22 TCM 40 grain bullets in .223?

I started a thread on this on a different forum, and it quickly blew up because someone didn't understand what I wrote, so I will try here. Hopefully I am precise and clear, with a group that has proven professional and helpful in the past, thank you very much. We'll start off with the obvious - I am not God's gift to rifle shooting, BUT I can hit minute of bad guy steel standing at 200 yards with a red dot, so I am not the worst rifle shot in the world...just close. Second, the rifle in question is using a Bear Creek Arsenal .223 Wylde barrel, and many people have had tons of negative comments about BCA. This is the one I use to hit the steel at 200 yards, so I guess it must be OK, at least to my low standards.
So, after that dramatic entrance, lets get down to business.
I traded off some unwanted ammo, (yes, even in these times), for some reloading components. The gentleman thought he was cheating me, (he wasn't), and insisted on giving me, as he put it, "a consolation prize", which was 78 ArmsCorp 40gr JHP bullets intended for the 22 TCM round. At least, that's what my research on the 'net seemed to show. Nifty, but nothing I had ever played with before. I'd loaded 40 grainers in the past with good results, but they were all MADE for .223 Remington, and these aren't. First - they load short, with a COAL of 2.060. That was right in the crimp groove, so I assumed good. Today after voting I took my two tester loads out to the range, let freedom ring on the steel or something like that. Groups fired front rested at 50 yards on paper, red dot optic.
The rounds left a LOT of empty air at the front of the magazine, but my FrankenRifle worked flawlessly, nice. The first set with 27 grains of H-335 was pretty wide, with an average of about 3 to 3.5 inches at 50. WAY big a group for a rifle that, while not a MOA shooter by any means, has certainly done better than that! I was thinking, nope, this bullet is not for me, but the second set with 24 grains of IMR 3031 dropped the group down to an average of 2 inches. Certainly not great, as that would translate roughly to 4MOA, barely military spec. I want to improve this to be a little coyote buster, iff possible.
Now, I would say it might be important to remember this bullet was reportedly designed for a twist rate of 1-15, not 1-9. I half expected them to disintegrate in air. That was a pleasant surprise when they didn't.
After all this blathering with no pictures, ( the internet is so slow right now I can't upload a single photo anywhere), I was wondering if anyone else here had played with this bullet in .223? Thank you for any constructive replies, much appreciated.

Crosshair said:

I'm getting ready to load a bunch in my 22 Hornet.

I would suspect that the reason is that the bullet is making a huge jump to the rifling. H335 is likely too slow to get good ignition with that large jump. IMR 3031 is faster, likely giving better ignition and a more consistent jump to the rifling.

I'd try a faster powder if you are going to load them to the crimp groove. Something like AA 1680.

You could also try to seat them further out than the crimp groove. Keep an eye out for bullet setback. I'd say don't bother with the H335 and focus on the IMR 3031. (Assuming you don't have any AA 1680 to try.)

I hope this helps.

Click to expand...

Thank you - I tried 1680 in .223 once many moons ago and the results were not good, hadn't even considered it. I do have some of that one. What do you think a good start load might be?
Interesting idea indeed, thank you.

I have some brass standing by, but waiting for time to hit it again. If it rains i am hosed - the road to the range is REALLY soft dirt and I sort of forgot to get the 4WD set up for the People Mover. I am going to try longer with more IMR 3031, using what I have on hand. I am kind of leery of using the AA1680 right now - I only have the one AR anymore...

So, I did get time to load up a few more. Usuaing the last of the IMR 3031, I went up to right under the listed max for 40 grainers, 25 grains. I knew the free bore jump was a big one, so I tried a longer COAL, almost out too far at 2.135, but it produced some BAD run out, easily visually identifiable. I'll try it so I can say I did, but not expecting much. With experimentation I found the run out went bye bye once I reached the bottom of the crimp band, so I sent there, 2.095. Perhaps tomorrow afternoon I will be able to try them out, again, weather permitting. Hopefully the new COAL is better, so maybe I can experiment a little with another powder, like 748 or X-Terminator.

It rained, so the range is a no go right now - deep mud that my little People Mover won't negotiate very well. Should dry out next week.

Finally made it out. To reiterate, the barrel is a 1-9 twist Bear Creek .223 Wylde, and all rounds fired were at 50 yards front rested.

I started with the ones with bad run out. Everything fed and functioned just fine. BUT...results sucked.

So I switched to the ones that were a little shorter but straight. They looked better in the magazine than the very first ones did, but still room left over. And...voila! No, no voila, the group is almost identical, but even larger. At this point, due to a lack of materials, testing is suspended indefinitely, as I think THIS rifle is not capable of handling this little odd bullet. The remaining 48 will go into storage until time itself ends.