Sierra 69gr matchking....

[Rsadams]

Fired some factory sierra 69gr matchings over a lab radar today to see what speed it would be out of a 16 inch barrel.... I know sierra doesn't use a 16inch barrel probably 24 but was shocked to see three flying around 2550 fps.... Their webpage shows a muzzle of 2900fps... Good news was my reloads of 24.5gr of TAC were where I wanted at 2750fps and shot extremely well.... What speed are you guys pushing yours out of an M4 or a 16 inch barrel..???? Think I might stop right here...

 

[lotech]

With a moderate load of H4895, about 23.5 grs., 2650 to 2700 from a 16" barrel, but almost 3, 000 from a CZ 23.6" bolt-action. Never seen much need for the 16" barrels, but they apparently are here to stay. 20" is much better. I've always gotten better accuracy with H4895 as opposed ot TAC, but TAC goes through a measure much better,

24 TAC gives 2661 in a 16" barrel. Try the Sierra 65 GK if you can find it. Out to 200 yards it's just as accurate as the 69 MK. 200 yards is as far as I've tried either bullet.

 

[lotech]

Fired some factory sierra 69gr matchings over a lab radar today to see what speed it would be out of a 16 inch barrel.... I know sierra doesn't use a 16inch barrel probably 24 but was shocked to see three flying around 2550 fps.... Their webpage shows a muzzle of 2900fps... Good news was my reloads of 24.5gr of TAC were where I wanted at 2750fps and shot extremely well.... What speed are you guys pushing yours out of an M4 or a 16 inch barrel..???? Think I might stop right here...

You should be able to get 2750, but you're getting into 5.56 load data. Still safe for an experienced handloader but not those with only a lesser degree from YouTube University. Study and compare lots of printed paper data from known reliable sources.

 

[Rsadams]

You should be able to get 2750, but you're getting into 5.56 load data. Still safe for an experienced handloader but not those with only a lesser degree from YouTube University. Study and compare lots of printed paper data from known reliable sources.

Ya I have it at 2750 with 24.5gr of TAC and iam not seeing anything that raises an eyebrow... YES it's into 5.56 territory but according to the powder manufacturer you could go hotter but I think I will leave it at 24.5 it shot well but I will do alot more testing on accuracy... The rifle is an M4 with a 5.56 barrel...

 

[dantiff2]

Never chrono'd my 16" but i've had more than one 20" put them at 2850. One was a 9 twist and the other was a 7 twist. Mild load of varget (not max) and the guns LOVE the load so velo was just the outcome and not the main objective. You seeing 2750 doesn't sound out of the realm.
Dan

 

[Doug Casner]

I dont know the velocity but I shot a coyote with a 69 matchking in a 223 mod. 7 remington. Never killed one any deader with a swift. Piled up after one step and their a target bullet. Doug

 

[lotech]

I dont know the velocity but I shot a coyote with a 69 matchking in a 223 mod. 7 remington. Never killed one any deader with a swift. Piled up after one step and their a target bullet. Doug

Certainly do what works well for your purposes. I found out why Sierra doesn't recommend target bullets for hunting. I shot a number of coyotes some years ago using a .223 loaded with 53 gr. MK bullets. Surprisingly, about half the animals ran off, even with what appeared to be good, solid hits. At the time, in my ignorance, I thought any .22 bullet was a varmint bullet.

I switched to the 50 gr. Sierra Blitz and the difference in kills was remarkable. Target bullets work, but reliable expansion or fragmentation aren't consistent as they weren't designed for this purpose. In your favor, the added weight of the 69 gr. bullet can only be an advantage as I see it. How great that advantage is , I don't know.

I hate to see it, but some shoot deer with the target bullets. You hear about kill successes, but, quite strangely, never the failures.

 

[Doug Casner]

It was a headscratcher to me. Cause I hit him behind the shoulder not in the head. Shot matchkings in a swift, 52 gr. They ran fast enough to blow up. Had good luck when I could hit them but thats 38 or 3900. Doug

 

[dantiff2]

Certainly do what works well for your purposes. I found out why Sierra doesn't recommend target bullets for hunting. I shot a number of coyotes some years ago using a .223 loaded with 53 gr. MK bullets. Surprisingly, about half the animals ran off, even with what appeared to be good, solid hits. At the time, in my ignorance, I thought any .22 bullet was a varmint bullet.

I switched to the 50 gr. Sierra Blitz and the difference in kills was remarkable. Target bullets work, but reliable expansion or fragmentation aren't consistent as they weren't designed for this purpose. In your favor, the added weight of the 69 gr. bullet can only be an advantage as I see it. How great that advantage is , I don't know.

I hate to see it, but some shoot deer with the target bullets. You hear about kill successes, but, quite strangely, never the failures.

Agreed! Watched too many bullets zip right through groundhogs only to ricochet which is a big no in my book. The hogs that didnt run down their hole had zero bullet damage to them. pin hole in and out. They are only used on paper and steel for me these days but they do an OUTSTANDING job at that!
Dan

 

[Doug Casner]

That 223 was not my first choice. I looked out the window and saw a coyote standing out in my field. It was standing in the corner loaded With 69 mks. Got lucky. Doug

 

[Ryan66]

Fired some factory sierra 69gr matchings over a lab radar today to see what speed it would be out of a 16 inch barrel.... I know sierra doesn't use a 16inch barrel probably 24 but was shocked to see three flying around 2550 fps.... Their webpage shows a muzzle of 2900fps... Good news was my reloads of 24.5gr of TAC were where I wanted at 2750fps and shot extremely well.... What speed are you guys pushing yours out of an M4 or a 16 inch barrel..???? Think I might stop right here...

To me it sounds like you are in the right speed area considering your load.

Out of my 16in NATO chambered AR my load is:
69smk
Mixed headstamp LC brass
CCI400 primer
25.3 grains of Varget
2.25 oal

I’m getting 2720 fps and the accuracy settled in around this pressure/velocity area for me.
I believe my cheapie PSA build kit is a bit over gassed and ejection is brisk, however, it’s not beating up the brass too bad or leaving dents from the shell deflector. I don’t see overpressure signs on the primer or swipes either at this speed.

 

[Zero333]

23.5 - 24 gr of H-4895 with 69 smk. It's easy on the action, accurate and will get you 2,700+ fps in a 16" bbl.

Remember, if this is a new barrel, it will speed up some after 100 +/- rounds.
I had a barrel on a bolt action rifle that kept speeding up until around 150 rounds. Ended up speeding up like 75 +/- fps.
I also noted FGMM ammo in 223/5.56x45 or 308/7.62x51 runs fairly slow compared to what it could. But the FGMM ammo accuracy is the best out of all Factory ammo.

I found H-4895 or IMR-4895 feels like the action runs smoother than with Varget in semi-auto rifles in 5.56 or 7.62 Nato. Nodes seem wider than with Varget as well.
The smoother the semi-auto action runs the more accurate it may be. I don't chase speed as much as accuracy.
2,750 fps sounds about right in a 16" 5.56 barrel.

In my M1A, the node is from 41.5 gr to 42.5 gr of H-4895 with 168 gr bullets.

 

[lotech]

23.5 - 24 gr of H-4895 with 69 smk. It's easy on the action, accurate and will get you 2,700+ fps in a 16" bbl.

Remember, if this is a new barrel, it will speed up some after 100 +/- rounds.
I had a barrel on a bolt action rifle that kept speeding up until around 150 rounds. Ended up speeding up like 75 +/- fps.
I also noted FGMM ammo in 223/5.56x45 or 308/7.62x51 runs fairly slow compared to what it could. But the FGMM ammo accuracy is the best out of all Factory ammo.

I found H-4895 or IMR-4895 feels like the action runs smoother than with Varget in semi-auto rifles in 5.56 or 7.62 Nato. Nodes seem wider than with Varget as well.
The smoother the semi-auto action runs the more accurate it may be. I don't chase speed as much as accuracy.
2,750 fps sounds about right in a 16" 5.56 barrel.

In my M1A, the node is from 41.5 gr to 42.5 gr of H-4895 with 168 gr bullets.

Varget is a great powder for many applications in many cartridges, but I think a lot of handloaders select it because they hear or read somewhere that it provides good accuracy and velocity and they never try H4895. Overall, and in several cartridges, I've found H4895 to be at least slightly superior to Varget, especially with regard to accuracy.

 

[Ryan66]

Varget is a great powder for many applications in many cartridges, but I think a lot of handloaders select it because they hear or read somewhere that it provides good accuracy and velocity and they never try H4895. Overall, and in several cartridges, I've found H4895 to be at least slightly superior to Varget, especially with regard to accuracy.

If I could just find that pesky H4895 in stock locally … I’ll have to give it a try!
In all seriousness I’ve heard many great things about it too and especially with the heavy 80grn + bullets. Varget seemed easy enough to find a load with and it seems to do fairly well in the wide range of temps I shoot in up in MN.

 

[lotech]

If I could just find that pesky H4895 in stock locally … I’ll have to give it a try!
In all seriousness I’ve heard many great things about it too and especially with the heavy 80grn + bullets. Varget seemed easy enough to find a load with and it seems to do fairly well in the wide range of temps I shoot in up in MN.

I still have almost a full keg of H4895, but will buy another as soon as I find some. I'm surprised Varget has been so much easier to find. It wasn't always that way.

 

[Rsadams]

To me it sounds like you are in the right speed area considering your load.

Out of my 16in NATO chambered AR my load is:
69smk
Mixed headstamp LC brass
CCI400 primer
25.3 grains of Varget
2.25 oal

I’m getting 2720 fps and the accuracy settled in around this pressure/velocity area for me.
I believe my cheapie PSA build kit is a bit over gassed and ejection is brisk, however, it’s not beating up the brass too bad or leaving dents from the shell deflector. I don’t see overpressure signs on the primer or swipes either at this speed.

This gun is also a PSA build I did when Biden got into office. I already had several m4s but thought I would build one before they where banned again.... I used one of their lowers but my own parts most of which i consider pretty nice stuff.. The upper is a mid length gas system but it's over gassed , not horrible but it is.... Since I kinda knew this gun would be scoped running heavy sierra bullets fast I installed a Sprinco blue power spring in it with a heavy buffer and did a little work with the barrel , hopefully it shoots nice but if not it just a toy really so I will shoot it up and put a nice barrel and then free float it with a nice handguard....I cant stop screwing around with it and ordered a nice timney trigger for it last night... It almost seems like Primary Arms needs what I need and keeps putting stuff on sale and I keep buying stuff from them I bet their shipping guys starting to wonder... LOL buy the time iam done it's going to be a high end gun I have a million dollars in...

 

[Rsadams]

23.5 - 24 gr of H-4895 with 69 smk. It's easy on the action, accurate and will get you 2,700+ fps in a 16" bbl.

Remember, if this is a new barrel, it will speed up some after 100 +/- rounds.
I had a barrel on a bolt action rifle that kept speeding up until around 150 rounds. Ended up speeding up like 75 +/- fps.
I also noted FGMM ammo in 223/5.56x45 or 308/7.62x51 runs fairly slow compared to what it could. But the FGMM ammo accuracy is the best out of all Factory ammo.

I found H-4895 or IMR-4895 feels like the action runs smoother than with Varget in semi-auto rifles in 5.56 or 7.62 Nato. Nodes seem wider than with Varget as well.
The smoother the semi-auto action runs the more accurate it may be. I don't chase speed as much as accuracy.
2,750 fps sounds about right in a 16" 5.56 barrel.

In my M1A, the node is from 41.5 gr to 42.5 gr of H-4895 with 168 gr bullets.

Yes sir , iam not seeing anything on the brass at 2750-2730 fps I was trying to get some speed first but I ran some sierra factory 69gr smk over the lab radar it was like 2540fps but it's .223 and I am at 5.56 speeds... Now I have it I will start chasing a node by backing off the speed and seeing what happens if 2750 isn't it... really no need to go faster I have found that screaming hot isn't normally accurate so if it needs a little less speed but brings in the accuracy I am good with that.... It's testing time now...

 

[Zero333]

Yes sir , iam not seeing anything on the brass at 2750-2730 fps I was trying to get some speed first but I ran some sierra factory 69gr smk over the lab radar it was like 2540fps but it's .223 and I am at 5.56 speeds... Now I have it I will start chasing a node by backing off the speed and seeing what happens if 2750 isn't it... really no need to go faster I have found that screaming hot isn't normally accurate so if it needs a little less speed but brings in the accuracy I am good with that.... It's testing time now...

I'm just started some loads for 7.62x39 and the first round of testing with H-335 was not accurate at all and speed was way crazy high. I loaded 147 gr bullets and they were flying FASTER than the hot chinese surplus 123 gr stuff !!
Semi-Auto actions get violent at higher speeds and loose lots of accuracy. I found the same thing with the M855 greet tip surplus ammo. It was fast and accuracy was HORRIBLE.
Even with bolt guns I found 80%+ are way more accurate at lower speeds. Accuracy Trumps everything in my opinion.
I've had some luck here and there where a bolt gun shoots best at near max. But not with auto-loaders.

Here is a pic of a franken-Savage shooting well at near max with 80 gr Bergers (243win testing seating depth... 5-shot groups at 100 meters)...




And another pic of the same load during primary testing.... (yeah I had a brain block and turned the windage the wrong way,,, It was around 5 f degrees outside)...



And here is a pic with a mild load with my M1A (18.5" barrel ) at 100 meters with the original peep sight ( NO SCOPE ). Rifle is exactly as I bought it new at the store.
41.5 gr H-4895, F.C. brass, 169 SMK.. ( this is a solid repeatable load, not just a fluke )... Load is only as accurate as the shooter....