WK-180C and 62 grain bullets

[GunsNotPuns]

Hey there amigos. So I'm in the midst of load development for my WK-180C and I appear to have hit a wall: My current load -- 55 grain bullets over 22.4 grains of H335 -- has topped out at about 2.600 MOA. I'm of the opinion that my testing of loads has been a comedy of errors -- it's either stupidly hot, stupidly cold, rain pounding me in the face, etc., anything to make shooting uncomfortable and potentially affecting my accuracy -- but when I look over my numbers over a period of time they're always in the 2.600 MOA neighbourhood.

At any rate, I've decided to move to 62 grains (though 1:9 twist should stabilise 55 grain just fine). I'm mulling over three powders: H335, Varget and BL-C(2). I could conceivably add CFE223 to the mix if I have to.

H335 - I'm hitting 2.600 MOA, but with a lighter bullet so who knows. I'd prefer to use this as I have a bunch and only use it for .223 at the moment.

Varget - I created near God-mode .223 for my AR-15 but that has arguably a better barrel and a different twist rate. Plus, not the easiest powder to score these days.

BL-C(2) - Never used it in .223 but I have a lot and can continue to get more so there's that.

I don't necessarily want your load data, though if you want to share that's cool, more if you've used these powders with 62 grain bullets out of the WK-180C what kind of results you're getting.

 

[Hitzy]

22.4 H335 is pretty light for 55gr.
What kind of velocity are you getting?

 

[Ustauk]

I don't know if it would help with accuracy, but the WK is known to be over-gassed to eat crap mmo. Have you considered installing an adjustable gas block to reduce the force in the system down to the minimum level to our through your custom ammo? Have you also thought about using a rifle length piston/op rod to further manage the forces involved? Again, not sure if reducing the forces involved would help with accuracy, but swapping the barrel to a match grade barrel with a rifle length gas port should help with accuracy. You would need the longer piston and adjustable gas port for that anyways. Just a thought. Both are available from True North Arms.

 

[Paul_T]

Have you considered installing an adjustable gas block to reduce the force in the system down to the minimum level to our through your custom ammo? <snip> available from True North Arms.

I've looked all over TNA website and can only find the gas block 'kit' for 7.62 and 300 BLK
https://truenortharms.com/ar15_defa...ystem-for-wk180-c-7-62x39mm-300-blackout.html

Any link to their WK180C adjustable gas block for an OEM calibre setup just so one can reduce the over-gassing of this rifle?



OP - I have used BLC2 with 60 grain HP bullets (Hornady 2275) for my bolt gun. Prefer Varget but BLC2 works fine, 26gr for my CZ527

For my WK I use 24gr Varget under 68 grain BTHP (Hornady 2278) match bullets

 

[GunsNotPuns]

22.4 H335 is pretty light for 55gr.
What kind of velocity are you getting?

I'll be honest with you, I've never been much of a chrono guy (though I have one). I would imagine about 2,200 fps which probably is a bit slow for that round.

I don't know if it would help with accuracy, but the WK is known to be over-gassed to eat crap mmo. Have you considered installing an adjustable gas block to reduce the force in the system down to the minimum level to our through your custom ammo? Have you also thought about using a rifle length piston/op rod to further manage the forces involved? Again, not sure if reducing the forces involved would help with accuracy, but swapping the barrel to a match grade barrel with a rifle length gas port should help with accuracy. You would need the longer piston and adjustable gas port for that anyways. Just a thought. Both are available from True North Arms.

That got expensive, fast

OP - I have used BLC2 with 60 grain HP bullets (Hornady 2275) for my bolt gun. Prefer Varget but BLC2 works fine, 26gr for my CZ527

For my WK I use 24gr Varget under 68 grain BTHP (Hornady 2278) match bullets

Duly noted, thanks.

 

[Ganderite]

I have a lot of experience with 223.

Do you want cheap? Or do you want accurate? Different bullets.

90% of the rifle's accuracy is the barrel. You want to get the best accuracy you can - with the current barrel.

The big variable for you is the bullet -not the powder. All your powder choices are viable, but Varget would probably be the best.

Buy a box of: Hornady 68 match and 75 gr Match. Sierra 60 gr HP, 69 Match and 77 match.

Load them with one of your powders at 0.5 gr less than the book max, and two lower increments of 0.3 gr.

Shoot that survey and see what bullet your rifle likes.

If you want to shoot long range, you can try some 80 Sierra match, but they might not stabalize at the lower velocity of your short barrel. I get 3000 fps with them out of a 30" barrel and they shoot very well to 1000 yards.