To ai or not to ai my new tikka 223 ranahan

[coyotekilla]

Obviously it doesn't. Of course another 100fps isn't dramatic improvements but isn't a negative either. If you like to keep brass separate it helps. If you like to tinker with something a little different it's easy enough. It is probably not practical at all but has anyone paid extra for cerakote on stainless steel before? Not to mention paying extra for stock paint.

The rifle in question is a brand new 20" tikka ranahan. I have a 22-250 varmit as well. If I want speed, that's my go to. I bought this 1 cause a guy wanted my mofo chassis, and mdt was sold out of ruger sa chassis that I wanted, and it was 50 outa pocket plus tax for the tikka. Thought about parting it out, but it feels too nice in the hands. I regularly shoot a 6.5 or 243 for deer, but I dunno, I like the little guy. Not a huge fan of a 20" pencil barrel. Ideally a 24 varmit, ai'ed, and giving my 22-250 a run for the money. But 223's last forever compared to 22-250.

 

[207North]

That seems pretty quick compared to what I'm getting!

What powder, charge weight, and primer?

25.5 XBR8208 CCI 450

 

[Nutkin13]

25.5 XBR8208 CCI 450

Makes sense, I'm at 24.8 of XBR. Thanks

 

[207North]

Makes sense, I'm at 24.8 of XBR. Thanks

25.5 was about max on my rifle. Started getting heavy bolt lift at 25.8 and backed down.

 

[BradArnett]

I wouldn’t bother. What does it enable you to do that you can’t do with the standard chamber?

I've only had around 20 years experience with the 223ai in around 8-10 rifles. Probably my favorite clambering of all time. What has been your negative issues with your 223ai rifles that you wouldn't bother with it any more? Now you have me Interested in your 223ai experience and problems? Pretty sure I already know the answer to my questions

 

[Nutkin13]

25.5 was about max on my rifle. Started getting heavy bolt lift at 25.8 and backed down.

I got slight ejector marks at 25.0. I backed it down to 24.8 and boy that seems like a sweet spot for my rifle. 3 round groups of .26 and .31 MOA, 7 round groups at .45 MOA, 7 round SD of 14, and an ES of 43. It took the crown as the most accurate gun I own.

 

[bnewt3]

I've only had around 20 years experience with the 223ai in around 8-10 rifles. Probably my favorite clambering of all time. What has been your negative issues with your 223ai rifles that you wouldn't bother with it any more? Now you have me Interested in your 223ai experience and problems? Pretty sure I already know the answer to my questions

I cant speak for Q, BUT

Why does one need to have experienced negative issues with 223 AI to think its unnecessary?

I used to think, with many things, "keep tinkering, youll find perfection eventually"

Then at some point I realized that we cant ever get there. In this situation standard 223 will do 99.9% of what 223 AI will do. What does that .1% actually gain you?

So I personally have the view that its unnecessary.

Not a bad idea, not dangerous, just unnecessary.

 

[Kaleb]

I cant speak for Q, BUT

Why does one need to have experienced negative issues with 223 AI to think its unnecessary?

I used to think, with many things, "keep tinkering, youll find perfection eventually"

Then at some point I realized that we cant ever get there. In this situation standard 223 will do 99.9% of what 223 AI will do. What does that .1% actually gain you?

So I personally have the view that its unnecessary.

Not a bad idea, not dangerous, just unnecessary.

Have you ever put a leveling kit on your truck and slightly larger tires? Maybe a handmade knife? A flutted barrel perhaps. The majority of people who spend time talking about rifles on forums enjoy tinkering to some degree with rifles. This day and time hand loading isn't really a must do but the time spent hand loading is probably more beneficial than time spent on line talking about stuff like we do. It's part of the hobby to some.

I haven't shot 223AI as long as Brad has but I have a long time. It is a wonderful little chambering and doesn't have a downside I can think of other than a little money and we all spend unnecessary money to some extent.

 

[Kaleb]

The rifle in question is a brand new 20" tikka ranahan. I have a 22-250 varmit as well. If I want speed, that's my go to. I bought this 1 cause a guy wanted my mofo chassis, and mdt was sold out of ruger sa chassis that I wanted, and it was 50 outa pocket plus tax for the tikka. Thought about parting it out, but it feels too nice in the hands. I regularly shoot a 6.5 or 243 for deer, but I dunno, I like the little guy. Not a huge fan of a 20" pencil barrel. Ideally a 24 varmit, ai'ed, and giving my 22-250 a run for the money. But 223's last forever compared to 22-250.

If you like it that's all that matters. I don't know how much of a run it's going to give a long barreled 22-250 but it's been forever since I've loaded for a standard 22-250. If you like the gun and like the idea of another 100fps keeping brass separate easier and having something a little bit different then it will check those boxes for you. Maybe shoot it as is a bit and see if you still have the itch or not?

 

[Ac338]

I’d do it, really no downsides at least that I’ve experienced. My coyote gun is a 223 AI. My “fireforming load is just a stout 223 load and is a tack driver.

 

[Q_Sertorius]

I've only had around 20 years experience with the 223ai in around 8-10 rifles. Probably my favorite clambering of all time. What has been your negative issues with your 223ai rifles that you wouldn't bother with it any more? Now you have me Interested in your 223ai experience and problems? Pretty sure I already know the answer to my questions

I said, "I wouldn’t bother. What does it enable you to do that you can’t do with the standard chamber?" If you want to have a go at me because I looked at the reloading manuals and decided it wasn't worth my time, knock yourself out, Brad. I never realized that the only way to know whether something was worth it to me was to spend 20 years using it.

If you want to tinker around with something for some extra FPS, go for it! The manuals I looked at indicated 75-200 FPS advantages for .223 AI vs .223. If I want a bit more performance out of a .224 caliber rifle, I have a .22-250 or I can shoot 5.56 in my Tikka .223. I have nothing against .223 AI, it just doesn't do anything useful for me.

As I have said elsewhere, my life is too short and my job pays too well by the hour to reload .223. To me, .223 is a practice round for high volume centerfire shooting in field positions between 200 and 600 yards. I don't want to reload 5000 .223 every year. My time is worth more than the money I would save doing that (I'm writing this response while working from home listening to a conference call. So even this RokSlide time isn't wasted). An extra 75-200 FPS also doesn't get me anything there. The ADI 69-grain load already produces excellent accuracy in my rifle at a trajectory that is close to my hunting rifle between 100-600 yards. And, if I really want more FPS than a .223, I can shoot Frontier 5.56 at 3150 FPS. When I can get excellent Frontier 5.56 for $0.45-50 per round and ADI .223 for $0.70-75 per round, it's not worth my time to reload for it.

It is also not legal to use .224 caliber bullets for big game in my state. I generally only reload for hunting purposes. If I did reload more, then the .223AI certainly has some attractions (as do AI chamberings in general).

 

[BreechFace]

I say go for it if your Tikka shows good accuracy and your are satisfied with 1:8" twist, the extra FPS over 223 would be worth it in my book. What's to lose? One can still shoot any standard round in their AI'd chamber. I would only ream a 223 chamber to AI if the barrel was an excellent shooter in a fast twist, otherwise I wouldn't until I desired to change out the barrel.

Once I rebarrel my 1:9" twist Ruger M77 in 223 it will be a 223AI in 1:7 twist.

To have better performance and step up to a 22-250 one sacrifices barrel life with the overbore flame cracking the leade that one gets with that performance. A 223AI will have excellent barrel life and a modest bump in performance when reloaded for. And as was said when one doesn't desire to reload they can shoot regular old 223.

 

[ElPollo]

So the concept of getting a little extra velocity is never a bad thing, but I often hear people say that the benefit of the AI chamber is that you also have the flexibilty to shoot factory ammo through it. For myself, I don’t see much of a benefit of anything that will significantly change my point of impact. I work pretty hard to ensure I have a system (gun, optics, mounts, ammo) that will hit the same POI all the time. If I had an AI, I would either stick with the handloaded AI ammo or the factory stuff and would not switch back and forth. For me, the extra velocity of the AI handloads are not worth the time it takes to load them. But I buy multiple cases of 223 ammo at a time.

 

[RockAndSage]

So the concept of getting a little extra velocity is never a bad thing, but I often hear people say that the benefit of the AI chamber is that you also have the flexibilty to shoot factory ammo through it. For myself, I don’t see much of a benefit of anything that will significantly change my point of impact. I work pretty hard to ensure I have a system (gun, optics, mounts, ammo) that will hit the same POI all the time. If I had an AI, I would either stick with the handloaded AI ammo or the factory stuff and would not switch back and forth. For me, the extra velocity of the AI handloads are not worth the time it takes to load them. But I buy multiple cases of 223 ammo at a time.

These are good points. The biggest value I'd get out of the AI chambering is pushing the 77TMKs faster, out of a bolt gun. That is very much worth it to me. The utility of shooting the 55gr is getting a bunch of practice in while building up a pile of fireformed brass, before working up an AI load, re-zeroing, and then sticking to that.

 

[Ac338]

One other pro as well is rarely having to trim cases. Probably not a big deal to some people but personally I’ll take one less step

 

[Kaleb]

So for some a 223 is a practice tool that the ammo doesn’t matter as long as it’s good enough. I suppose as long as anything is good enough that’s all that matters anyway. For some the 223 is the hunting rifle and the loading for it is not a burden but simply part of it. I don’t play golf or watch sports other than the sports my kids play.

I look at loading like I do processing my deer. Kinda exactly the same way. It’s not my favorite thing in the world to do. If my options were a bj or load 200 rounds/grind 100 ponds of burger I’d opt for the bj. To me they just go together. It doesn’t really have anything to do with the cost or time. I load our ammo how I want and put our meat in the freezer the way I want.

I make more than a person who would start my horses. I just prefer to start them the way I want them started and do it myself. I’m not at all saying my way of thinking is right or efficient. I feel like with a horse program me starting them is part of it…unless I have more to do than time. I feel like with hunting/shooting making my own meat and ammo goes along with it.

 

[BreechFace]

So the concept of getting a little extra velocity is never a bad thing, but I often hear people say that the benefit of the AI chamber is that you also have the flexibilty to shoot factory ammo through it. For myself, I don’t see much of a benefit of anything that will significantly change my point of impact. I work pretty hard to ensure I have a system (gun, optics, mounts, ammo) that will hit the same POI all the time. If I had an AI, I would either stick with the handloaded AI ammo or the factory stuff and would not switch back and forth. For me, the extra velocity of the AI handloads are not worth the time it takes to load them. But I buy multiple cases of 223 ammo at a time.

Sight in your rifle for your preferred load in this hypothetical case your custom 223AI load, zero turrets.

When the time comes to shoot your bulk ammo for practice, note the offset in elevation and windage due to change in load, rezero turrets.

Ahead of a hunt or use of 223AI load, return to zero and reconfirm zero.

Seems pretty straight forward to me to take advantage of.

I guess if one is completely satisfied with bulk 77gr OTM commercial loadings and doesn't change from that load ever, then I could see the desire to not complicate with 223AI loads. But I'm guessing most of the people who speak of not wanting to mess up their "confirm doped zero," will shoot several different flavors of 223 commercial loadings of which requires them to rezero their rifle for practice anyways.

 

[Kaleb]

lol if I was a smart person I’d have 6 broke horses 22lr’s matching 223’s and matching 6 or 6.5 creedmoors. I don’t know what in the world I’d do with all that time and space and thought? I would say I could get in trouble chasing women but I’m ugly and more like an arc than a weatherby….probably end up learning how to play video games or something grin.

 

[Kaleb]

These are good points. The biggest value I'd get out of the AI chambering is pushing the 77TMKs faster, out of a bolt gun. That is very much worth it to me. The utility of shooting the 55gr is getting a bunch of practice in while building up a pile of fireformed brass, before working up an AI load, re-zeroing, and then sticking to that.

With my 223AI form loads only the chronograph knows which is which. You can run a batch of 2-300 form loads with the bullet of your choice. Then when you get done work up to pressure and shoot the same bullet a little bit faster. I see the appeal of using cheap factory to make brass I’ve just not done it that way yet. I use the same stuff the whole time just add a pinch more powder for the formed cases. I suppose I do every chambering like this. The AI chambers just take more powder the second firing than the other ones do

 

[207North]

With my 223AI form loads only the chronograph knows which is which. You can run a batch of 2-300 form loads with the bullet of your choice. Then when you get done work up to pressure and shoot the same bullet a little bit faster. I see the appeal of using cheap factory to make brass I’ve just not done it that way yet. I use the same stuff the whole time just add a pinch more powder for the formed cases. I suppose I do every chambering like this. The AI chambers just take more powder the second firing than the other ones do

This is my experience.

There might be an inch difference in elevation between fireforming 55g junk and 77 handloads @ 100.