223 rem accuracy expectations

[mudman]

I have had several 223s in Remington 700s varmint bbls and Savage 10s w/varmint bbls that would shoot .25 or better. Trim, clean and weigh and sort your brass from high to low in groups of 5 or 10. Check your necks for thickness and clean up a little. I have used H322, N-133, 2230 and 10X and they all shot very well (bug holes) with pretty hot loads. 223 is inherently accurate and one of my favorite with 50 - 55 gr bullets. Use Flat base they are pretty much always more accurate than boat tails at 100 to 250 yrd. I loved calling Coyotes at night in Texas Panhandle with a good 223. You can head shoot everything inside 250 on a calm, crisp, cold night.

 

[kevinbritvec]

I know there are so many factors at play here with this question.

Assuming you've got a 223rem or the like, a competent gunsmith, nice custom action, barrel, chassis, trigger scope, etc what would be your accuracy expectations for any given caliber if you are shooting at say yardages of 1-300?

Im just curious, because I see the wallet pictures of these incredible groups, but never anybody giving a number of what it will do consistently.

I've also seen folks on here asking about certain bullets and wanting .25moa or smaller accuracy and to me that seems like very high expectations for a gun that isn't dedicated to a bench.

Any input? What type of accuracy are you happy with?


Edit: with good hand loads.

IMO, it's impossible to expect .250" rifle no matter how much you spend. Most National Benchrest Championships are won with a rifle that group like that. Purpose built benchrest rigs driven by world class shooters. I have been shooting for over 45 years in earnest. I have never shot a five round .250" group, let alone a 10-shot group that small.

Premium bullets are needed for me to flirt with .5 moa and that's using my best rifles. I am completely happy with ten round groups 1 moa or smaller. 1 moa is a very usable rifle and if you're lucky you can occasionally buy a factory rifle that can accomplish that feat. They are not the norm. Every barrel has loads that it will prefer, finding what your barrel likes takes time and money.

I have gotten very good results shooting 52/53 grain match bullets regardless of twist rate. My 1:7 twist barrels shoot them light out. 200 yards and closer is where they shine. I even shot a ten round .80" group using a factory AR-15 at 100 yards using these bullets.

 

[Kevin1990]

IMO, it's impossible to expect .250" rifle no matter how much you spend. Most National Benchrest Championships are won with a rifle that group like that. Purpose built benchrest rigs driven by world class shooters. I have been shooting for over 45 years in earnest. I have never shot a five round .250" group, let alone a 10-shot group that small.

Premium bullets are needed for me to flirt with .5 moa and that's using my best rifles. I am completely happy with ten round groups 1 moa or smaller. 1 moa is a very usable rifle and if you're lucky you can occasionally buy a factory rifle that can accomplish that feat. They are not the norm. Every barrel has loads that it will prefer, finding what your barrel likes takes time and money.

I have gotten very good results shooting 52/53 grain match bullets regardless of twist rate. My 1:7 twist barrels shoot them light out. 200 yards and closer is where they shine. I even shot a ten round .80" group using a factory AR-15 at 100 yards using these bullets.

I'd have to disagree. I have a 30BR that I just took out last week. I shot 10 groups and only 2 group of those groups was over .250. The 6br I have is capable of consistent groups between .25-.5 as well. I think .250 is indeed asking alot out of a chassis bolt gun, consistently, but we will soon find out.

 

[CF Junkie]

In my experience, every barrel has its own preferences for bullet weights, powder loads, and jump.
I have found some bullets that a barrel just won't shoot well, while it does great with several others.

I really shot a lot of rounds with my .223 Savage 12 FV with a 26-in barrel in 1:9 twist.
With the Factory barrel, I shot 1,533 groups that averaged 0.273 for all groups.
At the end of the barrel's life, in the first 3 months of 2025, it averaged 0.257 for 92 5-round groups with 77 SMKs.

I replaced the factory barrel with a 26-in 1:7 twist Shilen Select Match 416R Stainless Steel barrel in April 2025.
For the first 130 groups, after a break-in regime, it has averaged 0.227 with bullet weights from 69 to 90 grs.
Best results to date are:
73 gr Bergers and ELD-Ms that average 0.213.
77 SMKs average 0.216.
80 gr SMKs average 0.217
69 SMKs average 0.220.
70 Berger VLDs average 0.227

I'm still working on the 90 gr SMKs, trying to find what the barrel likes. So far it doesn't seem to shoot them well (0.244), but I haven't experimented much with different seating depths, powder loads or jump.

 

[jlorenzo]

In my experience, every barrel has its own preferences for bullet weights, powder loads, and jump.
I have found some bullets that a barrel just won't shoot well, while it does great with several others.

I really shot a lot of rounds with my .223 Savage 12 FV with a 26-in barrel in 1:9 twist.
With the Factory barrel, I shot 1,533 groups that averaged 0.273 for all groups.
At the end of the barrel's life, in the first 3 months of 2025, it averaged 0.257 for 92 5-round groups with 77 SMKs.

I replaced the factory barrel with a 26-in 1:7 twist Shilen Select Match 416R Stainless Steel barrel in April 2025.
For the first 130 groups, after a break-in regime, it has averaged 0.227 with bullet weights from 69 to 90 grs.
Best results to date are:
73 gr Bergers and ELD-Ms that average 0.213.
77 SMKs average 0.216.
80 gr SMKs average 0.217
69 SMKs average 0.220.
70 Berger VLDs average 0.227

I'm still working on the 90 gr SMKs, trying to find what the barrel likes. So far it doesn't seem to shoot them well (0.244), but I haven't experimented much with different seating depths, powder loads or jump.

What kind of stock and shooting position are you using to achieve these groups?

 

[CF Junkie]

I am using an Oryx Chassis and a F-Class Bipod (Sinclair) with a Protektor rear rest with a Leupold 45x competition scope on a very sturdy range bench.
The old factory barrel also was mounted on the same Chassis and used the same set-up.

 

[JT27]

4yrs ago, myself, and 2 of my shooting buddies decided to get into 223 bolt actions. One bought a Ruger American, the other bought a Savage precision, and I bought a Tikka T3x Varmint. The Ruger, surprisingly shoots very well. The Savage precision is a 1/2 moa rifle. The Tikka is flat out awesome. Have shot a few .1’s and consistent .2’s and .3’s. That’s with several different loads, ranging from 52 to 80 grainers. We’ve had more fun playing with these 223’s than I thought we could. Easy to load for, components don’t bankrupt you, and we’ve had a blast taken them out to distance.

 

[Steve Donlon]

A Savage Precision 223 rifle will shoot 77 gr. MK and 80.5 gr. Bergers , 5 shots with a bipod and rear bag. Using an old Leupold 8-25x50 scope

 

[ELR LVR]

No reason, given good parts and processes, that a custom in 223 won't shoot just as small as any other cartridge.

This ^^^
I once had a FACTORY Rem 223
That I regularly would shoot the primer on shotgun shells to watch them explode at 50 yds
at 100 yds it was a 1/4 MOA rifle all the time
(An anomoly? maybe for a factory)
But every custom barreled 223 also shot 1/4" MOA or better
Not quite as consitently as a 222
but so close it would aggrevate ya on which one to choose
223 only beat it out for velocity
-------------However after having very accurate AR's I dont use a 223 bolt gun anymore
and favor the 22 BR for anything 224 cal

 

[ELR LVR]

A Savage Precision 223 rifle will shoot 77 gr. MK and 80.5 gr. Bergers , View attachment 16782585 shots with a bipod and rear bag. Using an old Leupold 8-25x50 scope

Which 77 gr bullet are you using there?
Very impressive man!
(I've used the Berger 85.5's so have not tried nor had the reason to try the 80.5 Bergers yet)
But whatever 77 gr you are using, I'm interested

 

[Steve Donlon]

Which 77 gr bullet are you using there?
Very impressive man!
(I've used the Berger 85.5's so have not tried nor had the reason to try the 80.5 Bergers yet)
But whatever 77 gr you are using, I'm interested

It's a Sierra 77gr. MK @ 2..260" mag length for the AR. Same load in AR but with 22.5 grs. of IMR 4064 in the AR instead of 21 grs. in the Savage. The Berger oal. is 2.345" for .020" like so many loads that seem to do good @ .020" off the lands. The Savage I have does not have much freebore so that is why I went with the 80.5 gr.

 

[ELR LVR]

The Savage I have does not have much freebore so that is why I went with the 80.5 gr.

that makes sense with the freebore.
Ive been using the 69 TMK's for so long since their BC's are so close
I tend to forget about the regular SMK's haha.
I may have to revisit them

 

[KMW 1954]

Up until last winter I was shooting a Savage Model 12 barrel in a Model 11 223 with the Accutrigger and a Boyd's At-One stock. League rules were that everything had to be shot from a Front Bipod and a Rear bag.

Of 20 odd shooters I finished 10th and 11th over two years and I was the only one shooting the 223. Last winter I switched to a 6mm and finished 8th overall. Many other shooters made switches in rifles as well so even though I progressed up I was still chasing.

Last year league wide set a new record for the league. 20 shooters X 10 weeks, each shooter shooting 20 rounds. The whole league had a agg group of just under .5MOA shooting at 3 different distances for the entire season.

I had posted some of my targets from this league over the past couple years and they can still be found. Unfortunately we has a power outage in the neighborhood and it took out my computer with all my pictures on it which have yet to be recovered.

But I wholeheartedly agree, even a .2MOA rifle will not shoot that if the shooter in only a .5MOA capable shooter.

 

[RegionRat]

Unfortunately we has a power outage in the neighborhood and it took out my computer with all my pictures on it which have yet to be recovered.

There are services that specialize in recovering the data from your disk or hard drive after such events. If there is stuff on there you want/need, maybe they can help you. Sorry to hear it, good luck.

 

[Janeau]

No reason, given good parts and processes, that a custom in 223 won't shoot just as small as any other cartridge.

Plenty of reasons - mainly design - no matter what - many cartridge will never beat a 6 PPC. Thats fact.

 

[DShortt]

Plenty of reasons - mainly design - no matter what - many cartridge will never beat a 6 PPC. Thats fact.

Perhaps. Depending on the shooter and if we're splitting black hairs or red hairs.