Posted: 7/24/2010 6:31:34 PM EDT
|
I am fortunate enough to live within a three hour drive of Camp Perry. Earlier this month I bought a Rock River Arms NM upper there so I could start working towards a Distinguished Rifle Shot badge. Now I'm planning a return trip in a few weeks to buy components so I can start loading .223. (I've been shooting bullseye pistol for years, so I already have several reloading presses and manuals and I also have a set of Hornady .223 dies.)
I'm going to need powder, bullets and primers - but which ones? Is there a "best" powder for high power loads in .223? If I load both 55 grain and, say, 75 grain bullets, should I be able to get good results for both with the same powder? Is there a "best" primer? And for bullets... I know that there are lots of choices. The 1:8 twist in my RRA barrel should stabilize most of the heavier bullets that are popular at longer ranges but I'm thinking that I'll need to learn how to shoot the offhand and rapid fire stages before I worry about that. I don't think I'll even be able to find a place to practice that's over 200 yards. So should I just buy some "good enough" bullets until I'm farther down the learning curve? |
|
One of the biggest things with CMP EIC matches is having your zeros down cold. Using one set of ammo for practice and matches facilitates this.
If the 55s are accurate, no need to shoot something different at 200 for matches. If they are surplus bullets I would not use them though unless you were just starting out. Hornady or other aftermarket bulk 55s would be ok. 69-77s should be used for 300 and 75~80s for the 600 yard stage. I use R15 and have shot Varget. I've been told 4895 also works well. N140 also seems popular. B |
|
Quoted:
I am fortunate enough to live within a three hour drive of Camp Perry. Earlier this month I bought a Rock River Arms NM upper there so I could start working towards a Distinguished Rifle Shot badge. Now I'm planning a return trip in a few weeks to buy components so I can start loading .223. (I've been shooting bullseye pistol for years, so I already have several reloading presses and manuals and I also have a set of Hornady .223 dies.) I'm going to need powder, bullets and primers - but which ones? Is there a "best" powder for high power loads in .223? If I load both 55 grain and, say, 75 grain bullets, should I be able to get good results for both with the same powder? Is there a "best" primer? And for bullets... I know that there are lots of choices. The 1:8 twist in my RRA barrel should stabilize most of the heavier bullets that are popular at longer ranges but I'm thinking that I'll need to learn how to shoot the offhand and rapid fire stages before I worry about that. I don't think I'll even be able to find a place to practice that's over 200 yards. So should I just buy some "good enough" bullets until I'm farther down the learning curve? Sir, EIC legs at Camp Perry generally go to the shooters that can consistantly shoot 480s and up. That being said most are using bullets like the 77gr SMK or 75gr Hornady for 200/300 yds and 80gr SMKs or similar for 600yds. RL-15, VV N540, IMR 4895, and Varget, to name a few are popular powders with service rifle shooters. I would avoid surplus bullets because there's simply to much variation of weight. CCI primers are popular, I prefer 450s but I spent alot of time working up my loads. I would suggest you participate in some reduced course matches to learn the basics. When I did that I always used SMKs just to have the assurance that the problem was me not the ammo. HTH, 7zero1. |
|
EIC legs at Perry in recent years can begin at 468 (like last year) to 476. Just never give up cuz you never know what the cut will be.
Find a good reduced match for starting out where you can learn and practice the fundamentals before introducing the wind. Around here we shoot 2 reduced matches at 200 yards, 1 200/300/600 match and 1 MR/LR match every month. A reduced 80 round reduced match takes about 2 hours to complete and can give you a good handle on what you need to work on. |
|
I haven't actually loaded any rounds yet but I thought I'd report on my components:
I now have Varget powder, new Lake City brass, Hornady 75 grain BTHP bullets and both Remington 7 1/2 and Wolf Small Rifle primers. There were bags of 500 once-fired Lake City cases for sale for $20, which seemed like a good price, but I looked in the bag and saw mixed head stamps, which made me decide against getting some. |
|
Sir a couple of things for you
check the remington box- remington small rifle have a disclaimer right there suggesting the primers not be used in semi auto - for that matter there are a lot of calibers it does not recomend. I load for a business and we look for these things great input by everyone i like the RL15 as it is (usually available, consistent lot to lot, great groups, works in all my 223 bullets) I don't need 2 diferent powders. There are other that will do the same (varget) Bullets - hornady 75s are great and price is better than others, Nosler work well, and of course Sierra - use sierra 80s only for 600yds there are a lot of other bullets out there that are awsome -but pricey - Berger to name one CCI 450 - there is load data out there for these - I use these for 77 and 80s CCI 400 for lighter LC brass works great - i have used black hills for years - they are good but i have experienced brittleness in them but oh well |
|
I've had great luck with the Remington 7 1/2 bench rest primers. My short range load is a 69gr SMK with 24.5 grains of RL-15 in a LC case. This load has delivered sub-MOA performance out of my rifle under the right conditions. With this load and CCI 400 primers, I was flattening them severely and I seriously worried that on a hot day they might crater or blow out on me. A blown out primer down in your trigger assembly can ruin a rapid fire string, and we don't want that. The 7 1/2's are 0.025" thick, versus 0.020" for the CCI 400's. That 0.005" doesn't sound like much, but in my rifle its the difference betweeen a very flat, scary looking primer and a nice looking primer strike after firing.
For 600, I'm running 24.0 of RL-15 under a 77 grain Nosler Custom Competition bullet with the same case and Remington primer. The bullets are loaded out to 0.020" off the lands of the rifling (2.447" OAL in my rifle, yours WILL be different, measure it before you load any real rounds). If I try to load them to mag length it results in a compressed load and they don't shoot nearly as well for me that way. This load seems to get the job done, it groups very well at 300 for me (I don't regularly have access to a 600 yard range, so all my ammo testing is done at 200 and 300 yards). I'm going to try the 80's with my new upper in the spring. I do know that the 1 in 8 twist ER Shaw barrel in my old upper won't group as well with 80's as it does with 77's. This is just my experience, consider it one more data point for reference. Matt |
|
Thanks for the primer comments.
I bought the Remington 7 1/2 primers because that's the variety I've seen mentioned most often for high power loads. My plan is to use them for the 600 yard loads where all the rounds will be single loaded and the semiauto factor shouldn't matter. When I load I'm going to use the same primers specified in the data, so I if I have to go get some CCI primers, I will. By the way... I realize now that I should have bought a sling, too, but I didn't. I knew that I would need one but I wasn't sure which one to get or how much one should cost. |
|
I use a leather Turner Saddlery 54" National Match sling. Champion Shooter's Supply sells them for $45.
Up until recently, I was using the old green M1 cotton web sling, and it worked pretty well for me for a long time. I just upgraded to the leather sling this season. Matt |
|
Quoted:
Thanks for the primer comments. I bought the Remington 7 1/2 primers because that's the variety I've seen mentioned most often for high power loads. My plan is to use them for the 600 yard loads where all the rounds will be single loaded and the semiauto factor shouldn't matter. When I load I'm going to use the same primers specified in the data, so I if I have to go get some CCI primers, I will. By the way... I realize now that I should have bought a sling, too, but I didn't. I knew that I would need one but I wasn't sure which one to get or how much one should cost. Sir, FWIW a good leather sling is an important component of rifle accuracy in my humble opinion. I used the Turner Saddlery slings for quite a few years until I discovered that there really are better choices, perhaps more expensive but you get what you pay for. John Weller was at CP during CMP week on commercial row. I talked to him the last day he was there and he told me he sold out of everything he had his first day at CP. He spent the rest of his time making slings to fill orders but had to leave when he ran out of material. Did I memtion he makes a really nice leather sling. I also really like the slings made by Les Tam. He's in Honolulu so they are a bit more expensive just to account for the shipping charges. I have one of his slings on each of my match rifles, and I'm about to order a replacement after over four years hard use. HTH, 7zero1. |