Not enough "clicks". Again...

A 69 grain is still going to struggle at long range, regardless of bases and rings and such.
Make it easier on yourself, 80 grain Amax, or berger, with a serious charge of powder behind it !
 
ntm said:
A 69 grain is still going to struggle at long range, regardless of bases and rings and such.
Make it easier on yourself, 80 grain Amax, or berger, with a serious charge of powder behind it !
Click to expand...

He is running a factory 9 twist Remington Barrel, he can't stabilize a 80 Berger.
 
shell_guy said:
I would agree, .223 can be a great 1000m gun but only when built accordingly. It's hard to be consistent at 1k with a factory 223.
Click to expand...

I've got a tikka tactical .223 that is quite the overachiever at 1000m.
Very impressive for a factory rifle, I've had customs that were less accurate... and it likes scary heavy powder charges (like 25.3 grains of varget with a 80 grain projectile !).
 
I guess I am pushing the limits of my barrel pretty hard since it is only a 1-9 twist, but its what I've got. When I bought this gun I was really only looking at it as an action to start a project/build with, but the damn thing shot pretty good at 100 so I figured I'd shoot it out, and rebarrel when accuracy dropped off.

Some later replies to this thread lead me to ask another question.
What happens if you shoot 80 grain vld's in a 9 twist?
Can you get lucky and find a load that shoots well, or are you just asking for keyholes?
 
Boomer454 said:
I guess I am pushing the limits of my barrel pretty hard since it is only a 1-9 twist, but its what I've got. When I bought this gun I was really only looking at it as an action to start a project/build with, but the damn thing shot pretty good at 100 so I figured I'd shoot it out, and rebarrel when accuracy dropped off.

Some later replies to this thread lead me to ask another question.
What happens if you shoot 80 grain vld's in a 9 twist?
Can you get lucky and find a load that shoots well, or are you just asking for keyholes?
Click to expand...

For a great read on this topic and a LOT more, I highly recommend Bryan Litz's book "Applied Ballistics for Long Range Shooting"

Bullet stability (Sg) is affected by a multitude of factors - weight, length, spin rate & velocity, as well as the atmospheric conditions (temp, altitude/pressure, humidity) of your shooting location. If your twist rate isn't sufficient to stabilize a bullet, given your particular shooting location/conditions, it will likely be apparent almost immediately (keyholes at 100 yards/meters or less). Sg actually increases as the bullet flies downrange (bullet velocity decays much faster than its' rate of spin), but if the bullet is unstable as it leaves the muzzle it won't improve later on...

Math/physics (and our opinions) aside, the only way to find out for sure if your barrel twist can stabilize an 80 grain VLD, is to load some up, shoot 'em & see what happens.
 
My recommendation would be careful about adding to much permanent elevation in your base I had a 20moa base and Burris signature rings with the -+10 inserts so about 30 moa total on my savage 260 and I wasn't able to zero my rifle at 200m couldn't come down enough. Do the math and figure out with how you plan on using the rifle 90% of the time how much your willing to give up the other way ie having your 100m zero being 2mildots above centre.
 
I'll throw this out there for you, with the 1 in 9 twist barrel, you might not stabilize the 75 grain amax. My remington wouldn't, so I'm shooting 75 grain hornady BTHPs. Never shot them anywhere near 1000 though. And you ask what will happen if you shoot an 80 grain berger? It likely won't stabilize and won't fly point forward, it will wobble or tumble. Look for oblong holes in your target.
 
You've gotten some good advice so far. I highly recommend the berger 75 VLD for your situation. It is easier to stabilize than the 75 amax, and while having much better ballistics than the 69 smk, or 75 hornady hpbt for that matter. Your scope is certainly limiting you. Burris Signature rings with the inserts will give you an extra 10 moa ( 1" version has 20moa avialible).

long range will definitely try your patience, but if you persevere, it will put a huge smile on your face.
 
So I finally got out to the range to try those 75 grain VLDs. (Huge thanks to tenguns!!!)

Loaded ten each with 22.5, 23.8, 23, 23.2, and 23.5 grains of benchmark. All seated to 2.430".
From what I could find online 23.5 is the max load and the length comes from Berger.

So far, any bullet I've tried has liked 22.5 of benchmark best. These were no exception and showed the most promise. Five rounds into about ⅝" at 100. The rest opened up to 1.5 to almost three inches for the hot ones!

The wind was really not cooperating so I called it a day. Just going to play with seating depth to tune the load a bit, and hopefully find a sale on those bullets somewhere soon.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom