.223 with 69 gr. Sierra HPBT

[markr]

With the 69 gr. SMK I use N201 exclusively. Call Sierra tech line and talk to the tech about N201....they won't volunteer but will tell the story when asked.

 

[Travelor]

I shoot 24.5 gr of H4895 with the 69 gr SMK's in both bolt guns (loaded with .020" jump)and AR-15's (loaded to max magazine length) with good results.

George

 

[Longtrain]

I have used RE-15, Varget, TAC and my favorite for ease of loading is AA 2460. I bought a bunch of it from a shooter that was changing disciplines and didn’t need it any longer. It meters like a gem and is amazingly accurate. Not as popular as other ball powders, but it works and I’m glad I’ve got a bunch of it.

 

[msinc]

Varget has to be good because everyone else on this earth but me uses and has good results with it. That said, 26.0 grains of W748 with the 69 grain bullet and a 1-in-9 twist works great and it works just as good out of my bolt guns as it does out of my AR. My AR might be a little different than most, it has a WOA 26" barrel.
N140 works great too and I run 25.0 grains of that. Good luck and good shooting. I seat the bullet about .010" to touching in my bolt guns and of course mag length in the AR.

 

[littlebuddybr]

He/she probably figured it out by now.

8 year old thread.

But, not a bad thread to bring back from the dead, compared to some of the other new ones.

 

[laangler]

25.2 Varget ,cci 400 primer works good in my model 10 Savage.

 

[garandman]

Varget. Tho admittedly, I rarely did better than 0.65 @ 100y in my AR.

 

[Bill K]

Yep, got the Sierra info. Thought I'd ask, because real world info usually trumps book work. I really want to try the N140, as I've never used it before. Been a Varget slut for over 10 years.

Forgot to add, it's a bolt gun...8 twist.

sometimes it does trump, however what works in one person's rifle, may not be the one the works in your own.
But what they use and what the books show give you a place to start and always on the lower side to be safe and sane with your rifle and body parts.

 

[Mouse-Gunner]

One of the great things about the 223 Remington cartridge is there are many different powders, weights, and primers that can be combined with a Sierra 69 gn Matchking, and all of them shoot well in a decent service rifle. I have been shooting an AR in DCM, CMP and NRA highpower competition for more than 30 years. The the Sierra 69 gn HPBT has been my standard short range projectile for use at 200 and 300 yards. Over those three decades I have used several different powders including 4064, 4895, BLC-2 and H332. For the past 28 years I have settled on 22.4 gn of 2015. I have had very good results with 2015 and a Federal Match primer. It will reliably shot 1 MOA or smaller groups regardless of the rifle I use.

For midrange at 600 yards I change the powder and bullet to an 80 gn VLD and RE 15. A 69 gn HPBT can easily make it to 600 yards, but it is highly susceptible to the wind. In response I go with an 80gn VLD which will buck the wind as well as a 168 gn 30 cal. Sierra.

Let me reinforce something that many others have also said. Every time you send a bullet down the bore of your match rifle, the barrel’s life is reduced by that round. So you have a choice: do you expend that round load testing, or do you spend it on practice? A 1 MOA rifle is perfectly capable of cleaning the target at 200 or 300 yards, with all 10 shots in the 10 and X rings. If you are not putting all 10 shots into the 10 and X rings, then it probably is not your load that is the problem, it’s you. Maybe your position slipped, or perhaps your trigger pull was off, it could even have been your eye losing focus for a moment (especially if you have older eyes as I do). 99% of the time you are better off using that round in practice rather than expending it on a search for the .375 group.

There are many good loads out there that will produce 1MOA out of a match grade AR-15. Find one, and just go with it. You will benefit more from practice than you will from load testing.

Distinguished Badge Holder #764