How fast have you pushed a 77 SMK?

[jlorenzo]

I have a 26" Bartlien/Tikka with a fairly long throat. Hard Jam with hornday 88s is around 2.60 using the Cortina method. Don't remember off the top of my head where jam for the 77s is, I remember it being a shorter coal than 75gr ELDs because of the ogive/bearing surface profile.

That being said it looks like with RE15.5TS I could be getting close to 3,000 fps and lower pressure. I have shot 75gr ELDs at 3035
with 8208 XBR. (Obiviously I worked up to that carefully) without issue other than brass didn't last too long.

The Sierras just group better than the Hornady stuff. I haven't had much luck with Berger 80.5s but haven't messed with seating depth or powder charge much. I want to shoot this load @600 and in.

That being said what are your long throat/single feed 77 SMK loads, please include COAL and brass type.

 

[Walt Krafft]

223 or others?

 

[Hohn]

I have a 26" Bartlien/Tikka with a fairly long throat. Hard Jam with hornday 88s is around 2.60 using the Cortina method. Don't remember off the top of my head where jam for the 77s is, I remember it being a shorter coal than 75gr ELDs because of the ogive/bearing surface profile.

That being said it looks like with RE15.5TS I could be getting close to 3,000 fps and lower pressure. I have shot 75gr ELDs at 3035
with 8208 XBR. (Obiviously I worked up to that carefully) without issue other than brass didn't last too long.

The Sierras just group better than the Hornady stuff. I haven't had much luck with Berger 80.5s but haven't messed with seating depth or powder charge much. I want to shoot this load @600 and in.

That being said what are your long throat/single feed 77 SMK loads, please include COAL and brass type.

I see no point in long loading 77s because the BC penalty relative to something like an 80 ELD is pretty significant. 77s are designed around the AR mag length limitation. If you don’t have that limitation, you can do much better.

15.5 is great stuff, but I could never get enough of it in the case to get pressure at all. 25.0 under an 88 hard jammed still wouldn’t give pressure. Didn’t seem to matter, it shot well and the MV was there.

 

[jlorenzo]

I see no point in long loading 77s because the BC penalty relative to something like an 80 ELD is pretty significant. 77s are designed around the AR mag length limitation. If you don’t have that limitation, you can do much better.

15.5 is great stuff, but I could never get enough of it in the case to get pressure at all. 25.0 under an 88 hard jammed still wouldn’t give pressure. Didn’t seem to matter, it shot well and the MV was there.

Where you in the youtube comments talking to me about this?
I recently went out with 15.5 and 88s. 25.0gr .005 off jam got me 2844 in a 26". Groups with the 88s have been a kind of sloppy .8 moa range consistently.

 

[jlorenzo]

I see no point in long loading 77s because the BC penalty relative to something like an 80 ELD is pretty significant. 77s are designed around the AR mag length limitation. If you don’t have that limitation, you can do much better.

15.5 is great stuff, but I could never get enough of it in the case to get pressure at all. 25.0 under an 88 hard jammed still wouldn’t give pressure. Didn’t seem to matter, it shot well and the MV was there.

I agree. Although so far 77s have shot tighter than any ELD (75,80 and 88). .5-.6 moa vs .7-.9 moa.
Ive been wondering if the BC penalty is worth the reduction in group size.

 

[jlorenzo]

223 or others?

223

 

[Hohn]

I agree. Although so far 77s have shot tighter than any ELD (75,80 and 88). .5-.6 moa vs .7-.9 moa.
Ive been wondering if the BC penalty is worth the reduction in group size.

It probably depends on conditions and distance. For me, the extra BC is a big help vs a couple tenths more mechanical accuracy in a no-wind or short distance scenario. I’ve shot all my best scores with ELDs.