The 95smk is what I used this year in mid range FTR. Kind of a thrown together build as I was late getting everything done, long story for another time. Anyway, my build was a KS arms action, bartlein barrel, 4 groove, 6.5 twist, med palma finished at 29". Chamber was cut with the Manson 223 T.15 Fullbore reamer and then throated for the 95s. I don't have an exact freebore dimension but it would be around .300". I used Lapua brass, N150 and BR4s and found an area at 2720-2750fps and never lost in bullet in 1200 rounds.
Before I give my opinion too much, I will state that I was fighting primer issues from the get go. I tried 450m's and BR4s (and several others but their cups were too thin) and had several FTF's with both, but moreso with the 450s. Went through the whole fire control to check for friction, spring binding, FP protrusion, pin fall, even replaced the spring on the brand new action. Played with various primer seating depths/crushes and didn't really see any difference. The only thing that seemed to help a little in the end, I ended up re-profiling my firing pin tip and that had the greatest effect. I also had some leftover BR4s from years ago, probably 13 years old (dark blue box) and they definitely worked better than new production BR4s (light blue box). Unfortuntely I only had 180 left.
Anyway, moving on. Would I use them again? No, not likely. You need so much freebore for these to be ideal, you now have a one trick pony and since there is only one maker of bullets of that length, you literally only have one bullet choice. If they don't work, you're F'ed. The advertised BC is what intrigued me and I know I could get good enough speed, so I went with it. In my limited experience, they are a bitch to tune and keep in tune. Maybe I could have found a better combo testing different several powders (tried varget as well, N150 seemed to be more consistent). Can they shoot? Absolutely. Have many cleans at 300, 500 and 600. Can it also fall apart at 300, 500 and 600? Absolutely. For example, 2 weeks in a row at 300 I shot a 50-7 and then 50-8. The next weekend in competition with very similar conditions, it's a 48-4. At 600, some fliers start to appear out of nowhere. Can be on course to shoot clean, then all of a sudden a deep 4 or worse, comes out at 45deg from the group. Sometimes right out the bottom. Can this issue be related to ignition? Probably.
But it brings me to my next point. It's hard to get the .223 tuned to where your ES is good enough for long range and that is something that has held me back from shooting LR. I can't get it much better than 30fps for a 12-17 shot string. Does it matter for mid range? Probably not, but it sure does pop in your head when you see one drop low, high or elsewhere.
I guess it all boils down to, would I use them again in a different action (fix the possible ignition issue) or would I get another barrel spun up for 95s. No, I wouldn't. If I was to build another .223 for mid range it would be a 7 twist throated for the larger selection of 85.5 to 90gn bullets. The .223 is really fun and easy to shoot, you're not going to get beat up, it costs less than 308 and really doesn't up much in wind deflection. I'm sure I am forgetting something, but, that's all I can think of for now.
