223 barrel recommendation

[SVT_Tactical]

I have one of Brad's barrels in 223, no neck turn chamber. It's a Lazer! I'ma about to start playing with berger heavies. Shooting factory lapua loaded ammo now and it's printing sub moa at 300 with ease. Can't wait to load for it and see full potential.

 

[Dave Zander]

At 300 yards that 80.5 Berger is pretty awesome out of my 28" 7 twist Krieger Heavy varmint ss barrel.
That's on a Kelbly Blackbear action in .223. When I go beyond 300 and out to 1000 i've been using the 85.5's. This year I'll be on a straight 1.250" 28" 6.5 twist which I have some reservations about the twist but it was what was available at the time. I'll probably try some 90's this year also. I have not used the 8 twist in the 223 so I can't comment on that. I wasn't the least disappointed with the 7 twist this past year.

 

[rebs]

I have one of Brad's barrels in 223, no neck turn chamber. It's a Lazer! I'ma about to start playing with berger heavies. Shooting factory lapua loaded ammo now and it's printing sub moa at 300 with ease. Can't wait to load for it and see full potential.

let me know if you can get 1" at 300. That would be 1/3 MOA

 

[rebs]

what is the lead time on an urbanrifleman barrel and is there any accuracy guarantee

 

[K9TXS]

I sell the Tikka nut barrels. People like them. I would suggest the 7 twist ISSF.

What Brad says. He makes great barrels.

 

[okie]

For years years I suggested Criterion barrels as we had excellent success with them. When it was time to replace, three of my friends could not get the new ones to perform for about a year now. This summer my bud bought a replacement from Urban in two weeks and it instantly shot well, using the same 80.5. Call him for the specs.

I have heard nothing but good about them!

 

[whatsupdoc]

Find a reamer with with a .090-ish freebore and 7.5 twist on that barrel and you will be good to go.

 

[SVT_Tactical]

let me know if you can get 1" at 300. That would be 1/3 MOA

I have little doubts that the barrel can't achieve that.

 

[urbanrifleman]

Customer review shooting Berger 80.5.
View attachment 1497151View attachment 1497152

That is 1.59" at 500. That is .318 MOA.

So, yes.

 

[urbanrifleman]

getting back to my original question, for shooting Berger 80.5 full bore bullets in 300 yd matches what twist, chamber and barrel length ?

I thought multiple people had answered the question.

When you ask such an open ended question, you are going to get multiple opinions that do not necessarily agree.

Shooting a Wylde chamber really makes no sense unless you are shooting a gas gun from the mag. The bullet is shoved WAY DOWN in the case, which really reduces the case capacity (60 thou freebore). The 5.56 and the various match AR chambers are based on the AR15. When we shoot a bolt gun there is no need to use a such a crazy short freebore. The 223 ISSF has 169 thou freebore. If you are going to shoot 80s use the entire case and get above the donut. It will be more forgiving and consistent from my experience.

Either 7 or 8 twist will work. I would suggest a 7 twist. But an 8 twist will work just as well.

I doubt anything longer than 26 inches will make any performance improvement.

 

[mtncwru]

1. ISSF CHAMBER
2. 8TW - 7TW
3. .875 - 1.25" BARREL DIAMETER
4. 26" - 30" BARREL LENGTH
85 BERGER SHOOTS GOOD OUT OF THIS CHAMBER 7TW BARREL AND SO DOES THE 80.5 FULLBORE.
SHOULDERED OR NUT IS YOUR PREFERENCE.

I second all that, with one addendum: I'd go 7 twist over 8: that'll shoot the 80.5's great, and still let you go heavier if you find a need.

I have a 30" 1:7 with an ISSF chamber, and it lofts the 80.5's out to 1000 with velocity to spare. If you're definitely not going to shoot past 600 yards (and don't need the iron sight radius) you can get away with a 26" no problem.

 

[linebaugh]

I dont know what freebore that bullet takes. If you have bullets and brass seat the bullet just out of the doughnut with the boattail juncture and set freebore accordingly. Try to make use of full case capacity with whichever reamer you use. I personally would worry less about the 223 variant of reamers and more about proper loaded round fit.

I would be hard pressed to put all my eggs in a one bullet basket because you just never know what might or might not shoot. If your 80.5s dont shoot whats the backup plan. Not saying they wont because we all start with the same idea but sometimes those best plans get derailed by reality.

I would stay 26-30" length and me personally it would be 28-30. Free velocity.

Twist rate would be 7.5-8. After blowing up a lot of bullets I would be pushing toward the 8 twist if its stable.
If you only or primarily want to shoot 300 yards dont worry about what the gun shoots at 100. Tune everything to 300. 1" at 300 does not seem unrealistic if conditions are good. I know I talked about trying to get max velocity with bbl and case capacity but I sure wouldn't worry much about anything but the paper. Having the ability to go all the way up on velocity just gives more room to find that sweet spot if it's needed.

 

[urbanrifleman]

I've made a lot of 7 twist barrels and I've never once had a report of a blown up bullet.

That being said, the 8 twist will be at 2950 or so, and that would be plenty of twist for that bullet.

I honestly haven't seen a bullet shoot smaller groups than that one.

 

[Dave Zander]

On another note shooting a 1” group assuming you’re talking 5 shots at 300 yards is hard to do and would take a pretty exceptional shooter and system with a 223.

 

[rebs]

On another note shooting a 1” group assuming you’re talking 5 shots at 300 yards is hard to do and would take a pretty exceptional shooter and system with a 223.

I have done it regularly with my Tikka Varmint in 223

 

[Big_Daddy]

let me know if you can get 1" at 300. That would be 1/3 MOA

I have shot multiple 5 and 10 shot groups that were sub 1/4 MOA at 500 yards with Brad's barrel with 80.5 Bergers.

Here is a 6.5 CM group shot at 500 yards with one of Brad's barrel.
His barrel work is exceptional.
.07 MOA equals roughly .35 inches.

 

[DLT]

what is the lead time on an urbanrifleman barrel and is there any accuracy guarantee

It took 2 weeks is all on mine order

 

[Dgd6mm]

I have done it regularly with my Tikka Varmint in 223

I think you need another one of those barrels.

 

[rebs]

will the 7 twist shoot 69 GR SMK's ? only asking because I have a boat load of them

 

[urbanrifleman]

will the 7 twist shoot 69 GR SMK's ? only asking because I have a boat load of them

Yes.