Yet another 223 1:9 twist barrel, with a twist in the question!

[mac86951]

Ok,
Every 223 Thread I've seen lately has been about how heavy of a bullet for the .223. Well guess what, I have experience in that and I have a 1:7 twist running very well, thank you.

I am building a 1:9 twist for 100-200 yards. I want to shoot volume, economically, AND see if I can keep around 1MOA accuracy or better. (think dog-town bullets). My question is shifted back to closer range what bullet/powder works well at 100y for a volume and economical shooting/plinking/varminting session? I'll try the 52-53gr Match and A-Max bullets on my own, but does anyone have a Soft Point, or even a Cannelured bullet that they have had good practice with? 55gr FMJHP w/C isn't out of the running either, but I bet we can do better with a good SPFB bullet. Maybe I'm wrong?

What powders do you like? Skip weights/velocities as I am sure my rifle is nowhere near yours, I just want to see if I'm looking at the right place on the burn-rate chart.

-Mac

 

[Kermit in Va.]

I'm shooting the 55 gr. Varmint Nightmares in my AR and they will shoot 1" or under. at 100 yrds. They shoot as good in a old savage 340 too. Just wish I'd got more when they was there to be had.


Kermit

Oh yeah, 10 X powder in the AR ...

 

[5spd]

I have a .223, 1/9' twist and run 50g vmax, midwayusa dogtowns, varmint nightmares and 50g hornady jsp bullets and shoot many thousands rounds a year into p-dogs with it.
I have put the midway cheapies 50&55g under .500" many times, they may surprise you how accurate they really are.
The above have no issue to 600 yards and 100-400 is just a sneeze.
The hornady 55g jsp w/cann is a fine p-dog steel/bullet to 400 yds, but seems to like to wander a lot and not shoot nearly as tight as the others.
My go to powder is #1-w748, then h335, benchmark, blc2.

 

[mac86951]

Excellent, good to know that I'm not too far out of my mind...

This will be an AR build, and I'll be looking at:
Benchmark,
H322
H335
IMR 8208 XBR
N133
and on the list goes... I'll keep the varget for the 1:7 upper

I've got a ton of Dog-town bullets, and I found some 50gr Blitzkings too...

-Mac

 

[TheOtherZilla]

My AR w/1-9 twist loves 50 Hornadays both Vmax and SP's and TAC, REM 7-1/2. My son's bolt Savage 223 loves 52 Sierra's and H335, REM 7-1/2.

That said, I have sold the AR upper and now an working up loads for my new AA 1-7 twist upper.

 

[Larryh128]

About 25 grs of Benchmark and really any 55 gr bullet should keep 1MOA in a decent barrel.

 

[DennisH]

Interesting

 

[areaone]

Ramshot Xterminator or W748. 50 or 55 gr Hornady SP or SX. Lots of PD are in Valhalla because of this combination. Ver accurate in my 223 AI Bolt gun and 223 AR. Best bullet is the nosler 50 gr varmint Balistic.

 

[Hosted]

When we reload for my buddies ARs we would usually load a 50gr Z-Max bullet and some Ramshot Tac. We could usually get them right at 1 moa. I'd like to get my hands on some surplus wc844 or wc846 powder when prices come back down to see how inexpensive I could get a round that shoots moa.

 

[pdq5oh]

My AR likes 8208 XBR with 53 gr VMaxs the best. 1:9 twist, 18" barrel.

 

[mac86951]

Ramshot Xterminator or W748. 50 or 55 gr Hornady SP or SX. Lots of PD are in Valhalla because of this combination. Ver accurate in my 223 AI Bolt gun and 223 AR. Best bullet is the nosler 50 gr varmint Balistic.

Ramshot Xterminator and W748 sounds like powders I'll need to look for, TAC as well. Several recommendations is a good thing. The 50gr Nosler Balistic Tip bullets are 1-holers for the 222 as well, so I'll be keeping them aside.

Thanks for all of the inputs everyone, I'll use up some of my 1lbrs on the dog-towns and see how my DPMS 16" barrel works...

-Mac

 

[Pyscodog]

Seems odd no mention of CFE 223. Works very well in my 223 and my 223AI. Soon I'm going to give it a try in my 22-250AI.

 

[dabibbee]

For an all around load for almost any rifle, 25 grains of Varget, 55 grain FMJ, 2.260 OAL gets it done. My rifle shoots R10X & Benchmark to as good as .25"MOA with ballistic tip style bullets at 100 yards.

Dave

 

[fredhorace77]

tag

 

[langenc]

Have some 55 gr Dogtowns.

I seem to have a chambering problem. Cleanned it up 2x..

Do I need a small base die?? If not whats next to try?

 

[Beau]

Try sizing the cases down until they will cycle by hand freely in your rifle. Empty cases, of course.

 

[mac86951]

Ok, sorry for the delay for those who tagged in. Buttstock is on order, will be here in a week, which means time to LOAD!!!

I can do some initial testing with my other lower assy, which will prove better for accuracy anyway (good 2-stage trigger vs. polished mil-spec).

Bullet choice to start: Dogtown 55gr (softpoint flat base), Powder will be Benchmark, COL 2.200" I'll start with a pressure test, but I see no point in ladder testing since first, Its a new barrel, second I don't plan on shooting past 300y. I'll do a shortened group test at 100y, where I look for group size to shrink then expand and pick a process window in there. I plan on 3-gun, so 1MOA is fine, but I'll go through the tuning to make sure I don't miss anything.

Benchmark from 24-25.6 will be fine, and I do have a 5.56 chamber, so bullet jump is horrendous (better measured in % of feet than mils).
This leaves enough for 5-shot groups with some sighters/foulers. I'll clean the barrel between each group.

-Mac

 

[fkimble@charter.net]

langenc, can you explain a little more. Could be as simple as bullet seated out to far, hitting the rifling or case not sized enough. Also check and make sure your seating die is not turned down causing it to hit the end of the case, this will cause a slight to very noticable bulge where the case wall meets the shoulder. Does the case chamber before a bullet is seated? Check these and get back to us.

 

[mac86951]

Ok, for my current load, I found that Midway Dogtown loaded to 2.200" COL with 24.8-25.2gr of Benchmark to shoot very well. Time for some plinking!

Next load will be MidSouth Varmint Grenade, I picked up 500 of those

-Mac

 

[delv7915]

I know you said not to list this but I am still going to. I love this load for my R700 sps tactical. I use 20.8gr of H322 and Hornady 55gr spsx with CCI small rifle primers. .010 of the lands and this thing will dime all day long. My round count is just over 2K and still rock solid. Hope this helps. Also check out the 50gr SPSX by Hornady. You cant go wrong.