Chrony data - 26.0 Varget, 69 SMK

Keebler750

Keebler750

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As promised in another thread, I now have chrony data for my Service Rifle ammo, put together on a Dillon 550. I ran the same rounds through two different rifles, for interest sake. There were NO signs of pressure from either rifle.

Powder - 26.0 Hodgdon Varget - (this Lyman MAX LOAD fills to the base of the neck and is lightly compressed)
Bullet - .223 Sierra 69gr Matchking
OAL - 2.270"
Winchester brass, new
Winchester small rifle primers
Ambient Temp - 70F

Rifle - 16" Bushmaster AR15 1-9" twist

Lo - 2775 fps
Hi - 2863
Av - 2813
Es - 87.99
Sd - 25.90

Rifle - 24" Tikka T3 Tactical 1-8" twist

Lo - 2884 fps
Hi - 2937
Av - 2914
Es - 52.50
Sd - 14.59

(the above ten shot group for the Tikka was 0.75" - bipod front, bag rear at 100yds. with a 15x Bushnell from a cement bench.)

This load works very well, so far, and I'm now interested in moving the bullet up to the lands to see what it'll do.
 
Keebler750 said:
As promised in another thread, I now have chrony data for my Service Rifle ammo, put together on a Dillon 550. I ran the same rounds through two different rifles, for interest sake. There were NO signs of pressure from either rifle.

Powder - 26.0 Hodgdon Varget - (this Lyman MAX LOAD fills to the base of the neck and is lightly compressed)
Bullet - .223 Sierra 69gr Matchking
OAL - 2.270"
Winchester brass, new
Winchester small rifle primers
Ambient Temp - 70F

Rifle - 16" Bushmaster AR15 1-9" twist

Lo - 2775 fps
Hi - 2863
Av - 2813
Es - 87.99
Sd - 25.90

Rifle - 24" Tikka T3 Tactical 1-8" twist

Lo - 2884 fps
Hi - 2937
Av - 2914
Es - 52.50
Sd - 14.59

(the above ten shot group for the Tikka was 0.75" - bipod front, bag rear at 100yds. with a 15x Bushnell from a cement bench.)

This load works very well, so far, and I'm now interested in moving the bullet up to the lands to see what it'll do.
Click to expand...


Very good !
You are still not at the full potential of the 69 gr IMHO.
You have reached close to the quantity limit for this setup...
Varget is mithycal but you can accuratly get to 3100 fps out of a 24 inch nooo problem. I gues IMR or RL15 is the next step up... Only if the rifle dictates it !
 
I'm shooting that ammo in a Operational Shooting Association Sniper Match at MilCun tomorrow in the Tikka. That's why I tested the ammo, and got my scope set up.

Should be interesting!!
 
Back from day one.

The ammo works great, but shooting the Tikka offhand or unsupported gave me grief. I'm not used to the weight, even though it's a lighter gun than many. It really pointed out how easy an AR15 is to shoot, because of ergonomics.

I did great at the 200 and 300M stages (except for some reloading-the-six-round-mag boo boo's in the 300M agony snaps!)

We did two shot Rapid Follow-Ups and Moving Target at the 200M mound. I actually got along really well with the movers.

We'll have to see how tomorrow's 400M movers work out.

....and the 500 and 600M stuff.....

:)
 
Day Two.....(no pics, sorry Ton)

Ammo above worked okay back to 600, but no real wind issues to show up the weaknesses.

The weather held off and we completed the final stages, including two-shot 500M snaps from standing alert down to a bipod, and a 200 to 600M 'walk back' in which we shot 2 shots and each mound on the same target and then scored it. People who made mistakes with their scope adjustments had a problem . We had a lazy wind from behind that threatened to blow us around but it didn't really do much.

I did poorly on the 400M movers, hitting the target going in only one direction :redface: , but the 200M mover I took 1st place on...go figure.

We're still working out the course of fire to make this game a little more challenging. We need to up the pace, or something.
 
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I'm jealous! Sound like allot of fun. BTW, Can I shoot my M14 in this match? If not, it's an incentive to save up for a bolt gun.

I am not surprised you did well Keebler. You're head is in the right mindset to do well. Keep it up.

How about a long crawl to a position or shooting a rifle through a horizontal slit. This will force the shooter to position their rifle side ways to make their scope usable...figuring out your hold and hit in this position is a challenge. You can always use real situations as an inspiration to make up a challenging match. Fun!

Tön
 
Make it more interesting if you had to wear a ghillie suit and crawl into position on the mound with your rig, take a shot, then crawl back off... All without the RO seeing you... :D

Chronied my loads with the 69gr today too. I'll post the results tomorrow night, I'm to lazy to go to the basement and get the paper the numbers are written on... :D:D
 
Chrono data

Finally dug out the chrono data......:rolleyes:



For all loads:
Winchester brass
Winchester small rifle primer
Rifle - Stag AR15 - 1:9 twist
Powder - Varget
Temp - 65f


SMK 69gr - 26.0 gr Varget

Hi: 2772
Lo: 2729
Avg: 2755.6

Hornady 68gr BTSP - 25.0 gr Varget

Hi: 2920
Lo: 2908
Avg: 2919
 
26 grains of varget under a 69 smk seems a bit stiff to me in an AR-15.

I prefer lighter loads. They are just as accurate and way easier on your equipment and especially brass. I personally keep it between 24 and 25 grains.

Just my 2 cents.
 
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At 500M, I need the wind beating speed of that load. Also, I have no pressure signs, no feed problems, and all my parts look way-kosher still after 2500 rounds.

What's not to like?
 
I love varget in my AR15, load it with 69gr and 77gr SMK bullets. The 26gr load with 69gr bullets was a stiff one and needed some tweaking of the rifle to run it properly, heavier carrier and recoil spring.
 
Keebler750 said:
At 500M, I need the wind beating speed of that load. Also, I have no pressure signs, no feed problems, and all my parts look way-kosher still after 2500 rounds.

What's not to like?
Click to expand...

While you may not be getting pressure signs, that is not to say you are not at or near max pressure;) Burning more powder than necessary could be causing undue stress on the throat, which would degrade barrel life.

I've tried 26 grains with 69s @ 2.250" and thought they were stiff, and beat up the rifle needlessly, so I backed it off. Not much loss in velocity and come-ups were near identical -maybe something to try. At the very least, you'll have more ammo per pound of powder.:D
 
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