Shooters World Tactical Rifle Works as Advertised

[DMW1116]

I made a function test batch of 55 grain FMJ over a 17.5 grain load of SWTR just to see if it would run in my 20" A4 clone. It ran surprisingly well, and was generally a nice load to shoot. It wasn't terribly accurate, but that wasn't the point of that batch. It ejected consistently, and locked the bolt back, all while not blasting my ears as some powders and brands of factory ammo can. Accuracy wasn't terrible. It was about on par with a chrome lined barrel and 55 grain FMJ loads, which is to say about 2.3 inches at 100 yards.

My intent is to make a cheaper practice load for this rifle and save my more expensive match bullets/loads for less frequent shooting. I also wanted to see how far I could stretch a pound of powder in an AR system. I have minimal charge target loads for basically every caliber I reload, except for my gas guns. Those are a little trickier since I have to find a balance between accuracy, function, and spreading the powder supply as thin as I can. As long as I can find acceptable accuracy, function seems good, and this gives a 30% increase of the number of rounds per pound over my H335 and TAC loads, though the velocity is certainly reduced. As I'm only shooting paper, I'm fine with that. Based on yesterday's target, I won't really even have to change sight elevation for practice at 100 yards. The POI is only about 1/2" higher than my RMR load at that range.

I'm going to make a test array and see if I can tighten up groups a little. If not, the current accuracy is on par with my other FMJ loads, so there's no real loss there, except velocity. I just thought I'd share some testing for anyone else interested in stretching out components now that some choices are available. I have not tried this load yet in my mid-length rifle and would like to hear from anyone who has just to see if anyone's gotten it to work. I'll know by Friday in any case.

 

[DMW1116]

A couple of visual aids. The first is my RMR HPBT load with SWTR. A knat flew right into my eye and I pulled the third shot high. The POI of the FMJ load shifted left a fair bit. The second picture includes these. Shots are marked RMR and H for the Hornady 55 grain FMJ. That would be an awesome target if the two groups weren’t tossed together.

 

[DMW1116]

One detail I need to mention. Data from Shooters World gives a COAL of 2.245” with a 55 grain FMJ. I used the 2.2” COAL from Hornady. The charges are nowhere near max so I figured it was safe.

 

[41 Mag]

I did a similar test only using the SW Precision Rifle and the 68gr RMR. I started out with my loads seated to max mag length that would function. Having the Wylde chamber I wasn't really sure what to expect with accuracy.

After trying a few for function at different charge weights I settled on a load and adjusted the seating depth in using a micrometer die at .005 increments. About three tries and it dialed right in.

I have to say I have been impressed with the PR so far, it has, as you find with TR delivered so far. I really haven't shot enough of it to fully say it runs with some of the powders it compares to in their description but then again I don't have them on hand to do a side by side either.

Good luck, and maybe adjust that depth a touch one way or the other, a little bit might tighten em right up.

 

[GooseGestapo]

I’ve got 8lbs of SW-TacRifle. Haven’t even opened the jug yet. But, I bought it for the same reason. I got it before the last craziness at a very attractive price. I wanted to reduce the flowage of my more expensive/mainstream powders.
Along with some SW-Match Rifle (said to be same, but different lot#’s of #2520), and Precision Rifle, (clone of Varget, #4064).
My BLC2 and H4895 usage has dramatically decreased. I still prefer the H4895, but SW-PR makes a superb substitute. However, prices have flip-flopped. SW. powders are now somewhat more…

I’m really pleased to see the good results with SW-TR. I planned to use a bit heavier load to roughly duplicate commercial 55gr FM) loads, but may reconsider lower charges and heavier bullets.

 

[41 Mag]

I got it before the last craziness at a very attractive price. I wanted to reduce the flowage of my more expensive/mainstream powders.

That was me, figured verses opening up a new jug of H4895 I wold hold off n it and try something a bit less expensive. Just happened to get the PR verses the TR. If the prices hadn't jumped up, I would probably have gotten some of the TR and possibly even something else to shave off using other powders for practice on upcoming hunting season loads. As it stands though, with what little bit we have shot, everything is good to go for the season opener in a month and a half.

 

[DMW1116]

I have some AR Plus for full power 55 grain loads, though I run the 69 grain RMR near max 223 specs with Tactical Rifle.

I plan to basically switch to SW powders for my ARs as they give sufficient accuracy for considerably lower cost. I will try Precision and Match Rifle if I can find any.

 

[DMW1116]

I will definitely play with seating depth at some point. I was thinking the shorter COAL would up the pressure a little and give me a tad more velocity but I am just guessing. I was running on the edge of the cannelure at about 2.208 inches. For whatever reason my dies seat FMJ pretty consistently.

 

[45/30-06OKIE]

One detail I need to mention. Data from Shooters World gives a COAL of 2.245” with a 55 grain FMJ. I used the 2.2” COAL from Hornady. The charges are nowhere near max so I figured it was safe.

I would load some at 2.26 USGI mag length and see what happens also.

 

[DMW1116]

I’m going to try to get my powder charge nailed down then start tinkering with COAL. That’s not something I’ve really done before so I need to try it.

 

[DMW1116]

The good news is the minimum charge shoots repeatedly reliably from my 20" barreled rifle and shoots about 2" groups when that rifle is scoped. This makes this minimum load a viable practice load for shooting iron sights from this rifle. The bad news is it doesn't cycle from my mid-length 16" rifle. It doesn't shoot all that well from that rifle either. I'm sure I could get a load that will run, but I'd have to up the powder charge who knows how much. It will cycle and eject but won't lock the bolt back. Stripping the next round from the magazine choked up the rifle once out of 4 times.

 

[DMW1116]

I took the information from the thread on minimum component load development and applied some of that information to this load. I just did the measurements on the targets and two sequential loads were within about 1/4" of each other in terms of group center relative to point of aim. These loads were also consistent in size, at about 1.6" fired from 100 yards. I did pull the scope off my other rifle and use it for this test. It's not the minimum charge, so it may cycle in my 16" rifle. In any case, this looks like a good combination for practice. After remounting the carry handle sight, I'll make some more and re-zero. I have enough Fiochi primers to nearly cover the supply of 55 grain bullets I just bought. It's not unheard of, but I can't hold a group less than 2" with this rifle and the iron sights consistently. This load also yields about 390 rounds from a single pound of powder, so that goal is a smashing success. That's a 25% increase over standard 223 loads for 55 grain FMJ bullets. Paper dies easy, so as long as they'll punch through, I'll be good.

 

[IALoder]

SW Tactical ran great on low end loads like yours with 62gr fmj's for me as well. It also did pretty much the same accuracy and just a little lower velocity as TAC with 75/77 grainers. I really liked it, but ran out and haven't seen any locally for a while.

 

[DMW1116]

There is a LGS that carries SW powders and uses them for their remanufactured ammo. I'm quickly headed to only SW powders for my rifles. If pistol powder didn't last so long, I'd use SW pistol powders too. However, I still have a few thousand rounds worth left and the LGS hasn't had any SW pistol powders in

 

[Charlie98]

I always worry about picking up one of the 'off brand' powders, or a big lot of surplus powder... in that I would go through the trouble of working up a load(s) with it, and then it would disappear from the market, or no one would carry it at the retail level. It's one of the things that held me back from TAC for so long. Not so many years ago, the price difference really wasn't anything to write home about, but these days, with an 8# jug of IMR rifle powder over $300, I am starting to look more and more at alternate powders. I do worry what will happen with Ramshot and Accurate powder prices... now that the Powder Death Star (Hodgdon) owns them, too.

 

[DMW1116]

I didn’t update but I managed to find a load that would shoot well and reliably in both rifles at 18.9 grains of Tactical Rifle. 18.5 and 18.7 grains didn’t cycle my mid-length upper, but 18.9 locks the bolt back on an empty magazine and had no failures during testing.

And now for some speculation. Would similar charges with the Hornady #2265 soft point 55 grain bullet be ok? Hornady groups their bullets of similar weight together but I’ve not found specific data with this powder and bullet combined.

Edited to Add: I figure the velocity out of my 20" barrel will be about 2550 fps or so and maybe 2450 from my 16" barrel. That's kind of the 22 Magnum +P+ or 22 Hornet level I was after. I've been running my 16" pretty hard lately so I'll test these in the 20". I've already pulled the scope off the 16" to mount on the 20" for testing purposes. This will also work out for testing my 52-grain Barnes Match Burner loads in this rifle.