223 ackley info needed. varget w/ 75-80 AMAX

[rl4930]

Hi guys,

I'm Loading for a new gun I recently picked up. I have 60 fireformed Winchester cases. I have 75 and 80 gr amax bullets on hand and varget powder with cci br2 primers. I also have some H1000 but I think it'll be a little slow.

do you guys have any loads built up? I was thinking of starting at 24.6gr and working up in .3 gr increments. with the 75 amax, i'll have a coal of 2.525 @ 10 thou back or 2.534 on the lands

the gun is a savage 10fcp with a 29" MacLennan barrel

thanks!

 

[elkhuntr]

Good to start at that initial varget load. You could start at 25.0 with fire formed brass and 80gr bullet. Bet you'll find the upper node in tenth of a grain increments near 26.0gr set to touch lands with the 80s (in my case 80gr bergers, Win brass, varget lit with CCI mag primer.) Like the 223 I still found the gun settled on the load within a 10th of a grain. So I would use 0.2gr increments to locate the node and fine tune at 300m to confirm. Varget will likely start crunching in the case around 25.5gr in fire formed cases. I would suggest the CCI450 mag primer as it has thicker walls and reduces the chance for puncture. The CCI BR4 I believe also has the thicker cup.

My 223 AI provided 1.5min of gain over distance above the standard 223 at the upper node. Enjoy the 223 AI, it is a keeper.

 

[rl4930]

Thanks! I got good results with 24.9 and 25.8, with the 75gr amax, but that was in .3 gr increments. I think I might try again in .2 increments. at 24.9 and 25.8 the groups were less than 1/2' at 100yds. I started getting into a bit of pressure at 25.8 and I was flattening primers at 26.1 and had a little bit of an issue ejecting brass. I did notice however that the brass must not have been fully formed, because the cases after the second firing had a much sharper shoulder.