New to me .223 shoots GREAT right out of the gate.

[IA_shooter]

I just got a Savage 10 Precision Carbine in a trade deal that also included a new BHW 20 practical barrel that is the identical length and contour of the .223 barrel on it now that I had planned on putting on this gun but I figured I may as well see if this .223 had any real potential for being a shooter 1st before I took the .223 barrel off.

So today I loaded up 15 test rounds using H335 pushing 52 grain Sierra BTHP's. I used LC12 brass trimmed to 1.75" and had an overall cartridge length of 2.255". 5 loaded with 25.2gr, 5 with 25.4gr, and 5 with 25.6gr.

I figured if this rifle would shoot less than 1/2" MOA on a regular basis by chance then I would not take the barrel off just yet and use it for a while.

I just picked up the rifle from my FFL dealer at about 6:00 PM tonight and got home and mounted the 6-24X40 Bushnell Elite on her and quickly bore sighted it out the patio window/door and then packed up the shooting supplies and headed out to my shooting area around 7:30. The wind was blowing pretty good this evening but it was going to be coming from almost straight behind me where I planned on shooting so I didn't think it would bother my testing too badly.

I'll let the pictures speak for themselves. Here's my test target .....................

and here's the group using 25.6 grains .....................

I shot off of my little rinky-dink shooting table I made and I used the Caldwell bipod and a rear bag to shoot with. Needless to say I'm very pleased with these results @ 100 yards. The first 2 groups of 25.2 and 25.4 weren't bad at all with both being about 1/2" groups but the 25.6 group really impressed me so I think this barrel is going to stay on this gun and I'll do some more testing along with some seating depth testing and see just how good this thing will shoot but it looks like it's got great potential already. ;D

Here's a pic of the rifle ..........................

 

[Warren Dean]

It's a Savage. What did you expect? ;D ;D ;D

 

[IA_shooter]

It's a Savage. What did you expect? ;D ;D ;D

In all seriousness, I hadn't expected to get a 1/4" group right away the first time I shot it, but like you said, it IS a Savage and I have had more than a few Savage rifles and they have always impressed me so far.

 

[bobcat1506]

I've been very impressed with several Savages, congrats on your acquisition. This may be a dumb question but why did you choose the 3 powder charges you did?

 

[232]

Any plans for the 20 practical barrel??

 

[forsyth793]

Do you know what the twist rate is?

 

[IA_shooter]

I've been very impressed with several Savages, congrats on your acquisition. This may be a dumb question but why did you choose the 3 powder charges you did?

I did some internet searching on load data for .223, especially for results seen in shorter (20"-22") barrels and picked a middle of the road charge (25.2gr) and worked up from there watching for pressure signs, etc.

 

[IA_shooter]

Any plans for the 20 practical barrel??

Yes. I have another Savage model 10 action and a stock coming that I bought from another member here that I'm gong to build off of.

 

[IA_shooter]

Do you know what the twist rate is?

I was told it was probably a 1-9 twist but I have yet to run a cleaning brush through and try to measure the actual twist yet.

**Update** ....... It is indeed a 1-9 twist. (I measured while cleaning today.)

 

[IA_shooter]

I had great results with the 26.6gr of H335 and I loaded up some more test ammo mid-week using 26.7gr and took them out to the Hawkeye Range Thursday afternoon to see how they would shoot just to see if just a tick more powder would do anything for me. My results that night told me that going up another .1gr was not the direction I wanted to go since I was getting closer to 3/4" MOA with those loads. I chrono'd some of the shots and they were running about 3150 fps on average.

There was a Bench Rest competition over in Montezuma yesterday put on by the PCSA (Powesheik Co. Sportsman's Assc.) I had thought about going to so since I woke up @ 4:30 am I decided to load up more rounds but I decided to load 1 tick down in the powder charge to 25.5gr and take those loads over with me to shoot along with some factory 52gr ammo just to see how they would do and I had a hunch the 25.5gr handloads would do well considering how well 25.6gr shot and how poorly the 25.7gr shot for me.

It was nice to see how my handloads compared to factory loads side by side. I was just shooting with a Harris BR 6"-9" Bipod on the front of the rifle and a rabbit ear bag in the rear, nothing too fancy or expensive like a few of the guys were using to shoot with.

The top 3 targets on the left are for sighters and the top 10 and the bottom 10 were the 2 different rounds of firing using handloads vs factory ammo. The targets are each only 2 inches in size. The inner dark circle, the 8 ring is only 1/2 inch. The targets are set out @ 100 yards. The wind was a little gusty and switchy during shooting. Here's the results.......................

My handloads scored 79-1X, and the factory ammo scored 70-0X in 2 separate 10 shot rounds and the more scattered placement of the shots of the factory ammo vs my handloads tells me I'm definitely getting some positive results. If I can get close to 1/2" MOA with these handloads out of this rifle consistently then I'll be completely happy with that.

 

[IA_shooter]

I was bored this morning so I decided to go out and re-zero my rifle for the factory Fiocchi ammo again since I bought 200 rounds of it to shoot and try it even further out. I also wanted to chronograph it to see how fast it was actually running out of my gun. After running 4 shots through the chronograph while re-zeroing the rifle to be between 1 and 1-1/4" high @ 100 yards, which I wanted to do so it was about dead on @ 175 yards and only about 1" low @ 200 yards, I took a couple of apples that were about 3-1/2" out and set one @ 225 yards and one @ 250 yards. I input the actual speed, which was about 3050 fps average, into my ballistics app and got my info I needed for how I'll need to adjust my scope for various yardages all the way out to 500 yards. It took 2 shots to hit the first apple @ 225 yards, I just barely missed the right edge on the first shot, probably due to the wind coming in at me at about 11:00, then I aimed at the left edge of the apple to allow for windage and totally obliterated the apple on my next shot. The apple at 250 yards only took one shot to turn it into apple sauce using the Fiocchi with the 50 grain V-Max's. 8)

I then took my 6" steel target out to 300 yards and poked 4 shots at it adjusting up 3 1/2 MOA on the first 2 shots, that hit just high/right of center. I was aiming dead on the center and wanted to see how much the wind was pushing it which was about 1" to 1-1/2" to the right. I then took the next 2 shots using an adjustment of 3-1/4" MOA. Took one shot at center and hit just low right and then aimed at the left edge and got a hit just low/left of center. But all 4 shots connected with ease. The 3 other hits on the target are from my 200 yard testing of this ammo.


My buddy Eric is coming down this afternoon to sight in and shoot his brand new built 338 and we'll be shooting out to 400-500 yards probably so I can test the Fiocchi in my rifle out to those distances then. I'll make a report later possibly.

Here's the 6" steel target with the hits I described. I would have taken pics of the apples but there was literally nothing left of them. :-[

 

[232]

You did good on your trade, nice write up.

Looking forward to your experiences with the 20BHW barrel.

 

[IA_shooter]

You did good on your trade, nice write up.

Looking forward to your experiences with the 20BHW barrel.

I should have the barrel next week and I'll pick up the action and stock tomorrow night. The scope I'm getting for it (Nikon 6-24X50) will be here Sat. I think. With any luck I'll have the 20 Prac gun built and slinging lead before the end of the month and I'll let y'all know how it shoots. It will be my crow, and hopefully someday, Prairie Dog slaying rig, maybe even a few groundhogs too.

 

[Jeremy(WI)]

My 1:9 savage 11 in 223 likes the 69 and 77 grain better than the 55gr, the 1 group I shot with 77gr SMK was .31" at 100 yards

 

[IA_shooter]

I may have to try some heavier bullets soon.

 

[Jeremy(WI)]

I may have to try some heavier bullets soon.

I did some reloads with 8202 XBR and had some nice groups with 69 and 77 gr bullets

Mine isn't as nice looking as yours