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.223 Heavies

Retired shooter

Retired shooter

Gold $$ Contributor
Any one experimenting the @233. Horndy 90 grain A tips compared to the ELD bullets, for longer range steel shooting. Powder charge Disclaimer of course. Single round feed, no magazine. Bob sled usage.

Thank you to all.

Bill
 
Thank you ! guys
I have done 1761 yards with 6 ARC using 110 A tips , with a AR. Been away most of this year. Thinking about having another upper built to try with a .223.. I know it has been done before, just enjoy the challenge.
 
I’m not using A-Tips. I use the 88ELD and right now I’m using the Berger 85.5 Hybrid. This is 223AI though. I just shot this morning and landed 3/4 MOA in 10 shots at 700 yards with the 85.5’s at 0.015 jump 2.610 COAL Lapua brass 25.1 grains of N540 and CCI 400. It’s running 2860 from a 27 inch 7 twist Excaliber barrel on a 700 action. I’m really trying to tune it to 1/2 MOA but it’s just steady at 3/4 with several different charges from 3000 fps down to this and several seating depth changes. Maybe this is all it’ll do but I’m steady adjusting. My 6 Dashers get 1/2 MOA at 700 yards easy but I guess I’m not satisfied.
 
In my .223 bolt action, with heavier bullets (69 gr to 77 grs) for 5-round groups at 100 yards:
Varget seems to be better in my rifle than anything else by a bit
Varget is first (0.261 for 511 groups).
N540 is second (0.267 for 142 groups),
H4895 is third (0.271 for 51 groups).
IMR4166 is fourth (0.286 for 498 groups).
N140 is fifth (0.289 for 224 groups).
N133 is sixth but only with light, 52 and 53 gr, bullets (0.290 for 98 groups).

They all shoot pretty well, but the large group counts eliminate the small number of "wonder groups" that many use to judge performance. I find that it is more due to shooter induced variations, or lack of them, and can be very misleading for decision making about overall accuracy.
 
This morning I tried some new for me 90 gr Berger VLDs with Varget at 100 yards.
These bullets are really long and pointy - base to tip of 1.240 measured bullet length.
I measured the chamber with these bullets and got a reading of 2.689.
There was 0.722 of the bullet tip not touching the lands.

I loaded today's loads for jumps of 0.006 and 0.026 and the bullet points were out past the outside edge of my AICS mag that will handle 2.525 inch OAL rounds.
I had to single load them in my new Shilen Select Match barrel at 2.683 and 2.663.
The bolt was closing like there was no bullet in the chamber which surprised me because I was a bit concerned that bullets this long were going to have problems chambering.

The 0.006 jump loads averaged 0.182 for 4 5-round groups (0.108, 0.200, 0.201 and 0.218)
The 0.026 jump loads averaged 0.200 for 4 5-round groups (0.187. 0.188, 0.205 and 0.220)
The best group was with a cold barrel after a single sighter to season a freshly cleaned barrel.

I have noticed that as the barrel gets warm, the POI tends to drop a bit and open up groups.

Today, I worked hard on these two loads to try and keep the group sizes consistent by eliminating 'shooter induced variations' but I got caught out by some barrel heating on two of the groups with each load, as you can see.
I had thought that I had waited long enough for the barrel to cool sufficiently between groups, but apparently I was a bit too impatient to see the results after the first 3 groups.
 

Thread '90 VLD Sanity Check'

I have a Panda action rifle that I have recently taken off the .308 barrel and installed a 30" Bartlein 1:7 with what is stamped on the side is 223 FTR chamber. I did not buy this barrel new and do not know what reamer that is.

I want to shoot Berger 90 VLD and measuring to touch I get 2.083" BTO with my tools for that bullet. This puts the shank in the neck and the boat tail just into the top of the shoulder. (It is interesting to me that the 85.5 and the 80.5 have similar BTO and bullet fit in the case.)

Measuring the same bullet in this chamber and in a Kreiger with a Wylde...
  • Like

Thread with some good 90gr .223 data
 
The 90 gr Berger VLD has a relatively short base to ogive length and a very long ogive to tip length.
My bullets measured 1.240 from base to tip.
My Shilen Select Match barrel, with about 1000 rounds of use measured 2.689 to the lands.
The base to ogive measurement was 1.967
There was .298 bullet body exposed between the cartridge lip and the ogive.
That left .217 bullet body in the neck.
I loaded with a jump of 0.006 at 2.683 and the load shot great, with an average of 0.182 for 4 groups at 100 yards.
Sounds like your barrel has a pretty deep chamber, if base to ogive is 2.083.
That is 0.116 longer than my chamber.
You might want to seat it back a bit to keep, at least, .128 bullet body in the neck.
 
I have two ISSF chambered 7 twist--they hammer with 85.5 and Varget but the 80.5 is truly amazing out to 600--have not fired either at 1000
For 600 I am an 80.5 guy and the good news is they seem to shoot great with various brass not just Lapua--I have shot my best groups with PMC brass so far
 
Not knocking the Bergers , however , availability is suffering immensely. Or at least it used to be, have not even looked for them lately.

They may shoot well, however if you can't get them, it don't matter.

To ll a good day.!
 
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