77 Siera MatchKing vs 77 Nosler Match

Ganderite

Ganderite

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Anyone tried the Nosler?

I have tried working up load for both, shooting them in 3 different AR-15s. The Sierra bullet is trying to shoot well. The Nosler is shooting 5" at 100 yards, off a bench, in all the rifles.
 
I use the Hornady match (not the A max they are too long) and they will cloverleaf out of my match barrel with 23.5 of cfe 223
 
Whats the twist ganderite?. There is something weird here, I have had good results with the matchkings out of a 1-7 twist barrel. How does the barrel shoot other loads?. If you don't mind could you post when you get this figured out?. This is the most interesting problem I have seen on CGN in quite some time. EDIT ... Have you tried 8208 xbr . I have good results with it in .223 and 22-250.
 
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The rifle has a very heavy 20" 1:7 SS barrel.

The first time I tried these two bullets (both 77gr HP that look almost identical) I also tried the Hornady 68gr HP Match and 62 gr FMJ. That test included the heavy barrel rifle and 3 others. The 68 got the best groups, the 77 Sierra fair groups and the Nosler about 5". All 4 rifles were 1:7. Powder was Olin 844, a powder best suited to the 62 and 68 gr bullets.

This time I used some other rifles, plus the heavy barrel rifle, and used CF8506 (25.0, 25.5 and 26 gr) , a powder best suited to the 77 gr bullets. Also included in the test was some ammo loaded with Hornady 55gr FMJs with 4895. The 55s shot around an inch or so in all 3 rifles. The 77 Sierra also shot around 1 inch in all 3 rifles. The Noslers were over 5" in all 3 rifles.

Since the Nosler won't work in 4 different rifles, it sure looks like bad bullets to me. This is why I ask if anyone else has had good results with them.

I will make up another batch with the 77s, using 26 gr of 8506, with new Winchester brass, match primers and weighed charges.

Here is a picture of the heavy rifle. The fact that the Noslers fail to perform in 4 rifles suggest that it is not a barrel/scope problem with this rifle. I am about to install a 20X scope for some serious load development.

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IMG_0533.jpg
 
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Ganderite I usually shoot 77mks through my service rifle but they were hard to find out here in BC. I could find the Noslers no problem though, so I bought some. My SR gun has a 19" Kreiger 1/7.8 on it with a Wylde chamber. My MK load was 24.5 gr Varget and it shoots in the .5-.6s pretty regular, so after some measurements to make sure they were pretty similar, I loaded up the Noslers and proceeded to duplicate the groups I usually shoot with the MKs. They shot to the same point of aim, the same size groups and I ran the exact same dope back to 500m. Then I took them to NSCC and proceeded to win a national championship with them, shooting a new Canadian record score in the process. They seem to work just fine for me. Only other thing I did to them was to tip them. Meplats are quite large.
 
Longshot said:
Ganderite I usually shoot 77mks through my service rifle but they were hard to find out here in BC. I could find the Noslers no problem though, so I bought some. My SR gun has a 19" Kreiger 1/7.8 on it with a Wylde chamber. My MK load was 24.5 gr Varget and it shoots in the .5-.6s pretty regular, so after some measurements to make sure they were pretty similar, I loaded up the Noslers and proceeded to duplicate the groups I usually shoot with the MKs. They shot to the same point of aim, the same size groups and I ran the exact same dope back to 500m. Then I took them to NSCC and proceeded to win a national championship with them, shooting a new Canadian record score in the process. They seem to work just fine for me. Only other thing I did to them was to tip them. Meplats are quite large.
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Thanks. This is exactly the info I was looking for. I look forward to figuring out why the groups are so big.
 
What defects in a lot of bullets could cause that? If they were greatly undersized or unevenly sized, you'd likely detect that upon seating them. Uneven jacket thickness? You could section a few and look. Did you recover any from the berm?
 
Are you folks single loading the 77s or are you loading to mag length and feeding from the mag?

Im just starting with ARs and am currently trying to find a load that will shoot in my 16" heavy barrel. I find that I'm getting compressed loads with anything heavier than about 68 gn if I stick to mag length loads.
 
Andy said:
What defects in a lot of bullets could cause that? If they were greatly undersized or unevenly sized, you'd likely detect that upon seating them. Uneven jacket thickness? You could section a few and look. Did you recover any from the berm?
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Bad sizing could be one; I had a box of some kind of bullets 7 or 8 years ago that varied by 5 thousandths throughout the box. Don't recall the type though.

Non-concentric jackets could do it too, or inconsistent cores?

I'd mic the lot of them and weigh them to see what I could figure out.
 
I've found the noslers to weigh out better than the matchkings. Very consistent. My load is compressed a bit. I think you'll find that with 77s you will get compressed loads with just about everything. Keep an eye on the brass for signs of pressure or use brass that has larger capacity. Obviously if you are shooting an AR you are going to want to run them mag length.
 
I have had excellent luck with the Noslers, epecially in 69 grain using WC735. I have not been able to get the 77 grainers to shoot quite as well as the Sierras or as well as the 75 grain Hornadys either, but very close. I have shot them all into wet pack though at about 100 meters and the Noslers have been hands down the best terminal performers. That part may not be important in this conversation though.
 
When I first started loading the heavier bullets in .223 for service rifle I found that the pressure needed to compress a big load of Varget sometimes damaged the tip of the Hornady bullets but not the SMK so I've always used SMK bullets.
 
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