55 gr gamekings in 223 bolt gun

Just in case you thought that the 223 Rem cartridge is only run through black rifles these days.... I've found several good recipes with 55 gr sierra gamekings and 53 gr Vmax out of my heavy barrel varmint 700. The following isn't the hottest 223 load you'll ever see, but when you can shoot 4 shots through a ragged hole, you have to write that one down to use later.

Nice shooting I'd say that load is a keeper

I shoot a LOT of 55gr hornady FMJ's out of my 700. It loves them. My go to load is also not nearly as hot as you could get. Have you tried any CFE223 powder? I find it meters dead on in my progressive press and does as good of a job as Varget, takes less grains and cost a little less as well. Varget still gets my nod for the heavies tho.

Jason

Have not tried CFE... maybe one day tho. Right now, H322, H4895, and Benchmark are proving to work really well with the 53's and 55's. 3300 - 3400 velocities with sub MOA grps. What do you mean when you say heavies? Are you running 65's and if so what's your barrell twist?

I shoot some 69gr SMK's out of an AR rifle with a 1:7 twist barrel. My 700 is an older one, 1:12 twist. You would think it would like 40's as well as 55's but really I haven't found much of anything other than 55 FMJ's that it likes. I have tried benchmark and H335 with not a lot of success in the AR, maybe I should revisit with this bolt gun? But it shoots so good as is, its hard to try anything else.



Jason

I wanted to try the 65 gamekings, but the Sierra techs told me that even with a longer barrel producing a little more velocity , a 12 twist probably wouldn't stabilize them. I may try to find a few loose somewhere and see what they'll do. Hate to buy a 100 if they're going to tumble.

I tried 62's and didnt get much out of it. I fired a couple 69's as well and they were not accurate also. No keyholes but not accurate. Sounds like we have very similar rifles, mine is a heavy barrel 700 varmit model. Came with a green plastic stock when new,

Jason

Mine is identical to yours... I upgraded the stock. Try the 53 gr VMAX... high BC, and inexpensive.

I may have already tried those, I will look at my notes. Hard to beat the price of those 55 FMJ's. I buy in bulk for .07 each. I also replaced the stock on mine, I went with an H S precision that (other than the larger palmswell) is identical to my 308. Whats your load with the 53?

Jason

I have a few that seem to do well with the 53's... haven't really run them through the paces yet though.

Bottom left: 25 gr IMR 3031 (3350 ft/sec)
Top Middle: 25.5 gr Benchmark (3350 ft/sec)
Top Right: 25 gr H322 (3380 ft/sec)

Good rainy day to give that a try. I will go see what I have, and what I have tried.

Jason

My Ruger American likes Blc(2) and IMR 4064 on the 53s and 55s. I loaded up some 25gr Varget pushing 69gr hpbt Sierra's yesterday to try in a 1and 7.5 White Oak Armament .223 Wylde barreled AR I built.

Thats very close to my load on the 69's. I use 25.4 gr of varget if I remember correctly. One thing about varget is that it really likes to be as close to a full case as possible, even compressed sometimes. I dont know why, but thats one reason it does NOT work well for me in a few loads, gets more FPS but larger groups.

Jason

I looked into what I had done with the 53's.. I had tried benchmark at 25.5 and 26 grains with no luck. I will revisit when I have time to shoot some. Its my busy time of the year so it will be a couple months..

Jason

26 with Bchmrk kinda sucked... but I suppose that could have been me? H4895 was a good performer too, but I think I'm going to really give the 3031 and h322 loads a work out. If they are consistent, then I'll be satisfied with that velocity window. I may bump the 25 h322 load a few tenths and see if I can hit 3400 and keep the accuracy.

I dont think I have any H322 down there, but its possible, I didnt even give 3031 a chance. I do have that.

Jason