I “might” have found a good load for my 223…

[450BM]

Rifle is my Stag 6L, heavy barrel in 223 with 1-8 twist. Last year I got 600 Sierra 69gr hpbt’s and have been trying to find a good load for them, unsuccessfully…

Also last year I bought 6lbs of Alliant 2000MR for 308 and 243 and last week I had 6 different loads for the 308 that I tested. None of them shot very well at all but what I really figured out was that I like shooting mild cast bullet loads in the 308 a LOT more than I like the hotter jacketed stuff. I’ve gotten soft from shooting 17FB, 204, 222,223 and 22-250 along with all the cast loads I shoot in the bigger stuff.

So with lots of 2000mr available I figured I’d try it in the 223. If I remember right, 69gr is the lightest bullet there are loads for. I only tried two charges, 26.6 and 26.9 just to see there was anything good there. Yeah, there was! 5 shot groups at 100 yards. The 26.6 group was .42 and the 26.9 was .77 and that poorer group was better than I was getting with other powders! Both groups were nice round clusters. FPs was 2977 and 3055 respectfully.

Going to load 10 more 26.6 gr rounds to see if that was a lucky group but already have high hopes I’m in the right area.

 

[jelenko]

With a 24" barrel, I found 26.9gr with 69 gr bullet was very accurate.

Burns a little dirty, doesn't it?

 

[Turkeytider]

The 69 grain SMK bullet may well be one of, if not the, best .223 bullets ever built.

 

[450BM]

With a 24" barrel, I found 26.9gr with 69 gr bullet was very accurate.

Burns a little dirty, doesn't it?

Actually didn’t notice that…. My day went from shooting to mowing grass to getting my mil’s zero turn good and stuck with nobody around to help me. When I got home I put things away and then worked on getting the mud off me! Lol…

 

[450BM]

The 69 grain SMK bullet may well be one of, if not the, best .223 bullets ever built.

I was starting to doubt this or wondering if I got a bad box! Everything else shot better in this rifle, down to Fiocci 40gr factory loads. I guess I just needed a slower powder.

 

[mic2377]

2000 MR is a good powder as long as it's limitations are recognized. I have found it shoot best near max like most ball powders. It is less temperature sensitive than older ones like BLC2, but not as good as the extruded powders.

For heavy bullets in 223 and 308 it will typically generate high velocities without pressure that are difficult or impossible to obtain with other powders.

As a bonus it meters well too. The hotter is loaded, the cleaner it burns.

 

[450BM]

2 more 5 shot groups but they were barely under an inch. I think it was more me than the load so I haven’t given up yet. First time I shot it was cloudy and cooler. This time it was warmer, sunny, lots of mirage which I don’t handle well and I’d just mowed for 2 hours on a zero turn and a really rough “yard”. Oh well, I guess I have to go shoot it again… How terrible is that!

 

[LBEdgin]

I too loaded 26.6gr of ms2000 w/69gr Sierra bullet and on my first four shot group got a .323" group. Thanks for sharing!!!. I'm blessed to have a safe full of different rifles; 6 arc, 22 arc, 6 xc, 243win, 6.5 284 norma, 6.5 06ai but out of all those rifles! If I'm looking to really have fun I pull my 223rem out first. It's just a fun rifle to shoot. I do enjoy the others, and between some of those rifle I find I'm splitting hairs as there isn't much difference in some of those. But I find myself pulling out my 223rem first for the most fun. But everyone is different and that's the beauty of our hobby.

 

[CharlieNC]

Trying only two loads is like flipping a coin, as the answer is limited in terms of potential answers. One will "look" better. But you have no idea where it is in or out of a sensitive node for long term stability. Shoot a ladder across a couple of grains, just 2-3 shots each charge, to find a stable poi.

 

[450BM]

I loaded some down to 26.3 and 26. Waiting for a dry day to try them out. I don’t have a roof over my bench…

 

[450BM]

Trying only two loads is like flipping a coin, as the answer is limited in terms of potential answers. One will "look" better. But you have no idea where it is in or out of a sensitive node for long term stability. Shoot a ladder across a couple of grains, just 2-3 shots each charge, to find a stable poi.

I know Charlie. I do this to see if it’s worth more testing. Too many times I’ve loaded a bunch and brought too many of them home and pulled the bullets so I wasn’t wasting components.

My first group was .42 with 26.6 so I went back to it. Pretty sure it was me (mostly) and the conditions.

I had viral meningitis 3 years ago and it affected my concentration. If conditions aren’t good, I get distracted and can’t focus. Luckily, this is just play for me and I do it for the enjoyment.

 

[Idaho-Lefty]

I've found that the 60 gr. NBT's, 65 gr. SGK's and 69 gr. SMK's,.. ALL shoot, NICELY ( easily, Sub, 1 MOA ) in my, 1- 7 twist Voodoo Barreled, 16 inch, AA-15 Adams Arms, Piston Rifle.
I just use, 1/2 a grain LESS, Win 748 for, the 69's than, the other 2 Bullets !
Having a, Geiselle 2 stage, 2lb. Trigger and a Burris 4 x 14 scope,.. really Helps Me with, Good group's !

 

[450BM]

I've found that the 60 gr. NBT's, 65 gr. SGK's and 69 gr. SMK's,.. ALL shoot, NICELY ( easily, Sub, 1 MOA ) in my, 1- 7 twist Voodoo Barreled, 16 inch, AA-15 Adams Arms, Piston Rifle.
I just use, 1/2 a grain LESS, Win 748 for, the 69's than, the other 2 Bullets !
Having a, Geiselle 2 stage, 2lb. Trigger and a Burris 4 x 14 scope,.. really Helps Me with, Good group's !

I have some Sierra 60gr Hp’s that shoot pretty good too. Was using Varget but ran out and haven’t replaced it. I’ll probably get around to playing them again sometime this summer. No loads listed for the 2000MR but can’t see any reason it wouldn’t work.

 

[ta6ppc]

varget has always been an easy button for me with the 223. There is an accuracy load for an AR in their app for load data it’s 25.3 grains with the 69 smk. In lapua brass with a cci mag primer just touching the lands in my 30” barreled rifle runs exactly 3018 fps and has about an es/sd of 10. Been very consistent for me, run it out to 800 yards with MOA accuracy easily.

 

[RegionRat]

Just going to make a suggestion since we don't know each other, and just to be sure you don't skip it....

But I would go ahead and grab some Varget to test those 69 SMK against your other stuff, just to see how the extruded powder does versus the ball powder.



I also ran a 24" simulation by stuffing the case to 102% and let the code plot a ladder down from 26.5 grains. You will not hit pressure, it makes fair velocity, but it will also be spitting a lot of unburnt powder.
I don't run 2000MR so I don't know how it runs with compression, but the plots below also go lower in steps.

 

[243Lapua]

Rifle is my Stag 6L, heavy barrel in 223 with 1-8 twist. Last year I got 600 Sierra 69gr hpbt’s and have been trying to find a good load for them, unsuccessfully…

Also last year I bought 6lbs of Alliant 2000MR for 308 and 243 and last week I had 6 different loads for the 308 that I tested. None of them shot very well at all but what I really figured out was that I like shooting mild cast bullet loads in the 308 a LOT more than I like the hotter jacketed stuff. I’ve gotten soft from shooting 17FB, 204, 222,223 and 22-250 along with all the cast loads I shoot in the bigger stuff.

So with lots of 2000mr available I figured I’d try it in the 223. If I remember right, 69gr is the lightest bullet there are loads for. I only tried two charges, 26.6 and 26.9 just to see there was anything good there. Yeah, there was! 5 shot groups at 100 yards. The 26.6 group was .42 and the 26.9 was .77 and that poorer group was better than I was getting with other powders! Both groups were nice round clusters. FPs was 2977 and 3055 respectfully.

Going to load 10 more 26.6 gr rounds to see if that was a lucky group but already have high hopes I’m in the right area.

The 69 grains Sierra works better on a 1-9 Twist barrel. Your 1-8 twist will stabalize a 77gr better.

 

[jelenko]

1:8 works great on 69 SMK's.

 

[RegionRat]

69 SMK at roughly 2900 fps at sea level
1:9 SG = 1.68
1:8 SG = 2.12
1:7 SG = 2.77
So any one of these will be okay.