.223 bullet/powder for ISSF 300m

[MichalS]

After having some fun with F Class I just for fun want to dip my toe in 300m ISSF. I have a 24" 1:8 Twist Tikka T3x I plan to use. What kind of bullet/powder combo would You recommend for 300m?

TIA,

Michal 

[Brummy Mark]

Try some 75gr Amax? 24g Vit N140 works extremely well for me, precision wise, 1/4moa. Or if younalready have an accurate load just shoot it at 300m? and just keep having fun! all the best.

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[MichalS]

Mark, what kind of speed are You gettimg with that load? I olny issf factor ammo until now.

 

Michal

[VarmLR]

At 300m, 52gr A-max and N133 is a good combination;  alternatively, TMK69gr plus RS50 is a combination that also works very well indeed as does the same powder with the 69gr Lapua Scenar/Scenar L. 

[Re-Pete]

SMK 80 grainers and RS52 powder.

Re-Pete

[blackburnbuccaneer]

With a 1:8 wist there is really no reason not to go to the superb range of 80 gr bullets on offer, despite what some tay tell you even at 300m BC + velocity do matter - wind can still push the bullet a good way, especially with the fairly tight ring spacing on the ISSF target.
I used to shoot a 20" 1:8 T3 Sporter and I found good loads with N140 and RS50 with the latter offering a good bit more velocity. In terms of bullets I used the 80gr SMK (the 80gr Nosler CC is basically the same bullet), 80gr Berger VLD and 82gr Berger BT to very good effect out to 600y on TR and 300m on ISSF targets. I also dabbled with the 69gr SMK (but found it to be somewhat lacking in the BC department) and the 75gr A-Max which I never did get to shoot as well as I wanted, it was ok ~ 0.7MOA but not good enough for me.

Move on a couple of years and I now have almost 2200 rounds through a 28" 1:7 Bartlein 5R barrel on the same action - which has shot really well with the 80gr Berger VLD and 82gr Berger BT and the 90gr Berger VLD and 90grSMK(to heavy/long for your twist and throat). I have recently been testing the newer Hornady 80gr ELD-M and am getting promising results with it ( last night in reasonably calm conditions I shot a 150-11x with it on the 300M ISSF target you speak of) one thing to note with the ELD-M's is they seem to have quite some variation in base to ogive measurement and as such I find benefit from batching into groups of similar BTO lengths.

Another good Bullet to try would be the 80.5gr Berger - for some reason unknown to me I have never shot any, but many others have ant they have a reputation for being very easy to tune.

Powder wise I have used almost exclusively RS50 in this barrel and have had great results with it (RS52 also works well). I also used a bit of N550 with 90gr VLD's and got good velocity and groups but it is not very temperature staiple (watch out for the odd hot day and pressure spikes if near max pressures).

Other powders that I would look at would be:

N140(gives a bit less velocity than the others)

RL15 (Good velocity and groups for most but suffers from temperature stability problems the same as N550)

N540, N550, RS60(All offer good velocity - but can be a bit hard on barrels if you take all the velocity on offer) 

RS62 

Varget, IMR @ Hogdon 4895, H414 (Good powders, but soon to be unavailable as they are non REACH compliant, so probably don't bother) 

Hogdon CFE223 (offers good velocity but many find it rather inconsistent in terms of accuracy)

[bradders]

45 minutes ago, Re-Pete said:

SMK 80 grainers and RS52 powder.

Re-Pete

He gets it

Too many recommendations for Fancy Dan bullets

77 SMKs (not TMks) have won more points at 300yds than any other bullet

The 77 SMK was designed to shoot 1MOA in a 10 mph wind shift all day long, and while it’s very good, the 80 is even better if you aren’t restricted to mag length

[Re-Pete]

As an aside, I've had good results out to 1000yds with this combo..................at MV's around 3050 fps.

At 300yds on a flat calm day, it'll do 1/2 MOA if I can hold it steady enough. (But sadly no longer with jacket, sling, and aperture sights...........)

Re-Pete

[MichalS]

That's some very valuable info, thank You Re-Pete and Blackburnbuccaneer!

Re-Pete - what barrel lenght and amount of powder was required to get this kind of velocity? 3050fps seem fast for such a heavy bullet.

Michal

[blackburnbuccaneer]

I would imagine 28" or 30". I have a good load at 3044 out of my 28" barrel with RS50. 

[Re-Pete]

Yep, it's a 30" 8 twist barrel on a Tikka M595 action with a blanking plate filling the mag cutout, so single shot. GRS stock, Jackson trigger..

The throat has been extended to seat the SMK's long,  and the load is 26.5 grains of RS52.............this works in my rifle, but usual caveats apply if you want to try it in yours.

For 600yds, the load is 25 grains.

Re-Pete