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Confused about reloading .223 80gr ammo

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I've been taking my AR-15 out to the 600yd range and found that this DT Tactical 80gr ammo is pretty darn accurate and want to try and load up some but have come up with concerns. I have a few different brands of 80gr bullets(Hornady, Sierra, Berger) which are all basically the same but the reloading data says that the OAL should be around 2.550. The problem I'm having is that how in the heck can this DT ammo have a 80gr Nosler bullet but only have an OAL of 2.245"? Wouldn't that mean that the bullet would be down into the powder? Doesn't make sense to me. I'll pull the bullet of one of the DT rounds and see.
 
You'll lose a good chuck of room for powder loading the heavies at mag length. Ideal in a bolt gun or with a single shot follower in an ar.


Dan
 
Yes, you will lose volume in the boiler room. However, by using Varget or similar burn rate powder volume loss will be negligible. I shoot Sierra 77gr bullets in LC cases with Varget and H4895. Accuracy is very good out of a Colt 1:7tw barrel. I get a little better than 2700 fps with about 24gr of Varget.
 
If you have a mag to sacrifice you can trim/cut/drimmel front plate to load long.
magstwo.jpeg
 
Nosler or Sierra 10thousand off the lands and 24-24.5g Varget or 23.2g of 8208xbr (LC or Win case) is what many service rifle shooters are using. I shoot Hornady 80g with 30thoussnds jump and either of those loads at 600. I don't have any data for Berger. 600 is all slow fire in a match so no concerns over mag length. But, I don't know what kind of shooting your doing. Mike
 
Can't imagine putting a Hornady 80 in far enough for mag length. For single shot sure but for mag length I would think you would have to give up too much powder or risk high pressure loads.
 
They will be single feed, mag has a sled for just that. I'm not shooting any kind of competition but want to be able to work up a load that will be good at 600yds for target shooting. I've shot Hornady 75gr ammo with great results at 600 with 4 out of 5 hitting in the 9-10 mark. I figure with just a little more weight with the 80gr it will be a little better with wind. I have LC & Lapua cases that I'll be using. As for powder I've got about 8 different ones I can try but I'll start out with the Varget.
 
Single feed 80s, seat them as long as you can in your rifle and be about .010 off the lands.

Mag feed 77s and lighter. I like the Noslers, though in an AR they are all about the same and they all work well.
 
Baddog0302 said:
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have you pulled the 80 gn. bullet from the ammo you mentioned in your OP ? how much powder did they use ?
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Pulled one of the DT's and here is what I got:

OAL = 2.235/2.245 (Tested 5 rounds)
Powder = 24.0gr ball (looks exactly like TAC)
Case = 1.755" weighs 98.5gr
Bullet = 1.050" HPBT (Nosler 80gr Match I believe)

Advertised at 2825fps/22" bbl and 2750fps/20" bbl

Note: Put the powder back into the case and it fills up just below where the neck starts to go down.
 
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sofarfrome said:
Yes, you will lose volume in the boiler room. However, by using Varget or similar burn rate powder volume loss will be negligible. I shoot Sierra 77gr bullets in LC cases with Varget and H4895. Accuracy is very good out of a Colt 1:7tw barrel. I get a little better than 2700 fps with about 24gr of Varget.
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thanks for the heads up.
I like CFE223 for my CRP-18, but I'll try the varget with that box of 77g bullets that have been collecting dust.

Thanks again
 
I do shoot Hornady 80's at 600 and at 1,000 when the wind is not blowing, but from a bolt gun. At 600 I load 23.7 gr. of Varget. My C.O.L. is 2.610. I won't mention the 1,000 yard load. I doubt it would be safe in an AR.
 
It seems a lot of people have good luck with Varget but I can't get it to work for me at all no matter what bullet I use. I get much better results with IMR 4064 for some reason. Also not one of my AR's likes the 60gr range of bullets either, it's 55gr or 70's that work in mine. As soon as I finish loading up some plinking .223's I'll start playing around with the 80gr bullets and see what I come up with.
 
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