.223 trainer bolt rifle advice?

[PWS]

I've been toying with the idea of a .223 trainer to match the trajectory and ergonomics of my M70 hunting rifles. Almost all of my shooting is informal and out to 500 yards. I'm on a pretty tight budget and since I live and hunt among the bears here in Alaska, CRF is important and all-weather a big plus.

I've been playing with a SS Ruger Hawkeye and made my first attempt at truing an action on it. Didn't make any improvements but did no harm either. It's barreled with a 1-7, #2 contour Hart, chambered with a standard SAMMI spec reamer and bedded in the factory plastic stock at the front of the receiver. It's never shot better than 1.2 moa for five, five shot groups (fired slowly) and is pretty frustrating beyond 200 yards in the typical winds here. This is with 80gr AMAXs at 2800 over 25gr TAC powder.

I do have a factory laminated varmint stock and was thinking perhaps a heavier barrel and a well done bedding job in the laminate might get me below the 1moa mark and settle it down. I've also thought about s-canning the Ruger and trying a Kimber ProVarmint.

I've searched and read a lot of the .223 heavy bullet threads so I'm sure this sounds redundant but any thoughts on barrel weight and twist, bullet choice, chamber specs?

Thanks!

Mike in Kodiak

 

[Texas10]

Have you tried 77 or 80 SMK instead of the 80 Amax? I tried shooting the 80 Amax out of my 22-250 with a 28 inch 8 twist, but it just would not stabilize well even at 3100 fps. So I went with the 80 SMK and got much better results.
The Berger Stability calculator says at 2800 fps, you're right at the threshold of good stability rating a 1.51 at 59 F and sea level. If you're shooting in colder climate, or course its worse.

Bullet length, 80 Amax (which is discontinued*) 1.162". BC. =.453

* This bullet cannot be found in Hornaday's website. It was replaced with the 80 grain ELD Match

 

[PWS]

Thanks for the response Texas10. I did shoot one box of Sierra 90gr SMKs and they shot at the same level of accuracy but 100fps slower. It's been exclusively 80gr AMAXs since. I'll see what the local GS has in stock for heavy 223s and try that.

If a different bullet doesn't help, I'm torn between fitting a heavier barrel and restocking the Ruger or just starting over with a different rifle. It's pretty clear that there are a lot of guys out there running heavy bullets in their .223s at a much higher accuracy level than I'm getting. I don't think the SAAMI spec chamber is a problem but I haven't had much luck getting good accuracy out of Rugers lately.

 

[watercam]

I have built a couple of accurate rifles using Ruger actions (hell, I have built accurate rifles with Arisaka actions). All they do is hold the cartridge in place while the firing pin does it's thing. With a Hart barrel you should be able to make it do what you want. A more stable stock will do a lot to help calm things down as will another bedding job. Try 25 gr. of Varget and either Berger 80.5s or Sierra 80 SMKs. If you are not match prepping your brass, consider it but frankly the bullet/powder change should get you there. I assume you are cleaning the copper out of your barrel every 100 rounds or so...

 

[mac86951]

For what it's worth; all of my 223s are bullet picky. Some like the Amax, some like Sierra, some need Berger. Nosler typically isn't bad in any just not as good as best; but has slower velocity for accuracy nodes in my rifles.

Try what you can before you give up completely, and I'd toss in the 75gr Amax /eld to try as well.

Same thing with powders. I tried 5 before learning that some lots of varget, h4895, N140, AR comp, all seem to perform much better.

 

[CharlieNC]

Bed it yourself and install pillars, homemade if necessary. Hows the trigger? Dry firing while watching the reticle should show if you're stable with it. All my 223s shoot great, as noted the 75Amax and Berger 80.5 should do well. Did you develop the load using ocw, ladder, etc method to insure you are in a good node?

 

[PWS]

Hey guys, thanks for the responses. I haven't disappeared, just been in the garage working on swage dies for a .411 caliber bullet since the weather has been totally crap.

Anyway... got some Berger 80gr VLDs coming to give a try. If they don't shoot in the factory plastic stock, I'll rebed everything in a laminate factory "BR" stock and see if that makes a difference.

I did a rudimentary load ladder with the 80AMAX and TAC but wasn't able to pin-point a particular sweet spot. I'll try another with the Bergers and TAC (still have a lot on hand) and if that combo doesn't produce, I'll try some Varget.

 

[Huckleberry75]

Might try the 77 TMK as well, if you are testing bullets.