223AI Guidance

It's a good cartridge. My experience is a mirror of Keith's....... 50gr. accuracy/field loads at 3650-3825 depending on powder and bullet. I'm using the 3825 load. Most accurate 55's are in the .3's at about 3650, and the 40's are accurate (ragged hole) anywhere from high 3900's to just shy of 4200. You can compare that to whatever you're used to with the .223. But it's a definite step up.

The barrel is 25" Rem. varmint contour Schneider, 14" twist, brass is the very tough and no longer available IMI. The barrel is braked and a pleasure to shoot. When doing one of these be sure the riflebuilder is well versed in AI cartridges and has a good reamer. Best to just whack the old threads off for a complete new throat and neck. I strongly recommend 0 (zero) freebore, and .250" neck if that'll give you .002-.003" clearance on all your brass. Also don't just automatically trim brass to 'trim to" length, keep it as long as possible. And they talk about .004" crush on a new case......that would be fine if all cases were exactly the same length, but they're not and only .004" will leave you with no crush on some cases. My gun is set with .015" crush and it's not too much, there's very little bolt handle pressure when chambering a round. Fireforming 1000K or so rounds, except for load workup all of them were shot at either a groundsquirrel or prairie dog, along with some 'chucks. They were all going faster than a standard .223 round. Only real downside is that some guns have to be tweaked a bit to feed smoothly. Mine was like that. Remedy was to slightly modify the solid follower, polish the feed ramp, and give the outside face of the bolt front a good polish for the casehead to slide smoothly. Also the outside edge of the chamber - the very back edge - is beveled slightly, looks like about a 45 degree.

 

Yupppp!
No need to worry about feeding with a single shot.
Here is my Cooper 223 ack.

 

AICS style double stack single feed mag system fixes the AI's shoulder angle induced feed issues, if reliable repeater feeding is important. Factory double stack double feed blind mag stuff can be made to work reasonably well with some massaging, but not as well as the single feed mags when installed properly.

 

Price/ Orangeville?

 

Nice rifle Gary,wish I never let that Cooper of mine go in 223AI,at least I kept the 22ppc
Matt

 

My savage predator does not feed smooth but it feeds. Who cares not taking it to war anyway. Once I start shooting dogs I single feed it anyway.

 

My Tikka 595 in 223 shot XTC for a number of years and two barrels. The 595 is such a sweet action that I felt it needed a facelift after putting XTC aside.

I put a Hart 30” 1:8 twist on it in 223AI and use it for a couple of games. First, I ring steel out to 600 very easily, it’s fun and a pretty much no brainer with 69SMK’s. It gets a workout in mid-range F Open, shooting 80.5 Berger’s at 3050 FPS. It’s a tack driver and with just about no recoil to deal with, it’s a ball to shoot out to 600 yards.

In comparison I used to get around 2826 with the 223 configuration in a 26” barrel, the extra 200+ FPS come as a result of the extra 4” of barrel and an extra 2 1/2 grains of powder the AI holds. That node at 3050 works well with the 80.5 Berger’s.

 

Got a buddy who's shooting an 8T 223 AR and I spotted for him when he shot 3 cottontails between 700 and 735 in 7 shots with 2 different bullets 75 A-Max and 77 TMK on a slow coyote stand off the edge of a ravine. Last one flipped into the air and was spectacular to spot for at that range. I do believe his 8T 223 setup beats my 9T 223 AI for longer ranges using the bigger bullets and VLD magazine. If I had an 8T?...

 

Factory 1:9 twist barrel, set back, and AI'd. Load workup with 55 gr VMax and H4895. WORK up YOUR on load in YOUR barrel........every barrel is different.



Bullets ARE coated with HBN!!!!!!



5 3311.1 26.2 h4895 55 gr vmax
6 3363.4 26.4 h4895 55 gr vmax
7 3392.3 26.6 h4895 55 gr vmax
8 3399.6 26.8 h4895 55 gr vmax
9 3437.7 27 h4895 55 gr vmax
10 3423 27.2 h4895 55 gr vmax
11 3463.5 27.4 h4895 55 gr vmax
12 3468.9 27.6 h4895 55 gr vmax
13 3496.4 27.8 h4895 55 gr vmax
14 3520.9 28 h4895 55 gr vmax



Same barrel with 69 gr.

1 3115.2 25 h4895 69 Nos
2 3014.2 25.2 h4895 69 Nos
3 3011.7 25.4 h4895 69 Nos
4 3039 25.6 h4895 69 Nos
5 3076.2 25.8 h4895 69 Nos
6 3117 26 h4895 69 Nos
7 3126.7 26.2 h4895 69 Nos
8 3152.5 26.4 h4895 69 Nos
9 3169.7 26.6 h4895 69 Nos
10 3194.4 26.8 h4895 69 Nos
11 3247.9 27 h4895 69 Nos
12 3254.6 27.2 h4895 69 Nos
13 3279.7 27.4 h4895 69 Nos
14 3295.3 27.6 h4895 69 Nos
15 3346.1 27.8 h4895 69 Nos

 

In my 223AI, the 69 SMK’s are over 3200 FPS using AA2460, measures so sweetly, I can dump right from the powder measure. I could go faster, but don’t feel I need to, accuracy is very good. It is one of my favorite bullets in a 223 or AI from the XTC days, so I’ve got a bunch left

 

I have never owned a 223AI, but have read this post with interest. Just so I'm clear, you can get 100fps with the Ackley version compared to the standard 223? That seems a lot for a 2-3gr increase. I can't see a 223 in any form reaching similar velocities as a 22/250. Happy to be corrected, but that's what I seem to be reading here. Over 4000fps???

 

I wined to my gunsmith years ago about what a pain the brass trimming was. We were shooting a couple of thousand dogs each year then. This was in the late 1980s. He told me to go to Ackley's . I did. Big difference. Very rarely do I have to trim cases. It was worth the change. Plus faster bullets , less drop, yadda yadda ... all were secondary benefits for me to trim less. To me, that is the bane of shooting a lot.
Over 4000 fps -you bet. I am just finishing up my loads with Data 2200 powder -I had over 12 8 pound jugs of that stuff that meters like water.($40.00 PER 8 POUND JUG AT NATCHEZ IN THE 1990'S). 28 gr 2200 gives me 4100 fps which is safe at 100 degrees here in eastern Colorado. My replacement load is 26.5 gr H4198 AT 4000 FPS. I have a Panda in 223 ai that likes 28.5 gr N133 for 4000 fps.
When I shoot out one of my 204 Rugers this year it will become a 223 AI. I have a 22 Kreiger waiting at my smith's shop.
BUT -shooting dogs is more important than what caliber I am using. Some days in the early spring the 22 mag sees a lot of action and I love it too! That's my story and I'm sticking to it !

 

the 223 AI case......is kool.......

Ackley kool........

I've watched my SIL use mine and kill p/dogs out to 700 yds........

 

Shot a couple today due to a slow coyote day, and the 60 TMK at 3500 was explosive even to 250 yds. I was impressed so far though 3 pd's does not an explosive pd bullet make--for sure. Gotta get some more samples to be sure. Sure is accurate out of my 9T Hart though.

 

Ok this is what Im taking away from this thread.Pro's Flatter trajectory can shoot factory 223 rem ammo about as accurately as fireformed ammo (+ can find everywhere) ,almost no case trimming,and also the cool factor.Con, can only think of one and thats feeding,worse case scenario single load.Really like what all I've read and seen on this cartridge and more than likely will go this route if decide to rechamber.