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Posted: 11/14/2013 3:23:42 PM EDT
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I passed on a new rifle, and decided to work on making this one shoot. 24" .223/5.56 stainless Varminter. 1 in 9 twist. The 75gr bullets I had, it really didn't like. I have a metric shit ton of 50 and 55gr Hornady Z-Max.
Is there any advantage to either weight, and what would be a good powder to take advantage of the 24" barrel? Looking for either direct experience or at least a starting point to save some frustration. I would like to plan a prairie dog trip so I'm interested in both trajectory, and accuracy. My own range is only 100yds so real world trajectory would be hard to test, but I do have a chrono. Thanks. |
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Quoted:
I passed on a new rifle, and decided to work on making this one shoot. 24" .223/5.56 stainless Varminter. 1 in 9 twist. The 75gr bullets I had, it really didn't like. I have a metric shit ton of 50 and 55gr Hornady Z-Max. Is there any advantage to either weight, and what would be a good powder to take advantage of the 24" barrel? Looking for either direct experience or at least a starting point to save some frustration. I would like to plan a prairie dog trip so I'm interested in both trajectory, and accuracy. My own range is only 100yds so real world trajectory would be hard to test, but I do have a chrono. Thanks. The 53 Vmax is a higher BC bullet. |
| I used to shoot 55gr Nosler BT out of mine over AA2230. Don't have the exact load anymore, but it loved them. Easily hold together 3/4" groups off of the bench, and even better with a better shooter behind it. I also had a CMC trigger in it which helped out quite a bit. I would think the V-max would be very similar. If you are looking for longer range (I try to stay inside of 200yds with a .223) Maybe try 69gr. SMK pills. That was the heaviest bullet I could get to stabilize in the 1-9" twist. |
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My Varminter WOA upper loves the Nosler 55 gr. BTs and the Hornady 55 gr. Vmaxs. I use 24.5 gr of AA2230. Good on PDs out to 350 yards or so. I chose to go with 55 gr varmint bullets because I had already worked up target loads in that gun with 55 gr. HPBTs, so there wasn't much difference for me. Both 55s shoot well out of that barrel, albeit with slightly different POIs. When I have a longer PD shot (500 yds) I switch to 77 gr SMKs with excellent results. YMMV Remember, accuracy trumps velocity, especially when hunting PDs. |
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Dadd,
I use the 50gr V-Max. I get just over 3400f/s with IMR-4198 from my VTR-15 with 22" barrel. (1 in 9) With a 2 7/8" scope height a 1" high sight in at 100yd is 1" high at 200yd. Of course its 2 7/8" high at about 165 or so. Nature of the scope height. Actual zero is around 235yds. IIRC its about 6" low at 300yds. This works great for groundhogs. P dogs are a bit smaller critters. As far as 55s go the rifle shoots most of them really well and with a wide variety of powders. H-335, WC-844, IMR-4320, RL-7 have all done well. Oh yeah W-748 too and WC-846. If you are looking to make the most of your 24" barrel length I suggest looking at data and finding the highest velocity with the fullest case of the slowest powder. A full or lightly compressed load of slow powder often produces the most velocity from long barrels. Of course this slow powder thing needs to be in perspective. We are talking .223 here. Study the data. Keep in mind too some of the loads may not work well with the gas system. I have not had any issues with this yet though but my rifles are all rifles, I don't have any carbines. |
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