.223 Heavies

[urbanrifleman]

It probably was a little. Mostly I think it was just a cold, clean bore. Probably a bit of oil in it as well (it has been sitting for over a month). Or the rifle settling in the rear bag. Not unusual for me.

I'm sure there is a screamer group in your future. Do not be afraid to jam those 88s as much as us comfortable

 

[charlie b]

Thanks. I have had quite a few screamers. Just not repeatable. I have to admit I was used to the 73 Bergers and ELD's in the old 9twist barrel. It seemed like it took effort to make them shoot bad.

The 88's I tried jam, jump, lots of jump, lots of jam. Higher vel node, even a low vel one. Just could not get down below 1/2MOA on a regular basis. One of these days will try again.

I'll just keep on with these until I get bored I do need to work on my wind skills, which is why I set this one up. And see if I can manage a bipod.

 

[CF Junkie]

In my 1:7 twist barrel, the Berger VLD, Hornady ELD-M and Sierra SMK 80 grs all shot about the same and averaged 0.210. The only 80 gr bullets that shot badly are the Nosler CCs. They shot just over 0.250, It might have been me, but only one of 4 groups was under 0.250, so I don't think so.

The 80s, even counting the Nosler groups, still shot the best average of 11 different bullet weights at 0.212.
The 73s were a close second at 0.213.
The 90s were third at 0.216.
85.5s were fourth at 217.
77s were 5th at 0.218.
88s were 6th at 0.219.
The top 6 bullet weights all averaged under 0.220, when including all of my 'less than stellar groups' that show off my 'shooter induced variations'.

According to Shilen, my VLD chamber is optimized to shoot 73 to 80.5 gr bullets.
It seems it does pretty well with 85.5s 88s and 90s also.

 

[urbanrifleman]

In my 1:7 twist barrel, the Berger VLD, Hornady ELD-M and Sierra SMK 80 grs all shot about the same and averaged 0.210. The only 80 gr bullets that shot badly are the Nosler CCs. They shot just over 0.250, It might have been me, but only one of 4 groups was under 0.250, so I don't think so.

The 80s, even counting the Nosler groups, still shot the best average of 11 different bullet weights at 0.212.
The 73s were a close second at 0.213.
The 90s were third at 0.216.
85.5s were fourth at 217.
77s were 5th at 0.218.
88s were 6th at 0.219.
The top 6 bullet weights all averaged under 0.220, when including all of my 'less than stellar groups' that show off my 'shooter induced variations'.

According to Shilen, my VLD chamber is optimized to shoot 73 to 80.5 gr bullets.
It seems it does pretty well with 85.5s 88s and 90s also.

You are ranking measuring groups in the thousandths. That's interesting. From first to last was .008". That's 1/128 of an inch. You couldn't even see that on a tape measure.

I'm not sure I have the capacity to measure groups that well. At least with the target paper I use.

 

[CF Junkie]

I use targets that I print myself on 8 1/2 x 11 inch 80 lb paper.
I also use On Target software to measure my groups.
It provides groups size results in thousandths.

My best group ever was 5-rounds in 0.021 inches. My all time best group with my .223 Savage 12 FV with new Shilen Select Match 416R SS 1:7 twist barrel shooting 80 gr ELD-Ms using a Leupold 45X Competition scope. My aim point was the bottom of the vertical line just to the right of the POI. I like my POI not to destroy my aim point.
It only took me 14,000 5-round groups to manage to shoot a group that small. It probably was as much of an anomaly as some of my over .250 inch groups.