Need help with .224 bullets

polskadude

polskadude

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I recently bought myself an SL8-4 in .223 Rem. I'm totally new to this caliber and dont know much about it, besides what I've read about it in the Black Rifles section. I took it out to the range with some 55 grain bullets. The groupings were horrible!

Two local shooters gave me 5 rounds of 69 grain sierra bullets and 5 rounds of 75grain A-Max bullets. Both loads shot way better then the 55 grain. The only problem was the 75 grain A-max didn’t fit into the magazine, so I had to shoot one at a time.
Is that because of the way he loaded them, or is that the only way to load them?
If 75 grain A-Max wont fit, then I'm looking for sierra 69 grain .224 bullets, or something similar.

Can anyone let me know if any supporting dealers have these or similar bullets in stock?

What about brass and primers?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Matt
 
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new at reloading too and i have satarted with 223
i have a savage with 1 in 9 twist
the problem with the length of a-max is much heavier bullet weight has to go somewhere.make it longer i have som berger 70 grain vld's and they are almost as long as the brass
75 grains shot well in mine but load was a mite hot so i am workin loads in the 69 grain seirra and 70 vld's
the cheapest 55 grain winchester's i could find are only useful for makin empty brass in mine though
 
I'm not real familiar with with fast twist rifles, but I have a stock Rem. 788 in 223 that LOVES 55gr. Rem. PSP's with 26.5 gr H335 (HOT). Always sub MOA, if I do my part, and good on Coyotes as well.
 
Like polksadude said....

The SL-8's like heavier bullets, as you found out. Many/most of the 75gr won't fit in the mag (as you found out). You can try 69gr to start (Sierra being a good choice), and you should get good results from the Hornady 75gr HPBT (#2279) if you want to go heavier for some reason - they will fit mag-length because of the abbreviated ogive.

Any sorted brass will do - Remington being fairly common. Federal loosens primer pockets faster than others. If you like quality, try Lapua (from Hirsch Precision) - they last longer than most brass, offsetting the initial cost. Any primers will do - Winchester seats easily and touches off well enough. I've started to avoid Federals in semi's with uncaptured firing pins (they're relatively soft).
 
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Hey polskadude... if the 75 amax worked well you need to get 75 HPBT you can seat these a bit deaper and they are shorter then amax because they dont have the red pointy tip...

1-9 twist is a slower twist barrel not fast twist.
 
"...1-9 twist is a slower twist barrel not fast twist...." Nope. It's a fast twist. More turns per inch. The SL8 has 1 in 7 rifling. That's even faster.
 
Doh I had a brain laps there I thought he was talking about 1-7" and then 1-9"
1-9" twist it means there is 1 complete twist of the rifling in 9" yes its a faster twist.
 
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