.223 for bear, mountain goat, deer, elk, and moose.

[Lawnboi]

What’s the OAL difference on the 77smk vs tmk? I’d like to stop eating away at my TMKs but they sure fly nice out to 800 yds. Do the SMKs fit in the tikka mag just fine?

The smk is much shorter.

Get 73 eldm for practice. They are cheap and have nearly identical BC at ranges that the 223 is adequate.

They shoot good at mag length and tikka chambers seem to like them.

 

[ShootOkHuntWorse]

The smk is much shorter.

Get 73 eldm for practice. They are cheap and have nearly identical BC at ranges that the 223 is adequate.

They shoot good at mag length and tikka chambers seem to like them.

Have you tried the 75 bthp? Can get them for almost 17c per.

 

[ResearchinStuff]

I've shot a bunch of 75 bthp. They're OK for targets.

 

[Lawnboi]

Have you tried the 75 bthp? Can get them for almost 17c per.

They are a good bullet. Iv loaded them for a few factory chambers and they shot okay. Not quite what the 73 has done overall, this is over only 3 tikka factory chambers though.

My current barrel on my 223 really likes the 75s, it’s a good cheap bullet if they shoot.

 

[SamsonMan22]

Have you tried the 75 bthp? Can get them for almost 17c per.

For me the 73s are the most accurate bullets I have used in a factory chamber at mag length. That being said I use the 75 bthp for practice and 77 tmk for hunting. The 75s shoot well enough to work with and aren’t far behind the 77tmk for me.

 

[ShootOkHuntWorse]

For me the 73s are the most accurate bullets I have used in a factory chamber at mag length. That being said I use the 75 bthp for practice and 77 tmk for hunting. The 75s shoot well enough to work with and aren’t far behind the 77tmk for me.

Perfect. That’s what I was looking for. Affordable training rounds. Tried them over TAC?

 

[bojangles808]

Perfect. That’s what I was looking for. Affordable training rounds. Tried them over TAC?

The 68 grain frontier isntbad either for training. I use it when I'm sighting in (save eldms til I'm close and finetuning) and kind of surprised at this 3 shot group I got a couple weeks ago when boresighting. Online it's pretty close in price to 73 g eldm so it might make more sense just to get eldm but I can't order online and my lgs has this for substantially cheaper so I'll shoot it from time to time.

 

[SamsonMan22]

Perfect. That’s what I was looking for. Affordable training rounds. Tried them over TAC?

Yea I have tried all 3 over TAC, the 73s and TAC went together very well for me. The 75s shot pretty good using it too, it’s not my pick for the 77s though. 23.5-24g is a good spot to be, I know there are people running hotter charges but after 24g my groups started to open up, I always seem to get better accuracy with TAC closer to 223 pressures. Once I use up this last jug of varget I will be switching back to TAC for a while with the 75bthp.

 

[mtnwrunner]

Take your pick.
Perfect shooting day, minimal wind, 30 degrees.
Factory tikka CTR, 223, trijicon 10 mile and the rokstok. The more I shoot it, the more I like it.

Randy

 

[Moosehunter]

I couldn't get varget and tmks to shoot.
2.5"
Swapped to reloader 15 cause it's what I have. And down to like 1-1.25" 10 round groups. Is mine the only tikka that seems slightly picky?

 

[cowdisciple]

I also got good results with the 75gr Frontier while zeroing for the first time. Here's 20.

 

[SamsonMan22]

I couldn't get varget and tmks to shoot.
2.5"
Swapped to reloader 15 cause it's what I have. And down to like 1-1.25" 10 round groups. Is mine the only tikka that seems slightly picky?

Nope 77 tmk seem to be a little picky with powder for me so far, I haven’t used Varget with them yet but I won’t even bother either. It just has too much case fill for that long of a bullet in my opinion. Some people do fine with it but it’s not a preferred powder of mine in the 223. I ended up around 1.5moa with TAC, both 8208xbr and LVR are showing good results for me and are anywhere from 1-1.3 depending on the load and number of shots in the group 10-30 for me.

I have even had a barrel that hated the gold standard 77tmk/8208 combo but it wasn’t a factory tube. Your RL15 load is the typical accuracy for most loads, I didn’t do all that well with RL15 I only used it with the 75bthp and they were 1.7 for 30 rounds. Typically I end up with a load around 1.3-1.5 for 30 rounds using the 75bthp without much effort.

 

[Moosehunter]

Nope 77 tmk seem to be a little picky with powder for me so far, I haven’t used Varget with them yet but I won’t even bother either. It just has too much case fill for that long of a bullet in my opinion. Some people do fine with it but it’s not a preferred powder of mine in the 223. I ended up around 1.5moa with TAC, both 8208xbr and LVR are showing good results for me and are anywhere from 1-1.3 depending on the load and number of shots in the group 10-30 for me.

I have even had a barrel that hated the gold standard 77tmk/8208 combo but it wasn’t a factory tube. Your RL15 load is the typical accuracy for most loads, I didn’t do all that well with RL15 I only used it with the 75bthp and they were 1.7 for 30 rounds. Typically I end up with a load around 1.3-1.5 for 30 rounds using the 75bthp without much effort.

Thanks! Ya I have a magazine I can load long in and even then varget was not totally ideal. Once again it was a powder I had. I need some xbr but it's not available now. I couldn't afford it a few weeks ago when it was in stock.
I have enough reloader 15 to get me by for a while. Hopefully by then some xbr is in stock somewhere

 

[Moosehunter]

I'm gonna try and whack a Idaho spring bear with either tmks or 80 eldms.
I like the 80 grain bc if u can get decent velocity.
But then again those tmks are quite proven

 

[wind gypsy]

Varget worked decent in my lite barrel but the saami throat is definitely shorter than ideal for 77 TMK and varget.

 

[SamsonMan22]

Thanks! Ya I have a magazine I can load long in and even then varget was not totally ideal. Once again it was a powder I had. I need some xbr but it's not available now. I couldn't afford it a few weeks ago when it was in stock.
I have enough reloader 15 to get me by for a while. Hopefully by then some xbr is in stock somewhere

Get some LVR, I recently bought some XBR because it was an available at a decent price. LVR will replace it for me when I run out of XBR though, I’m not interested in chasing it down and paying high prices for it. The only thing it offered me over the LVR was higher velocity, the accuracy difference is a wash.

If the RL15 is working for you though I wouldn’t be afraid to use it, when you run out and there is no XBR there are some good alternatives out there.

 

[Wapiti151]

Varget worked decent in my lite barrel but the saami throat is definitely shorter than ideal for 77 TMK and varget.

Was it AAC or Stand 1 you were having pressure issues with? I just tried to search the thread for your couple comments on this, but could not find...but I know you were having issues with one of them. Gut tells me it was the S1? I ask because I see S1 in stock, and was going to give it a try if that was NOT the one you had issues with...it's obviously hotter than BH.


**Disregard...found it, sounded like your issues were with AAC

 

[Moosehunter]

Get some LVR, I recently bought some XBR because it was an available at a decent price. LVR will replace it for me when I run out of XBR though, I’m not interested in chasing it down and paying high prices for it. The only thing it offered me over the LVR was higher velocity, the accuracy difference is a wash.

If the RL15 is working for you though I wouldn’t be afraid to use it, when you run out and there is no XBR there are some good alternatives out there.

Does temp stability cause any concern?
First time loading 223 and just had varget and reloader 15 around
Any other stick powders that have less case fill than varget? With better temp stability than some of the ball powders?

 

[HighUintas]

Is the frontier 75gr bthp actually a 5.56? What's the best price commonly available on these? I'm only seeing about 0.90-1.00/round

 

[Lawnboi]

The best sub 400 practice ammo is by far adi 55sbk. Stuff just shoots in everything