223 report

[johnf]

Not really sure if this make since but this is what happened with my 223 loads. I'm using a Hornady 60 gr.sp pushed by varget. I started with minimum in the Nosler and Hornady books and moved up a 1/4 gr. at a time for my minimum +2.75 gr when I ran out of light.

At the minimum load I had a 1.5" group at 55 yards each load above that got bigger until I reached about a 3" pattern with the last load. (all 5 shot groups). Of course part of that may be that I was running out of light and couldn't really see the target that well. The bullets seem to be entering the paper at a good angle which would seem to mean that the 1:12 twist is stabilizing the bullet enough.

The plan with this gun is to use as for an under 50 yard deer gun for my kids. I think the fact that at 50 yards my 5MOA red dot is only slightly smaller than my biggest group means I'm really getting fairly good results. I'm kinda wishing I had left the scope on it to see what it could really do. Maybe after my daughter gets used to shooting the red dot I'll replace it with a 3-9.

BTW. Does Varget always smell funny?

[hammerforged]

John;

I spoke to our Ballistics guy and here is his response.

Ross, The man needs to work up his loads with a scope on his rifle,red dots are not precision instruments and are probably causing his group size. As he adds powder to his loads the groups will continue to a point and then he will start blowing primer gas around his primer until the primer blows out completely from his case. The funny smell was probably primer gas, it has a distinct smell, I've blown a lot of them. You can also pierce a primer with the firing pin if the cup is thin and get the same smell. I never noticed varget having a funny smell. Varget shoots good in a .223 but he may want to try another powder in his loading manual if his results with varget are not satisfactory. He may want to try a shorter bullet to work in his 1-12 twist at 50 yards he should be shooting better groups,but again it's probably the red dot.

[johnf]

I know the gun can shoot better than that, I was shooting factory rem. 55gr. hp out of it with a 4x Simmons scope at 50 yards and having 5 of 5 touching each other. I changed to a red dot to make the gun easier for my daughter and my 4'10" mother who can't seem to shoot with a magnified scope. At 63 she's decided she wants to kill a deer. Who am I to argue with my momma. I think the group size reflects the size of the red dot (only one group was bigger than the dot) and my ability to hold a 5lb gun still.

Your buddy sounds like he knows what he's talking about, but I think he's off the mark on this one. My brass is all once fired and I was shooting the minimum recommended load up to a hair over half way to the maximum. I'll pm you if you want specific load data. As for the bullet size, I wanted something a little heavier for better penetration and I wanted a group of less than 2" at 50 yards. I know that's not great, but for it's intended purpose it's acceptable to me. I know this isn't going to be used past 50 yards, so even the largest group would be ok to me. I figure a heart/lung shot will be the only thing that this will be used for and there is enough margin of error for an ethical shot.

I do get .5-.75 MOA on my deer guns which are all topped with Nikon's.

jf

[johnf]

I took it back out today with 20 more rounds of the minimum and got even better results. I got one 5 shot group that was a little under an inch and shot two 2.5 groups at 100 yards. I think I'm going to start just pouring them out like that. I've got about 200 primed empties and 300 bullets, so I think I'm set for a while.

I know that's not a lot for you AR-15 guys, but 200 rounds will last when your using a single shot.