Legionnaire
Contributing Member
I'm looking to develop a .223 Remington load for my Tikka T3 using Hornady's 75 BT A-Max bullet pushed by Varget, since I have a lot of the latter. Various data sources list max loads in the 25.0 to 25.6 range:
Lee's "Modern Reloading" shows 25.0 grains at 2907 fps for a 75 grain bullet.
Hodgdon also shows 25.0 grains at 2907 for a 75 grain bullet.
Lyman #49 shows 25.6 grains at 2843 fps for a 75 grain bullet.
However, Hornady's own manual shows a max load of 23.5 grains of Varget behind the 75 grain A-Max at only 2600 fps.
Why the discrepancy? I am aware that the A-Max is a long bullet that needs to be seated longer than the standard 2.250" COAL. Hornady's manual shows a COAL of 2.390". Nevertheless, 23.5 grains of Varget seems well below the other max loads listed. Could it be that the 23.5 grain load is max for the AR15 (service rifle) platform, and 25.0 would be fine in a bolt action?
Thoughts?
Lee's "Modern Reloading" shows 25.0 grains at 2907 fps for a 75 grain bullet.
Hodgdon also shows 25.0 grains at 2907 for a 75 grain bullet.
Lyman #49 shows 25.6 grains at 2843 fps for a 75 grain bullet.
However, Hornady's own manual shows a max load of 23.5 grains of Varget behind the 75 grain A-Max at only 2600 fps.
Why the discrepancy? I am aware that the A-Max is a long bullet that needs to be seated longer than the standard 2.250" COAL. Hornady's manual shows a COAL of 2.390". Nevertheless, 23.5 grains of Varget seems well below the other max loads listed. Could it be that the 23.5 grain load is max for the AR15 (service rifle) platform, and 25.0 would be fine in a bolt action?
Thoughts?
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