Go to load for 223 with 80 smk

[LVLAaron]

I have some of this combo loaded up @2.55 COAL to test. How high have you gone with AR Comp and the 80 smk?

23.9... It's one of those magic powders like h4350... the more you stuff in there the better it shoots. 23.9 is sorta on the edge of blowing primers in a gas gun.... But yields ~2900 FPS from a 20 inch barrel

 

[padom]

24.6gr Varget or 24.0gr H4895 with 80 Amax, 80ELD, 80 SMK, 80 VLD ONE HOLE 2900'S out of my 26: 1:7 bolt guns with 223 Wylde chamber loaded out to 2.52

 

[urbanrifleman]

I run 23.9 in a particular gas gun... it's a barn burner but shoots unbelievably.

I have some of this combo loaded up @2.55 COAL to test. How high have you gone with AR Comp and the 80 smk?

Try 22.5. That's the honey node I think.

 

[LVLAaron]

Try 22.5. That's the honey node I think.

Will give it a shot

 

[urbanrifleman]

Will give it a shot

Im going to make up some 80 SMK jammed 20 and AR comp loads for the fiances rifle. Let her shoot a load workup in her 223A. I think shes ready.

 

[SecondsCount]

R-15 24.0 24.5 in a AR worked for years...........

This has worked for me as well

 

[Bottom Fodder]

Thanks guys looks like this thread is helping others as well
in my case it’s a short barrel bolt gun

 

[jlorenzo]

I have had good luck with 25ish grains of Varget depending on powder lot and COAL. As always work up carefully.
*I have longer freebore than most, 80 SMK is jammed around 2.56" COAL.

 

[deadidarren]

I generally use AR2208.



( It's Varget )

You beat me to it

 

[NZ_Fclass]

You beat me to it

Great minds, mate. It's like playing Simon Says on here sometimes.

 

[jlorenzo]

Still trying to get my groups to tighten up. Have tried Varget and AR Comp. All shoot like this. I may need to jump them more. I am right in the lands or just off. Here's a rough seating depth test

 

[RegionRat]

You aren't doing bad, but you are not doing good either....

I know you have been asking good questions and using good materials, so something is stopping you from making it over the hump.

Time for a mentor?

A coach who can critique your shooting, ammo, and rig, will save you lots of frustration in the long run.

Find a club that shoots formal precision/accuracy competitions and ask around about finding a mentor.

 

[Newhouse]

Shooters world precision.

 

[jlorenzo]

You aren't doing bad, but you are not doing good either....

I know you have been asking good questions and using good materials, so something is stopping you from making it over the hump.

Time for a mentor?

A coach who can critique your shooting, ammo, and rig, will save you lots of frustration in the long run.

Find a club that shoots formal precision/accuracy competitions and ask around about finding a mentor.

Not sure if this is a response to me or OP. If me, I can get several other guns to shoot tighter and the same gun tighter with the 85.5 Berger.

I have to run each of my rounds through the seating die twice to get more consistent CBTO. Also still working on perfecting my brass prep process. I was struggling to get consistent champfering and deurring with how I was doing that process by hand. Just recieved a Henderson and seems to be doing better. Also I am shooting off a Harris bipod. Not ideal, looking at front rests now.

 

[RegionRat]

Not sure if this is a response to me or OP

Yes, to you... but it sounds like you will be fine. No worries.

I just don't like to see folks get frustrated and suffer on their own when help can be found.

Hope you keep at it. Good Luck and in for the range reports.

 

[jlorenzo]

Yes, to you... but it sounds like you will be fine. No worries.

I just don't like to see folks get frustrated and suffer on their own when help can be found.

Hope you keep at it. Good Luck and in for the range reports.

I am a little frustrated. Was hoping the 80 smk would be a little easier to get to shoot tight. Might try some N140 but it should shoot with Varget. I am coming to come back off the lands and see what happens.

 

[RegionRat]

I am a little frustrated. Was hoping the 80 smk would be a little easier to get to shoot tight. Might try some N140 but it should shoot with Varget. I am coming to come back off the lands and see what happens.

It jumps as well as it jams, so I would go ahead and give it a try.
Both Varget and N140 are worth a try.

Now forgive me cause I don't have time to comb backward through all the posts... but did you get any speed statistics when these SMK 80s didn't group tight for you? Any ES or SD numbers?

 

[Walt Krafft]

Work on your brass prep. Consistent neck tension is needed before seating depth tests are worth doing.

 

[urbanrifleman]

Work on your brass prep. Consistent neck tension is needed before seating depth tests are worth doing.

Agreed. And unless you are using an arbor press seater you can't feel the neck tension anyway.

 

[Ned Ludd]

I am a little frustrated. Was hoping the 80 smk would be a little easier to get to shoot tight. Might try some N140 but it should shoot with Varget. I am coming to come back off the lands and see what happens.

I would suggest testing seating depth initially in .005" increments from .005" off the lands to .050" off the lands using 3-shot groups. If there is an optimal window in there, you ought to see it, and you can do it using only 30 rounds total, plus sighters/foulers. Then you can go back later and cover just the apparent optimal widow in a more rigorous fashion, if desired.

I recently did a sort of half-assed load workup with a .223 practice rifle and the Hornady 75 ELDM bullet, solely for the purpose of fire-forming brass. After establishing the charge weight, I tested seating depth in .005" increments from -.010" to -.035" as described above. The shot out of the group low/left at -.025" seating depth was all me, which I recorded. So it is important to keep good records, especially when using 3-shot groups. If you see the reticle move and the shot goes out of the group, you'd better write it down right then. That way, you can have the information available later when evaluating the test results at home. My take from this test was that the 75 ELDMs seemed to want to be seated anywhere from .020" to .035" off the lands.



Because this load was developed solely for the purpose of fire-forming brass, I then went straight to loading some rounds. I used a seating depth of -.020", which was the longest seating depth within the apparent optimal window. I typically choose the longest optimized seating depth because it affords the greatest amount of land erosion before seating depth will need to be re-visited. I loaded 55 rounds, which I used to sight in at ~318 yd, and then proceeded to shoot 3x15-shot targets (shown below). In fairness, it was stupidly windy that day, I didn't put out my wind flags, and the heavy mirage made it almost impossible to see most of the bullet holes once I had a few shots on each target. Nonetheless, when I went out to recover the targets, they were much better than I would have thought and I'm pretty pleased with how the load shoots. The black circles are 3" in diameter, or slightly under 1 MOA at 318 yd. Had I been using this load in an actual F-TR match with proper wind flags and better shot impact feedback, the results would likely have been even better.



My point here is simply that you should be able to cast a fairly wide net in terms of optimizing seating depth for the 80 SMKs in a manner that doesn't require a huge number of loaded rounds. If you cannot get them shoot tight in your specific setup somewhere between .005" and .050" off the lands, I'd be looking at trying a different bullet. I am not a big fan of taking the path of least resistance, but sometimes it can be the best way to go rather than burning up considerable barrel life trying to get some specific combination to shoot well that really doesn't "want" to.