Load data for 77 TMK in 223

[philcox]

What barrel/rifle?

Edited my post.

 

[Schmo]

Gotcha. I feel you’re a little slow on the velocity side. Tac gives really good velocity with the heavies, and I think is a little more stable than CFE. Another one I’m testing and impressed with is Alliant Power Pro 2000-MR. I also have some TS15.5 I might try.

 

[Schmo]

Even with the 18”, I would expect 2700-2800.

 

[philcox]

Gotcha. I feel you’re a little slow on the velocity side. Tac gives really good velocity with the heavies, and I think is a little more stable than CFE. Another one I’m testing and impressed with is Alliant Power Pro 2000-MR. I also have some TS15.5 I might try.

I have 8 lbs of CFE, so kind of "committed" to that at this point. I am using CFE for my 55g Berry load. New barrel, so may get to 2700 at some point.

 

[Schmo]

Gotcha

 

[swavescatter]

24 gr varget seated at mag length gets crunchy but shoots well @ 2750fps ish
23.7 gr xbr 8208 seated at mag length meters well and gets more velocity @ 2800+ ish fps

What barrel, primers, brass, COAL are you getting 2800+ with XBR? I'm quite a bit slower at about 2766 fps out of a 22" Tikka, Starline brass, 2.32" COAL and Fed 205M primers. CCI450 are about 10fps slower surprisingly.

Maybe pressure really starts spiking around 23.6gr? This was also pretty cold near freezing this morning though...

 

[swavescatter]

Doing load work-up for a Tikka .223 Ranch with 16" standard lite contour barrel. Using 77 TMK and CCI 400 Primers.

Initially tried TAC and CFE 223 which I had on hand. TAC gave best veloicty at 2670, would get split groups with 80% being in a nice tight cluster and the other 20% as fliers 0.5-1" from the main group. CFE 223 produced good groups but I could not get good velocity out of it. 2580 with book max loads and it is quite temp sensitive.

This last weekend picked up n540 which on initial testing is awesome stuff. Great accuracy and the by far the most consistent velocity (low SD). Load is 23.8 n540 with 77 TMK seated to 2.32 in Starline Brass. Produced multiple groups like the one below. Not sure what the temp stability of this powder is but it has to be better than CFE 223.

Also tried Benchmark which is a bit fast but I had on the shelf and it did well too accuracy wise. 0.9" for ten shots with 2595 fps.

View attachment 801139

What velocities did you get with your n540 load? Also, if you could share the whole recipe that would be great (COAL, primer, brass)...

 

[swavescatter]

I'll be doing some more testing, and inch my way up to 23.8 grains with the next ladder. Also fill out the BR4 data.

Tikka T3X Lite 22.4" Barrel with OCL Polonium 556 Can
77gr TMK's, 8208 XBR, 2.32in COAL, Starline once-fired brass, 2 thou neck tension