bikemutt
Member
As a relatively new hand loader, I decided to branch out a bit from my Varget safety net by trying out CFE223. Actually, I bought the powder for a 6.5 Gredel load development project that didn't work for me, but that's another story.
Anyway, I worked up a load for my Savage 223 bolt rifle; Hornady 68 gr Match HPBT bullet over 25.0 grains CFE223, LC neck-sized brass ignited with CCI BR-4 primer. Bullets seated 30/1000s off the lands (2.320 COL).
Dialing out the groups with the Magneto Chrony attached and a range bud trying out the rifle, I ended up with four 5-shot groups at 100 yards that ran, from highest to lowest, 0.738, 0.599., 0.485 and 0.446 MOA. In all cases the group size from a perfect 0.00 was dominated by horizontal spread, ie. the shooter
. I'm also happy to report the weather today in the greater Seattle area was flawlessly perfect; there was no group weather-adjustment factor that could be applied (for those THR members unfamiliar with the climate here, the sun was out, it wasn't raining; that's a big deal this time of year ).
The question I have here concerns velocity which averaged 2875 fps. Is that fast, slow or normal for the 223 Rem?
As an adside, I have to say when I tried this recipe with SMK 69 gr bullets, I think the SMKs would ever so slightly best the Hornady bullets in this application, but not by enough margin to justify the price for non-competitive paper punching.
Anyway, I worked up a load for my Savage 223 bolt rifle; Hornady 68 gr Match HPBT bullet over 25.0 grains CFE223, LC neck-sized brass ignited with CCI BR-4 primer. Bullets seated 30/1000s off the lands (2.320 COL).
Dialing out the groups with the Magneto Chrony attached and a range bud trying out the rifle, I ended up with four 5-shot groups at 100 yards that ran, from highest to lowest, 0.738, 0.599., 0.485 and 0.446 MOA. In all cases the group size from a perfect 0.00 was dominated by horizontal spread, ie. the shooter
. I'm also happy to report the weather today in the greater Seattle area was flawlessly perfect; there was no group weather-adjustment factor that could be applied (for those THR members unfamiliar with the climate here, the sun was out, it wasn't raining; that's a big deal this time of year ).The question I have here concerns velocity which averaged 2875 fps. Is that fast, slow or normal for the 223 Rem?
As an adside, I have to say when I tried this recipe with SMK 69 gr bullets, I think the SMKs would ever so slightly best the Hornady bullets in this application, but not by enough margin to justify the price for non-competitive paper punching.
