Really looking to try the 60 TMK as a coyote bullet. Have heard a few reports of people using them successfully but info is still pretty sparse on how well they do with pelts.
Really looking to try the 60 TMK as a coyote bullet. Have heard a few reports of people using them successfully but info is still pretty sparse on how well they do with pelts.
Thanks, Legend is they were originally made for the gov/mil and people bought the overruns up so fast and were clamoring for them that they made it a regular product, I think that's bs, but I don't care, .16c on sale and they work this good I'll buy as many as I can get, until I run out of smol rp lol, guess I'll have to get a 22-250 barrel
Hi folks, resurrecting an old thread so please bare with.
Going to load these up for a 22" barrel 1:9 bolt action.
Thinking of using Ramshot X-terminator as seems to meter nicely and can get (relatively) reliably where I am.
Plan is to use this a long range target load and also against the occasional fox.
Any thoughts?
Scrummy
Going to load these up for a 22" barrel 1:9 bolt action.
Thinking of using Ramshot X-terminator as seems to meter nicely and can get (relatively) reliably where I am.
Plan is to use this a long range target load and also against the occasional fox.
Any thoughts?
Scrummy
No experience with X-Terminator but from what I do know you should be pretty good. I wouldn't try a faster powder with them though.
I think the bullet itself would be a great compromise between fox and longer range target. I'm taking them out to 750 yards (longest I have regular access to) easily from my 26" 223 AI.
Let us know how it goes for you. This bullet still doesn't have much talk about it so always looking for how they're doing in the field for others.
Thanks Iowa Geologist.
I'll try and load some up / test them in the next couple of weeks and revert. (Contact of mine bought a bulk pack so is letting me have 100 for a bit of load development). If they shoot my local supplier is going to keep some back from me with his next shipment.
Most of my shooting is with 55gr FMJ and a 22" barrel, hence the preference for a slightly faster powder (I ran Gordon's Reloading Tool with the Ramshot TAC I have and rather more is left unburned than I would like).
Scrummy
Xterminator is my favorite 223 powder. A deadly combo with the 60 tmk. Start at 23 grains and work up most likely settling around 24 grains.
Many thanks.
I'm currently trying X-terminator out with:
55gr FMJBT
55gr Nosler E-Tip
58gr Peregrine VLR4
60gr TMK
(Might also try with 65gr Sierra SBT)
Thanks for the heads up. Interestingly I did an OBT calc and it suggested 24.1gr of X-Term with the 60gr TMK
Scrummy
How did these work out for you? I'm getting ready to start messing with these again and figured I would bring this thread back to life.
Afraid I’ve been a bit slow. Got some lapua cases, CCI 450s and X-Terminator and TAC from Ramshot to try but not got round to it yet
Excellent, Im starting my pressure ladder with tac today, ive got sw precision loaded up already.
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