New .224 Matchking...

[mike mccormick]

I changed my mind.

I don't like the idea of less than 1,000 accurate rounds out of a barrel.

Or 300.....

 

[Ned Ludd]

Jeremy! stop it, your confusing me. Does that make me crazy?

He's very good at that.

 

[Jdne5b]

Regarding the .223, after going through three 7-twist barrels, I am convinced the whole "the .223 can be competitive" thing is a lie perpetuated by veteran 308 shooters, with the sole purpose of hazing anyone brave/silly enough to think it possible.

I wish you good luck with it; I *really* wanted it to be competitive at MR distances, but I just couldn't make it happen. I half-way want to try a different reamer; something a little longer than .169.

I've shot a whole bunch more cleans with a .308 than a 223, there always seems to be at least one shot that's waaaay off with a 223. I've got one 223 in use and one more blank. It pretty much only gets used for fun. Serious matches are .308 until I rid myself of those match killers with the 223. You just simply can't afford to throw away silly points in FTR anymore.

 

[Laurie]

there always seems to be at least one shot that's waaaay off with a 223.

Sadly, that's all too true IME. Back when I shot 223 competitively at national level (and was the only UK 'Effer' to do so) you could just about lose a point on other than a bad wind call and get away with it. But that was 2010-12, and those days are long, long gone.

I still love the little cartridge though and have kept a 223 F rifle which will be brought back into short range use later this year if and when Covid restrictions are eased here.

 

[1911mag]

Shooting a 223 in TR is like shooting a 338 in open. Only crazy people do it.

Lol
Yep only us crazy people

 

[davidjoe]

Sadly, that's all too true IME. Back when I shot 223 competitively at national level (and was the only UK 'Effer' to do so) you could just about lose a point on other than a bad wind call and get away with it. But that was 2010-12, and those days are long, long gone.

I still love the little cartridge though and have kept a 223 F rifle which will be brought back into short range use later this year if and when Covid restrictions are eased here.

I had seen those flyers as well in several heavy 7 twists with 90’s. Because 80’s shot so well, (same brass, primers, scales and all) and because we commonly read that a 7 twist may or may not work with 90’s, I always have wondered whether my flyers were inherent with the .223 and heavies, or were the result of marginal twist, where a slightly irregular bullet, or odd condition in the air it passed through broke marginal stability, similar to how most ELDMs in my saums survived to the target but a few could not, apparently randomly. The true 6.5 twist Krieger encouraged me as a hopeful flyer solution. More heavies on the market also encouraged me as the segment received attention. And there was also a guy that used them at our range who never had flyers, though he concealed his bullets from eyesight zealously.

 

[Jdne5b]

The fliers didn't go away in a twist faster than 6.5. It flies in the face of what everyone thinks shooting 223 is like, but it seems to be that it's MORE sensitive to gun handling. I haven't narrowed it down to cheek or shoulder yet.. but I'm going to try. I've gone to taking the cheek piece off the 223, which helped and finally shot 2 or 3 single relay cleans this past year.

We have several what I would call "223" ranges in the mid west. Summer brings light winds, typically tail winds at these ranges. Should be easy... But it's not.

 

[Ned Ludd]

The fliers didn't go away in a twist faster than 6.5. It flies in the face of what everyone thinks shooting 223 is like, but it seems to be that it's MORE sensitive to gun handling. I haven't narrowed it down to cheek or shoulder yet.. but I'm going to try. I've gone to taking the cheek piece off the 223, which helped and finally shot 2 or 3 single relay cleans this past year.

We have several what I would call "223" ranges in the mid west. Summer brings light winds, typically tail winds at these ranges. Should be easy... But it's not.

I would recommend that you shoot nothing but 55 gr bullets out of your .223 at every single F-TR match you enter for the next couple or three seasons. If you truly do have a gun handling issue with the heavier .224" bullets, I'm certain that experience would provide you with a solid baseline for comparison. You could then start working on correcting the gun handling issue for the 2025 season with every confidence you had correctly identified the problem.