What are your loads for 223 / 75gr Amax?

Jasonsmack

Jasonsmack

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I have the Hornady book and see what they offer for baselines but...

I am curious to see what has been working for you guys that shoot 1 in 8" bull barrels in an AR15 and possibly T3 Tikka's with the 1 in 8" twist. I have one of each and am hoping to mix up a load that will work in both guns. I am not really sure if I am going to be able to get the big 75 grain bullets to fit or feed in an AR15. Any experience or suggetions would be appreciated.

I have been using 68 grain hollow points in the AR so far and it works very well. The Tikka is a brand new gun.

Jason
 
I think you'll be fine for the Tikka, you can load the 75's long ( I do in my Savage 12FVSS) however for your AR, if you want to load them for most effective use, you'll need to forget about the magazine and single load them.

My pet load for the Savage is 24.1 Gr of BL-C2, winchester case neck sized, CCI BR4 primer, and 75 Gr Amax seated to 2.510.

Best thing to do is start with your different loads, seated as the book says. find the optimum powder weight, then play with seating for the Tikka.

Repeat for AR.

I'd be surprised if you can get one load for both firearms.
 
I loaded some last night but have not tried any out yet. I loaded up some slower cartridges for the barrel break in and sight in on the Tikka. After I get through those I have 5 sets of bullets with different powder loads to try and tune the barrel.

I can only get 24 grains of Varget in the case. With 25 grains I had to manipulate the powder location in the case before I seated the bullets. Even then I am sure I was compressing the powder. 25 Grains is what Hodgon suggests for maximum powder load on their website anyway.

The Tikka has a removable magazine so I have found out that my OAL is going to be limited to 2.300". I may consider altering the magazine further down the road. It is too bad the magazine is so short, there seems to be a little extra space between the bullet and the rifling when the cartridge is chambered. If I could get the OAL up to 2.325" that would leave me with .050 clearance between the bullet and rifling.

It does appear that I will be using the 68 or 69 grain projectiles for the AR15. I have only used factory loaded stuff in it so far and it shoots very well with the Black Hills 68 grain hollow points anyway.
 
Been shooting H4350, CCI BR4, Win Brass and the 75gr Amax in my Stevens.

Averaging 3/8MOA so am very happy with how it shoots. Does very well at LR too.

Unfortunately, kind of slow at 2600fps (22" barrel). Will try some Benchmark to get the speed up. Tried Varget but didn't agree with the barrel the first time around. Might try again if I get bored.

Jerry
 
It must be too tight. I am using a RCBS competition die and it leaves a small ring on the bullet when I compress 25 grains of Varget. OAL is slightly longer too. I guess I should not get too excited about it until I shoot some groups and check the chronygraph.
 
I have not had any problems seating the 69gr MatchKings with 27gr of Varget OAL 2.290. I am using neck sized brass and seated with Lee dies, don't see any marks on the bullets and they chamber well.
 
Jasonsmack said:
It must be too tight. I am using a RCBS competition die and it leaves a small ring on the bullet when I compress 25 grains of Varget. OAL is slightly longer too. I guess I should not get too excited about it until I shoot some groups and check the chronygraph.
Click to expand...

The ring on the bullets means nothing as far as accuracy goes. It is caused be a sharp edge on the depth adjustment rod inside the die.
Try a 4 inch drop tube to get your powder into the case. You will be surprised how much more room you have for powder. I use 26 of Varget with an 80 gr moly coated bullet in Win cases, not compressed.
 
Oh yeah, I should have added that I am using a drop tube. I am sure the biggest issue is the magazine length on my Tikka.

Seems that a bit of a pattern is forming on this thread too, the Winchester cased may hold more powder. I have some once fired Winchester, Federal and other mixed cases. I should take some time and see if there is a capacity difference in them.
 
I looked at the capacity chart on the 6mm page and it shows that the Remington cases have a larger or equal capacity compared to most of the other brass.

Pending on how the loads I have work out I guess the magazine will get modified so I can increase my OAL. There is a ton of extra plastic that can be removed from the primer end of the magazine. The pictures of the projectiles on the 6mm page shows how much longer the 75 grain A-Max is compared to many of the other bullets. The A-Max covers 11 squares on the chart while the 69 grain Sierra covers 9. That is where my case capacity has dissapeared to.
 
You can get more powder in cases if you pour powder in real slow. It will settle and pack better. I use 24 gr. Varget in Winchester cases, with 75 gr. Amax's in my 28 inch 1-9 Gaillard barrel for 2870fps. It is slightly compressed.
 
.223's

68 gr Hornady HPBT's hit thumb tacks at 100 consistantly. Used H335 22.1 gr and also tried Accurate 2230 with excellent results.
Rifle was Colt Sporter with Free floating 26" shillen barrell 1/9 tw. JP trigger.
tried 75 amax 's and they shot well but not a big enough difference to put up with single feeding. 68's fit perfect, 69's almost/sometimes rubbed 75's the whole red tip extended past the follower.
Any questions about the results ask blindman for confirmation.
 
The longer 223 bullets will not perform any better at 100m than say a 68 or 69 grain HPBT, or even a 55gr flat based bullet, and in fact may be out performed at that distance.
You will see a marked improvement at 400m and out, and they really start to shine 500+m.

My pick for a do-all match bullet from 100 - 500m is either the 69gr. SMK or the Hornady 68gr. HPBT
If you are not going past 300m, a 55grain bullet will do just fine
 
Beltfed said it right. I'm using a 55 gr FMJ for carbine and rifle matches INSIDE 300m. All around competition: 68 gr Hornady with 23.5gr. of WC735.

Dunno about you guys, but I gotta cut corners with my 19 yr old at Queer's Univ in Kingston. So I gotta spend $ 14 per lb by purchasing 21 lb lots of WC735 ball powder from Higginson's. I use this powder in both .223 and .308 loads for hunting and competition. Varget and Hodgdon and Reloader and Vihtavouri are all outta my price point.

My wife uses this 68 gr. bullet up to 600m in her M700 Police .223 9" twist barrel. I've had super success using the 75 gr. AMAX bullet with 23.5 gr of WC845 at 800meters in Connaught's winds. I chrono'ed those 75's : 2874 fps (average) and I was happy with that velocity at the NSCC matches, right alongside all the military and police snipers. I never felt like I was outgunned.

23.5 grains gets my 68 gr. bullet out at around 3014 fps (average) and the lighter 55gr bullets comes out around 3092 fps (average). Now for earthpigs, I'm using a 50 gr. VMAX chrono'ed around 3100 fps. Heeeeere kitty, kitty , kitty... LOL That's for the earth pigs on the Niagara Escrapement (sic). yuk yuk yuk

Cheers all,
Barney
 
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