223 prone rifle
- Thread starter sammo
- Start date
I am going to build a prone rifle in 223 on a rem 40x action and I need some advice on barrel length also twist . there is a thought about shooting 90gr.pills. Any thoughts please let me know . Help will be welcome.
You will need a 7 twist to shoot 90g bullets. With those heavy bullets you will want a long barrel to get as much velocity as possible since a .223 doesnt have much ummph. I actually have a .223 build in progress. I thought about a 7 twist, but decided to go with a Bartlein 8 twist HV contour and finish at 24". Im gonna shoot 77g SMK's and 53g Hornady Vmax's. Dave Kiff at PTG told me a .063" freebore will be perfect for those 2 bullets. The 53g Vmax will seat a little shallow and the 77g SMK will seat a little deep. Talk to Dave when you decide on buying a reamer for your .223. He will know exactly what you will need. What is your plans with the rifle?
NRA Prone with a sling and Iron Sight? Or F-Class prone? distance you intend to shoot, 300 to 600? or 800 to 1000yds?
If your a sling shooter:
NRA prone shooters like a long sight radius so typically you will see 30" barrels on the line. A medium Palma countour seems to work well for most of the folks. So that leads us to your Twist rate question. With a bolt gun and 30" barrel you can get by with a 1:7 real easy and shoot any of the heavy bullets you would like, including the 90's. One thing you will need to think about is the Freebore on your Reamer, so these long bullets dont get shoved way down inthe case taking up valuable powder space of the lil 223.
Maybe Laurie will see this, He has alot fo good info in this area.
RussT
If your a sling shooter:
NRA prone shooters like a long sight radius so typically you will see 30" barrels on the line. A medium Palma countour seems to work well for most of the folks. So that leads us to your Twist rate question. With a bolt gun and 30" barrel you can get by with a 1:7 real easy and shoot any of the heavy bullets you would like, including the 90's. One thing you will need to think about is the Freebore on your Reamer, so these long bullets dont get shoved way down inthe case taking up valuable powder space of the lil 223.
Maybe Laurie will see this, He has alot fo good info in this area.
RussT
stool
for the record i own a 1/7 twist kreiger bbl. i bought it for $75 delivered.
why so cheap ??
it would not stabilize 90 grain bullets.....
i think 1/6.5 maybe for 90's
i have not tried it, but i do like this $75 kreiger bbl....
but then he was shooting bullets..not pills
why so cheap ??
it would not stabilize 90 grain bullets.....
i think 1/6.5 maybe for 90's
i have not tried it, but i do like this $75 kreiger bbl....
but then he was shooting bullets..not pills
stool said:
+1 on the 6.5, some 7s are ok, but then you'll find variances on the market. Some will be a 7.7 sold as a 7 etc... Good manf. should lead you in the right direction, and expect a COL to be near the lands my WOA Wylde chamber is near 2.450" COL. You'll need a good 26"+ to even think of being near 2600fps, which I've read 1000y shooters try to keep above to stay supersonic at that distance. Not how critical that is to everything else, but more velocity is good when all else is working...
-Mac
Turbulent Turtle
F-TR competitor
For 300-600 yards, a 26inch or longer barrel with a 1:7.7 or 1:8 twist shooting 80 grain bullets is the way to go. I've shot F-TR with such a barrel (26inch, 1:7.7) shooting 80JLKs all the way to High Master classification in an AR. I've also shot a lot of F-TR matches at 1000 yards with that setup, but when the wind blows, it gets very difficult. I have since switched to a 308 for LR, but I still shoot my F-TR AR at mid range.
The 77SMKs are about as good as they get IF you have to have mag-length ammo. Otherwise don't bother with anything less than 80gr bullets.
The 77SMKs are about as good as they get IF you have to have mag-length ammo. Otherwise don't bother with anything less than 80gr bullets.
Denny
Why would he need mag length ammo in a 40X solid bottom action? Just wondering what your thought was on that? maybe im missing something.
SAMMO
You havnt answered whether this is Sling or F class.
If your going to shoot 600 and in 90% of the time I would skip the 90's all together. please do some research on 223's in a Palma rifle. I think you will find out its alot of tinkering to keep them shooting well. If you want the easy way and a proven performer i would just shoot the 80gr Sierra Match king, 80gr AMAX Hornady, 82gr Berger, 80.5 grBerger and be done with it. you should be in the 2900 to 3000fps area with any of those bullets.
the 90's can be pushed from 2700 to maybe 2900 on thehigh end. There will be a couple of folks who shoot the 90's and will jump on here and say its the best thing since caned Coke and White bread. Your going to have to decide if a tiny bit of wind drift at 600 is going ot be worth the trouble or not. To some it is. For me I like to load them and go learn how to shoot and read the wind. A much more valuable asset than mokeying around with seating depths and powder charges. ( that can be fun too however)
Have you looked at what it will take for Freebore on your chamber reamer to shoot the long 90's? How will that effect the use of 80's? just some food for thought.
Best of luck Sir
Why would he need mag length ammo in a 40X solid bottom action? Just wondering what your thought was on that? maybe im missing something.
SAMMO
You havnt answered whether this is Sling or F class.
If your going to shoot 600 and in 90% of the time I would skip the 90's all together. please do some research on 223's in a Palma rifle. I think you will find out its alot of tinkering to keep them shooting well. If you want the easy way and a proven performer i would just shoot the 80gr Sierra Match king, 80gr AMAX Hornady, 82gr Berger, 80.5 grBerger and be done with it. you should be in the 2900 to 3000fps area with any of those bullets.
the 90's can be pushed from 2700 to maybe 2900 on thehigh end. There will be a couple of folks who shoot the 90's and will jump on here and say its the best thing since caned Coke and White bread. Your going to have to decide if a tiny bit of wind drift at 600 is going ot be worth the trouble or not. To some it is. For me I like to load them and go learn how to shoot and read the wind. A much more valuable asset than mokeying around with seating depths and powder charges. ( that can be fun too however)
Have you looked at what it will take for Freebore on your chamber reamer to shoot the long 90's? How will that effect the use of 80's? just some food for thought.
Best of luck Sir
bayou shooter said:
+1
I also shoot a 223 for F-tr and would also say go with the 80 grain bullets. For the 80 grain bullets you will need freebore somewhere in .080 range to keep them out of the case body.
Turbulent Turtle
F-TR competitor
Rtheurer said:
You're not missing anything except for missing to write my name correctly. If you re-read my post you will noticed that I said, capitalized and bolded the word "if":
"The 77SMKs are about as good as they get IF you have to have mag-length ammo. Otherwise don't bother with anything less than 80gr bullets."
This was my way of explaining why one should eschew the 77SMKs for distance shooting in favor of the 80grainers. This was in answer to someone mentioning these bullets a few posts up.
I shoot 223 regularly prone in a sling. I use a 6.5 twist, 30" barrel. Figured why "TRY" a 7 and possibly get burned. I only shoot 80/82's at 200,300,500 then 90's at 600, 1000. Never had any problems. 90's, berger (551 BC) traveling at 2860 FPS. NO recoil, flat shooting, cheap to reload, (if anything is cheap these days) very accurate, and fun.
Snuggie, what freebore length are you doing with?
Upgrades & Donations
This Forum's expenses are primarily paid by member contributions. You can upgrade your Forum membership in seconds. Gold and Silver members get unlimited FREE classifieds for one year. Gold members can upload custom avatars.
Click Upgrade Membership Button ABOVE to get Gold or Silver Status.
You can also donate any amount, large or small, with the button below. Include your Forum Name in the PayPal Notes field.
To DONATE by CHECK, or make a recurring donation, CLICK HERE to learn how.
Click Upgrade Membership Button ABOVE to get Gold or Silver Status.
You can also donate any amount, large or small, with the button below. Include your Forum Name in the PayPal Notes field.
To DONATE by CHECK, or make a recurring donation, CLICK HERE to learn how.