Short Barrel 223 MV?

[ned kelly]

G'day all,
does anyone have MV's for 80gn bullets out of short barreled 223's, say 20"-22" long?

If so which powder did you use, 2206, 2206H, BM1, BM2 or 2208?

Thanks for your help,

Cheerio Geoff

[taka]

G'day Geoff,

I shoot a tikka 223 with 24" barrel in F-Class. I am waiting for 80grn amax's to arrive to start load development for the 80grn. But in the mean time I have been shooting 75grn amax using 2206H in comps, powder wt I use is 24.4 and I get 2950-2975fps. This took about 3 months to arrive at but it is really accurate and consistant load with vertical being rock steady. I like the 2206H as it almost fills the cartridge (up to the shoulder) but with enough room for the long 75/80grn projjies.

I am expecting to get similar with 80's but powder load will be around 23.4 to 23.5. Max load is 24grn for 80's according to ADI doc's. As you can see I don't load to max like some 223 shooters with the 30" barrels, but they also use a slower powder 2208. I am looking to try BM2 as well as I think that would work well too. I want my cartridges to last for many reloads. I have only been shooting F-Class for 6 months, so plenty of room for improvement and learning.

Hope this helps.

cheers

Steve

[taka]

Further info & questions...

I crono'd loads last Nov. and using 24.4grn 2206h with 75grn amax projies & got mv's around 2950fps.
Last weekend I crono'd loads again with the same cronograph at the same range and got different results..?

for the 75Grn amax using 24.4 2206h got mv's around 2850fps!!! different by 100fps???

Also for interest I finally crono'd loads for 80grn Amax using 23.6grn 2206h & got mv's around 2750fps.

So the question is -
Is it usual for cronographs to vary by 100 to 150fps for different sessions of use?
And would it be anything to do with different times of year ie: diff temps humidity etc.???
Also would slight carbon fouling reduce MV's? I have found with borescope some glazed carbon fouling along whole length of bore, although only slight, I have got some JB's bore paste & will use this to clear the carbon before next shoot this weekend.

A little confusing????
As I will have to try and get higher MV's for the 80 grn Amax for F-Class at longer ranges, I would think 2900 to 2950 would be required ....

Any ideas anyone???

cheers

Steve

[richmac]

Hi Takka
I would like to ask you one question.How often do you change your battery when doing Chrono?
I was gettin lower and lower velocity recordings and was scratching my head wondering what was going on.
I have now purchased rechargable 9 volt batteries and the problem has been solved.
Each Tim b4 I go out to test velocities I recharge and get good consistant results.
Cheers Rich

[taka]

Thanks for reply Rich,

The chrony is a ced2 and the battery is probably the same one from last year. It is at my SSAA club range & is available for members to use. Interesting point about the battery, I will take a new one with me next time & compare results. That should be this wednesday, so I will post what I find out.


Steve

[Woody_rod]

As you can see I don't load to max like some 223 shooters with the 30" barrels, but they also use a slower powder 2208. I am looking to try BM2 as well as I think that would work well too. I want my cartridges to last for many reloads. I have only been shooting F-Class for 6 months, so plenty of room for improvement and learning.

Steve

Many people here in WA use 2208H in 223's and 308's. We use substantially more 2206H than 24 grains and so do a lot of other people. Have yet to find one single loose primer pocket, or any other issue, in thousands of rounds fired.

[taka]

Hi Woody,

what do you reckon I should try?

With the 2208h I found that I couldn't get enough velocity even with compressed loads in my short barrel.

2206h ADI say max is 24 gr. So I have been careful to stay below this. I am at present using 23.8 grns and it is really accurate and consistant, going to chrono to check mv tomorrow.

Would I be best to keep increasing the load and watching for pressure signs?
What is a reasonable load for you guys? Or is it a trade secret??I am reasonably new to this so I am interested to get any advise from more experienced shooters.

So many questions, sorry...

cheers

Steve

[taka]

Well I put brand new battery in the chrono and even checked with multimeter to ensure the battery was fully charged. Difference in MV's was minor maybe 30 to 50fps, I get more variation in my loads than this when I test say 10 loads I will get velocity variation read of about 50fps over the 10 loads.

Anyway, results were,
for the 75grn amax I got 2875 to 2900 using 24.6 grn 2206H, but found this load not as accurate, so I am going to try 24.8grn 2206H.

for the 80 grn amax, using 23.8 grn 2206H got 2800 to 2850fps, and very accurate.

So Mr woody_rod -
are you molying bullets? Is that how you are able to go past max loads?
Does it affect how many reloads the cartridges can take?
Do you have any advice regarding loads in 2206H and 0.223 cal with 80 grn amax you can pass on to a new F-classer??? .
You have hinted but no detail

Or have you just got too many lungfull's of the chickens###t you mentioned.... in another post and hallucinating...

Will carry on experimenting anyway, but I am a little anxious regarding exceeding max loads recommended by ADI....

cheers

Steve

[Woody_rod]

taka,

I have seen no evidence of any benefit from putting moly on bullets. In my opinion, the benefits of moly only reside inside the heads of those that recommend it. It does not increase muzzle velocity, does not reduce SD of MV...so what is the purpose of it? All I see it do is make a build up of crap inside a barrel. Hence my fascitious comment about chook shit.

Just use plain bullets, and spend as much as you can time reading conditions, that is where you will gain the most value.

One other test that is important it to shoot a test group at the longest range you will shoot at. This will then show you any vertical group tendency (generally from MV differences). You will need to get your MV under 10fps difference to be really competitive in the future.

We go past max loads as we use an extremely strong action.

[taka]

thanks for the reply Rod,

Hmmm interesting, as you say a lot of people seem to be using coated bullets. I must admit I am not interested in coating - too much work.

Thanks for the advice I will try as you suggest, and get the consistency of loads much tighter. And the reading of conditions is a big leveler no matter what else is going on. I guess experience,time and practice practice practice is the only way to improve wind reading.

Are there times when there are second hand actions (these strong ones you mentioned) available? They sound great.

cheers

Steve

[Woody_rod]

Without making an advert, we make "these actions", and to date, there are none second hand as yet.

There don't seem to be too many people using moly in the West. I don't take that much notice either, so maybe they do. Too busy trying to read conditions etc myself. By that I mean, reading conditions when OTHER PEOPLE are shooting, not just when I am....