80g SMK or 80.5 Berger?

[CharlieNC]

The 80.5 has great inherient accuracy but gives up a bit of BC for longer range. I don't think the 8 twist will stabilize the ELD based on my shooting bud's experience.

 

[kyotekiller25]

The 80.5 has great inherient accuracy but gives up a bit of BC for longer range. I don't think the 8 twist will stabilize the ELD based on my shooting bud's experience.

8 twist shouldnt have stability issues with the 75 ELDM. A million guys use them from an 8 twist at slower speeds than I am. They're just a picky bullet and don't seem to shoot in a lot of rifles, or consistently for that matter.

I called Hornady and they said the 75 eldm would have no problems from my 28" 8 twist bartlein. I mean I'm spinning them at 270K. The book says 8 twist is fine, the website says 8 twist is fine, the Hornady techs say 8 twist is fine, a million guys shoot them from 8 twist just fine...the only discrepancy to all of that, is the box still says a 7 twist. But that's pretty subjective based off everything else you see and hear.

 

[Jeff Porter]

80.5 in a 1:8 26” bolt gun. I am shooting 90VLD from a different rifle with 1:7 for long range out to 1000 yards and have not tried this load beyond 600. With H4895 becoming like unicorn teeth, I have done a 1:1 switch with VV N135 and gotten similar velocity and groups in the 1:8 gun and the 80.5’s.

 

[kyotekiller25]

80.5 in a 1:8 26” bolt gun. I am shooting 90VLD from a different rifle with 1:7 for long range out to 1000 yards and have not tried this load beyond 600. With H4895 becoming like unicorn teeth, I have done a 1:1 switch with VV N135 and gotten similar velocity and groups in the 1:8 gun and the 80.5’s.
View attachment 1549840

Very nice. Thanks for sharing.

I wish H4895 wasn't so hard to find as I'd prefer to use it as well. With that said, N540 is showing every bit as good accuracy as H4895 in my rifle, while giving and extra 50 fps or so.

 

[BillC79]

My advice is buy a box or two of each and work up loads for each to answer your own question with your rifle. The answer will vary between rifles.

My Experience:
I worked up the 80 SMK and Berger 80.5 FB with my 30” 1:8 twist bolt gun with a PTG 223 Rem Match chamber and AR-Comp / cci450 primers / Norma brass. I use this rifle for midrange prone matches so am only worried about 600 yd performance. However, this rifle/bullet combination will stay supersonic to 1000 yds.
My initial charge ladders with my rifle had no trouble reaching muzzle velocities of 2850 FPS with no pressure signs. I am confident that I could reach 2900 fps for each with no problem. However, my best 200 yd accuracy node muzzle velocities for the 80SMK and 80.5FB were 2748 and 2814 FPS, respectively. Optimal Jumps were 0.010” and 0.030”, respectively.

MOA group size
80 SMK 200 yds (0.26 MOA); 600 yds (0.44 MOA average of three, 5-shot groups)
80.5 FB 200 yds (0.26 MOA); 600 yds (0.56 MOA average of three, 5-shot groups)

I hope this information helps.

P.S. – My 1000 yd 223 Remington Rifle is a 30” 1:7 twist barrel with FB chamber and Berger 90gr VLD.

 

[kyotekiller25]

My advice is buy a box or two of each and work up loads for each to answer your own question with your rifle. The answer will vary between rifles.

My Experience:
I worked up the 80 SMK and Berger 80.5 FB with my 30” 1:8 twist bolt gun with a PTG 223 Rem Match chamber and AR-Comp / cci450 primers / Norma brass. I use this rifle for midrange prone matches so am only worried about 600 yd performance. However, this rifle/bullet combination will stay supersonic to 1000 yds.
My initial charge ladders with my rifle had no trouble reaching muzzle velocities of 2850 FPS with no pressure signs. I am confident that I could reach 2900 fps for each with no problem. However, my best 200 yd accuracy node muzzle velocities for the 80SMK and 80.5FB were 2748 and 2814 FPS, respectively. Optimal Jumps were 0.010” and 0.030”, respectively.

MOA group size
80 SMK 200 yds (0.26 MOA); 600 yds (0.44 MOA average of three, 5-shot groups)
80.5 FB 200 yds (0.26 MOA); 600 yds (0.56 MOA average of three, 5-shot groups)

I hope information this helps.

P.S. – My 1000 yd 223 Remington Rifle is a 30” 1:7 twist barrel with FB chamber and Berger 90gr VLD.

Awesome info! Exactly what I'm looking for. Thank you for sharing.

Hindsight is always 20/20. I wished I would have went with a 7 or even 7.5 twist in the 223 to have a littlr more options with the 85-90g bullets in the 223, instead of placing all my eggs in one basket with the 8 twist/75 ELDM combo. Oh well, live and learn the hard way as usual ha. I'll just have to hurry up and shoot it out and get a 7" twist next time!!

 

[urbanrifleman]

The 80.5 has great inherient accuracy but gives up a bit of BC for longer range. I don't think the 8 twist will stabilize the ELD based on my shooting bud's experience.

8 twist is ideal for 75 and 80 ELDM

 

[urbanrifleman]

Awesome info! Exactly what I'm looking for. Thank you for sharing.

Hindsight is always 20/20. I wished I would have went with a 7 or even 7.5 twist in the 223 to have a littlr more options with the 85-90g bullets in the 223, instead of placing all my eggs in one basket with the 8 twist/75 ELDM combo. Oh well, live and learn the hard way as usual ha. I'll just have to hurry up and shoot it out and get a 7" twist next time!!

8 twist UrbanRifleman barrel in 22bra first time out, first load workup. 22bra 75 ELDM.



They shoot just fine.

 

[kyotekiller25]

They're still a hit or miss bullet for some rifles. They're not like a sierra or berger where they shoot in everything...

 

[urbanrifleman]

They're still a hit or miss bullet for some rifles. They're not like a sierra or berger where they shoot in everything...

Not what I found at all

 

[SteveUrban]

I have had the best group with n550 in my 5.56 boltgun w/30” barrel.