77 gr SMK's

[rebs]

I have 77 gr smk bullets that I measured BTOG and there is quite variance some as much as .0010, is this normal ? I sorted them out in groups as was recommended.
Are the Berger bullets a better choice in either the 80.5 fullbore or 80 VLD's ?

 

[Fotheringill]

For starters, what is the twist?

 

[Park ranger]

What’s you purpose for these bullets? We use them in mag length AR to have highest BC but still rapid fire. They jump along way and shoot great.

But at 600 slow fire, most of us use an 80 grain of some sort. They are more slippery and still shoot great.

 

[rebs]

tikka T3x 8 twist used for f class 300 yds

 

[dcali]

The 77s are designed to fit in AR magazines. The 80s will not. In my experience, the 77s are a more accurate bullet, but they give up a significant amount of BC. Which one to use depends on your application. For 300 yard f class I would give the 77s a try. They’re good bullets and the drag deficiency isn’t huge at 300. If they don’t shoot, the various 80s are also good.

 

[Turbulent Turtle]

tikka T3x 8 twist used for f class 300 yds

For F-Class 300 yards in an 1:8 twist, don't even bother with the 77SMK, go directly to the 80SMK or better yet, one of the Berger 80+ bullet. The 77SMK's only claim to fame is having the highest BC in a mag length 5.56/.223Rem cartridge.

 

[Ned Ludd]

I've shot 77s in 300 yd F-TR matches on a few occasions and they can work very well if the conditions are benign. However, I worked up a load with the 80.5s out of the same rifle and they shoot with equal, if not better, precision as the 77s, and are substantially more resistant to wind deflection. The considerations with loading the 80 gr bullets as compared to the 77 gr weight class (or lighter) is that they require a much longer throat in order to seat them optimally and will not fit in a magazine when seated optimally (i.e. they must be single-fed).

 

[dolek]

Shoot them,only way to know what you will have on paper .

 

[MGYSGT]

I shoot 69's thru 80's at 300 yds. on our local range. They all shoot well enough depending on the barrel. All my .223's are 8 twist so I don't shoot the 80 gr ELD any longer, as they require a 7 twist according to the box. I tried them but they didn't like my 8 twist barrels. On the other hand the Berger 80 was very good in my barrels.

 

[Zero333]

Just for a piece of mind I wold sort them into 0.002" groups.

They are not sensitive to different seating depths, so even not sorted they'll shoot good.