“Rokslide Special” .223 Training ammunition?

[Fowl Play]

Alright, finally putting myself together a “Rokslide special” in .223 to test it out for myself (and because I’m honestly finally putting enough rounds downrange that a training rifle makes sense). Starting to get all the components in and finally checked the price of a case of this black hills 77 TMK stuff. After seeing the price, I feel lied to as this being a cost saving endeavor almost might as well keep shooting my 6.5. Also didn’t realize it was 5.56 — assuming this is fine as everyone raves about it.

Anyways, what is everyone using as training ammo that groups close to the TMK’s? I’m assuming the 73 grain ELDM’s will? Not terrible on price and could double as a secondary hunting round, but still on the higher end for caliber. Anything cheaper you guys have found?

 

[Dave0317]

9 or 10 months out of the year I use anything I can find loaded with 69 smk. 77 smk would be even better I suppose, I just haven’t been using them. This has also been more a focus on my 11 year old, so I’m not shooting these past 300 yards.

Plenty of companies making match 223 ammo using those bullets and usually a good bit cheaper than you can find the 73 ELDM or 77TMK.

Then for hunting season I’ll re-zero with the ELD M or TMK and hunt with that.

 

[yfarm]

Have been using cheap 55gr ammo out of the CZ and now Tikka, intersperse with 77 gr, shoot at 200 yds and don’t see much variation.

 

[gman82001]

69gr frontier had been pretty good for my buddy

 

[RockAndSage]

Precision rifle isn't my thing yet, so take this for what it's worth, but I do a lot of work out to 300 with ARs. If you're doing anything at 100yds, especially field-positional work, I don't think you're going to get anything at all out of expensive ammo.

The .5 to 1.5 MOA improvement you'll get with premium ammo isn't a fraction of what you'll get out of improving your own shooting with saving the money and putting it into additional, cheaper ammo. Out past 150yds or so, an average person might start seeing more misses that were ammo related on a 6" target, but short of that, you're far better off going cheap and high-volume until you personally are the lesser factor in accuracy.

 

[Q_Sertorius]

ADI 55- and 69- grain ammo has been great. The Frontier 5.56 is also very good and a more economical alternative.

 

[waspocrew]

The Sabre line from Palmetto is actually decently priced and performs well.

 

[77TMK]

AAC 77 OTM is 55 cpr usually and while it is downloaded and slow, it will give all the practice you need. Your zeros will never be the same and DOPE must be individually worked up and across a range of temperatures. Plus your barrel will be a little faster after 200 rnds usually.

 

[robtattoo]

You sound like a guy that needs to start reloading

I buy 77gr Matchking seconds from Midway whenever I can find them at around 17-18 cents each. Brass is free on any range floor & by the time I've got a primer & 24.5gr of TAC in there, I'm at around 25c a shot.

When i started loading, I could do 65gr Gamekings at 12-13c a round I miss those days....

Damn.... they went up.

Factory Second Match 22 Cal (224 Diameter) Bullets 77 Grain Jacketed

MidwayUSA has just made a huge purchase of blemished bullets and we are passing the savings to our customers. Blemished bullets are bulk-packaged,...

www.midwayusa.com

 

[77TMK]

You sound like a guy that needs to start reloading

I buy 77gr Matchking seconds from Midway whenever I can find them at around 17-18 cents each. Brass is free on any range floor & by the time I've got a primer & 24.5gr of TAC in there, I'm at around 25c a shot.

When i started loading, I could do 65gr Gamekings at 12-13c a round I miss those days....

Damn.... they went up.

Factory Second Match 22 Cal (224 Diameter) Bullets 77 Grain Jacketed

MidwayUSA has just made a huge purchase of blemished bullets and we are passing the savings to our customers. Blemished bullets are bulk-packaged,...

www.midwayusa.com

you should check out here:
factory new Barnes Matchburner 77 gr.

Barnes 22 Cal (.224" diam.) 77gr HPBT Barnes Match Burner Bullets w/ cannelure

Barnes 77gr .224" Match Burner bullets with cannelure deliver precision and value. Bulk-packed, brand new, low SD. Great for reloading—shop now!

ravenrocksprecision.com

They do promo codes iirc and I've gotten my cost down to 18.9 c per projo and they're not seconds.

Your pricing might be out of date on total cost. With current TAC prices and primer prices, using bottom dollar values and assuming brass is 100% free, the cheapest anyone is loading 77 gr "match" loads is around $0.37 each. Meanwhile 77 OTM at AAC is $0.55 today, so hard to argue the cost of reloading tools and time to save 18 cents unless they are loading a lot of ammo and ideally have a pretty robust press setup to automate where possible.

 

[robtattoo]

Oh snap! That's a hard price to beat. I just ordered 500!

I may be a little dated on my TAC pricing (I snagged 8lb a while back & haven't had to check since) but I've been finding Win #41 Primers around there $60/1000 mark lately.

 

[LongWayAround]

I have mostly been shooting the AAC 75gr BTHP. Just ordered the 77gr OTM to try out. I had seen some mention of it being slow, but some of the reviews sounded like it was back to 2700.

I'm curious if anyone can answer how the ADI ammo compares to the AAC?

 

[Thinkingman]

I have mostly been shooting the AAC 75gr BTHP. Just ordered the 77gr OTM to try out. I had seen some mention of it being slow, but some of the reviews sounded like it was back to 2700.

I'm curious if anyone can answer how the ADI ammo compares to the AAC?

I took out my new T3X Ranahan for the initial range session and shot 3 3-shot groups with the 2550fps AAC 77gr ammo.
Excellent accuracy and velos closer to 2600 out of a new barrel.
I will buy more.

 

[77TMK]

Oh snap! That's a hard price to beat. I just ordered 500!

I may be a little dated on my TAC pricing (I snagged 8lb a while back & haven't had to check since) but I've been finding Win #41 Primers around there $60/1000 mark lately.

Primers have settled pretty well at 6 cents with Ginex at 5.2 cents if you order from AmericanReloading in Grain Valley, MO. They typically sell out fast but it’s a killer price for NATO spec cup primers.

TAC is definitely hovering $41/lb before fees, and shootingbot.com has been useful to track best price. Granted they exclude some vendors but IDK why.

 

[finner]

75 BTHP from PSA has almost exactly same zero as BH 77tmk in my 17" Tikka. Haven't had to adjust anything. Pretty cheap, especially when they're running sales

 

[RWT]

AAC 77OTM. Shoots 1.5 ish 10 rounds most days. Has an occasional flyer that I believe is a powder issue.

The AAC 75 gr blacktip is similar. I found it to be more consistent than the 77. Both 75 &77 AAC can be found on sale between 50-70 cents per round


The ADI 69 is next on my list try.