new ar upper, need help

[edward_kaleigh]

i bought a new bushmaster predator with an 8 twist, and i have the barrel broke in. i was shooting today at my grandpa's camp today at 50 yards. I know that is close but for longer distance i have to drive 60 miles. i reload all my ammo for 5 years and consider myself good at it. most ammo i shoot will do better than a half inch at 100 yards in my guns. so i was shooting 50 grain vmax into the same hole, but the 75 hornady were shooting 3 inches!!!! wolf does better. it was lc brass full length resized, 2.25 col, 25 grains blc2 (all i could get). i got 75's to shoot long distance, but it doesn't seem like it is going to work. that was my first load, seemed warm, (medium flat primers) but i never had a load this bad with bullets that are suppose to be really good. any thoughts?

are there better heavy weight bullets for this twist? (i have a budget)
or may i be doing something wrong?
thanks

 

[Jeremy(WI)]

Is it really an 8 twist, I would measure it. My 9 twist AR's do better than that with the 77gr at 100 yards and my Savage 11 that is supposed to be a 9 twist loves the 69-77gr

 

[searcher]

If you have any Reloader 15 or Varget, I'd give them a try. I've gotten plenty of groups like that using powder my gun just didn't seem to like. The A/R's, in my own experience, are a bit pickier as to the powder they like when using the heavy bullets. If your twist is a 1-8, one of these may work (hopefully a lot) better.

 

[bigedp51]

Your barrel vibrates like a tuning fork when fired and the bullet and powder charge needs to be "tuned" for the best accuracy. This tuning makes sure the bullet leaves the barrel at the same point of barrel movement. I wish I could find the youtube video showing a high speed video of a AR15 barrel movement during firing. I was amazed even after 46 years of reloading to see how much the barrel flexed and moved inside the floating hand guard and it makes you wonder how the bullet even hits the target.

The link below is from this website and has some very good information for your new upper, with reloading data and links to Sierra load data.

223 Rem + 223 AI Cartridge Guide
http://www.accurateshooter.com/cartridge-guides/223rem/

 

[searcher]

There may be lots of bulllets out there that are better for your gun but the only way to find out which ones they are are to give 'em a try. I'd try Sierra Match Kings or Nosler Custom Competition. They are probably the most reasonable alternatives for one on a budget. Up the ladder in cost are Bergers or Lapua Scenars, etc. - then the custom bullets.

I absolutely love the Hornady varmint bullets but none of my guns really shoot their target bullets well. Again, every gun is different. Sometimes you get lucky and the cheap bullet is the one that shoots. Good luck