What did you do in the reloading room recently?

difficult to tell why and when i got them, but, found 3 boxes of nosler 77gr rdf .224 bullets.
loaded a ladder of 50 - from 23.2 to 24.3 varget, will see how it will perform, seated into the mag length.

i did not even think they will seat like that, but, it worked. usually, as i understand, AR mag lenght works well for custom competition noslers, not the RDF.
 
difficult to tell why and when i got them, but, found 3 boxes of nosler 77gr rdf .224 bullets.
loaded a ladder of 50 - from 23.2 to 24.3 varget, will see how it will perform, seated into the mag length.

i did not even think they will seat like that, but, it worked. usually, as i understand, AR mag lenght works well for custom competition noslers, not the RDF.
24.1grs Varget shoots gangbusters in my white oak armament competition AR (1:7 twist rate) upper with those pills. I loaded most to mag length so I wouldn’t have to figure out which would feed during rapid fire, but eventually started loading half of my rounds a few thousandths off the lands for single load applications and I think it tightened up my groups a bit. Maybe once you get your preferred powder charge straightened out try a few just off the lands and see if you like them enough to bother loading any like that?
 
24.1grs Varget shoots gangbusters in my white oak armament competition AR (1:7 twist rate) upper with those pills. I loaded most to mag length so I wouldn’t have to figure out which would feed during rapid fire, but eventually started loading half of my rounds a few thousandths off the lands for single load applications and I think it tightened up my groups a bit. Maybe once you get your preferred powder charge straightened out try a few just off the lands and see if you like them enough to bother loading any like that?
I may - I 3d printed an insert to hand load my ar , so it is not a huge deal now.
Just need to find a decent enough day to get those loads tested.
 
difficult to tell why and when i got them, but, found 3 boxes of nosler 77gr rdf .224 bullets.
loaded a ladder of 50 - from 23.2 to 24.3 varget, will see how it will perform, seated into the mag length.

i did not even think they will seat like that, but, it worked. usually, as i understand, AR mag lenght works well for custom competition noslers, not the RDF.
77s do well , I got sub moa with out much effort . With my scoped AR
I use them for service rifle where im lucky to shoot sub 3 moa but thats 10 ring——- when I can get them there.

I did a little testing with the AR seating off the lands at different lengths and there where no real. gains for me.
 
77s do well , I got sub moa with out much effort . With my scoped AR
I use them for service rifle where im lucky to shoot sub 3 moa but thats 10 ring——- when I can get them there.

I did a little testing with the AR seating off the lands at different lengths and there where no real. gains for me.

The lands will move as the throat wears anyway so unless you are constantly adjusting, you’re just chasing your tail.
 
77s do well , I got sub moa with out much effort . With my scoped AR
I use them for service rifle where im lucky to shoot sub 3 moa but thats 10 ring——- when I can get them there.

I did a little testing with the AR seating off the lands at different lengths and there where no real. gains for me.
i really must be losing my marbles as it seems i already tested those bullets back in september and totally forgot i did.
unless it was somehow a custom competition type, but, i cannot find them in my cluttered space, only see 3 boxes of RDF and one was open.
well, anyway, it will be just a confirmation then, from below looks like 24.3 worked ok.
cannot believe i totally absolutely forgot i already did that. covid brain... :(
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SMK is a very different bullet from RDF nosler. SMK is like a custom competition nosler. but, yeah, seems to work about that much varget load.

RDF at 24.3 compresses a lot, and still ends up usually at 2.265" OAL. it is really at the limit. you can just see it really want to be at 2.330" or so and not to sit in at mag length.
 
First day out with the 176 atips. should have requested a longer freebore. they will be compressed loads for sure. 26" x 1.20" straight Osprey barrel chambered by PVA in .308.

All 5 shot groups. 17 rounds through the barrel before today. First group was a little low and .8mil right. Adjusted windage and shot the rest since I wasnt really concerned about POI. Ran a ladder from 43.2 - 44.2. Fastest speed was 2745 at 44.2gr and SD came back down into single digits. It was low double digits at 43.6 - 44gr. I think there's a node just above 2750 and that's what I'm going for. I'll tune the harmonics with my tuner if I can get consistent velocity just above 2750. Gonna load up some at 44.4, 44.5 and 44.6 and go back tomorrow.

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First day out with the 176 atips. should have requested a longer freebore. they will be compressed loads for sure. 26" x 1.20" straight Osprey barrel chambered by PVA in .308.

All 5 shot groups. 17 rounds through the barrel before today. First group was a little low and .8mil right. Adjusted windage and shot the rest since I wasnt really concerned about POI. Ran a ladder from 43.2 - 44.2. Fastest speed was 2745 at 44.2gr and SD came back down into single digits. It was low double digits at 43.6 - 44gr. I think there's a node just above 2750 and that's what I'm going for. I'll tune the harmonics with my tuner if I can get consistent velocity just above 2750. Gonna load up some at 44.4, 44.5 and 44.6 and go back tomorrow.

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Left lower corner looks nice.

I tried once atips in my 20” ar but Noslers seem to perform better. Need to try again, a one good load I did was with CC, I want to try 175gr rdf too

For bolt gun rdf should be ideal.

In my ar nothing grouped well above 44gr varget. And best SD did not align with best groups, at both 300 and 100.
 
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Whaaaaaaaaa?

They don’t wear THAT fast. Maybe every thousand rounds or so it’s be a good idea to check to see if you’re still in the wheelhouse.
not a .223 at moderate speeds but the barrel burning cartridges will def cause one to chase lands much sooner than 1k rounds.
 
Left lower corner looks nice.

I tried once atips in my 20” ar but Noslers seem to perform better. Need to try again, a one good load I did was with CC, I want to try 175gr rdf too

For bolt gun rdf should be ideal.

In my ar nothing grouped well above 44gr varget. And best SD did not align with best groups, at both 300 and 100.
you're right. after looking again, I think I'm going to chrono some more at 44gr and see how it turns out. A friend is also shooting 30cal atips this year and he ran the dope to 1000yds today with a 10mph full value wind and the wind hold difference between 2717 and 2793 was a tenth. Prob not worth the extra powder and recoil to try pushing any faster for what I'm doing.
 
not a .223 at moderate speeds but the barrel burning cartridges will def cause one to chase lands much sooner than 1k rounds.
You seem to enjoy making an attempt at correcting my statements but immediately contradict yourself in the process.

Good sir, we are discussing .223 at moderate speeds. That is what I was referring to. Of course if you’re running retard hot loads like your dum dum friend pushing SMK 77’s over 3000FPS (which they’re not even designed for and instead max out around 2950fps), you’re going to see all sorts of crazy shit like jackets coming off and premature wear on the throat. Captain obvious.
 
you're right. after looking again, I think I'm going to chrono some more at 44gr and see how it turns out. A friend is also shooting 30cal atips this year and he ran the dope to 1000yds today with a 10mph full value wind and the wind hold difference between 2717 and 2793 was a tenth. Prob not worth the extra powder and recoil to try pushing any faster for what I'm doing.
Good seating depth should make it perfect.
It may already be perfect for a group of 5 as is.
Dunno, my ar is not a top notch barrel, a mere BA mainstream and it seems to hate hornadies. I think it just cannot perform well seated at mag length.
Noslers seem to be indifferent to jump amounts at much higher level than hornady.

Btw, on my 6 dasher no hornadies worked well neither. Berger hybrids were great and remain #1, noslers were also ok.

And 6.5cm loves hornadies exclusively, eldx. Go figure.
 
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You seem to enjoy making an attempt at correcting my statements but immediately contradict yourself in the process.

Good sir, we are discussing .223 at moderate speeds. That is what I was referring to. Of course if you’re running retard hot loads like your dum dum friend pushing SMK 77’s over 3000FPS (which they’re not even designed for and instead max out around 2950fps), you’re going to see all sorts of crazy shit like jackets coming off and premature wear on the throat. Captain obvious.
not really, just saying that the other guy commenting about throat erosion isn't entirely wrong. I never insulted you. You're the one who previously called me a liar and has now resorted to name calling.

3000fps isn't crazy hot in a .223 bolt gun. Plenty of guys are pushing 22cal projectiles out of 22cal chambers going well in excess of 3000fps, whether it be .223 or now 22cm. Granted, they aren't shooting sierras, they're shooting Bergers or Hornady with thicker jackets. To my previous point that you obviously took personally, Sierras have thin jackets. That is all. I'm sure they work lovely in an AR. Have fun.
 
Good seating depth should make it perfect.
It may already be perfect for a group of 5 as is.
Dunno, my ar is not a top notch barrel, a mere BA mainstream and it seems to hate hornadies. I think it just cannot perform well seated at mag length.
Noslers seem to be indifferent to jump amounts at much higher level than hornady.

Btw, on my 6 dasher no hornadies worked well neither. Berger hybrids were great and remain #1, noslers were also ok.

And 6.5cm loves hornadies exclusively. Go figure.
I'm committed to making these atips work lol. I'm at about 3 thou jump. I just ordered a powder drop funnel for expited delivery to load my match rounds for next weekend with hopefully less crunch. gonna use the electric toothbrush to load up some more for tomorrow. 🤣

Regardless, I'm prob not gonna f*** with the jump anymore. I'd add a little more jump if I could but my chamber isn't long enough and I can't seat the bullets any deeper. Lesson learned.
 
Whaaaaaaaaa?

They don’t wear THAT fast. Maybe every thousand rounds or so it’s be a good idea to check to see if you’re still in the wheelhouse.

Lots of bbl’s for modern cartridges burn out at 2-3k rounds, not sure where your data is coming from? And the more you push them, the hotter they are and the more throat wear you can expect.

Anyway
 
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Lots of bbl’s for modern cartridges burn out at 2-3k rounds, not sure where your data is coming from? And the more you push them, the hotter they are and the more throat wear you can expect.
*sigh*

I didn’t post any data mister blue.

Again, you’re assuming criteria that weren’t even part of the conversation.

I never mentioned a single word about anything over moderate velocity ammo. There aren’t many guns I own that I push to the limits of velocity because the bulk of what I shoot are antiques and the more barrels I have to replace gives more potential for me to damage something that would cost a lot to repair.
 
Well those are facts not in evidence, how would I know that?

Most guys reloading like to push things, find the limit, explore the envelope. Shoot 223 past 1,000 yards when the RO says “that thing’s only good to 600 yards”, that kind of thing.
😐

…touché sir.

…touché.

I’ll go home now.
 
I'm committed to making these atips work lol. I'm at about 3 thou jump. I just ordered a powder drop funnel for expited delivery to load my match rounds for next weekend with hopefully less crunch. gonna use the electric toothbrush to load up some more for tomorrow. 🤣

Regardless, I'm prob not gonna f*** with the jump anymore. I'd add a little more jump if I could but my chamber isn't long enough and I can't seat the bullets any deeper. Lesson learned.
they should work.
therefore from my extremely budget AR - that is what i got from CC 175gr noslers. will try to load some RDFs over the weekend. or may be tonight, as i finish by bourbon. :)
it goes slow from a 20" gas gun. but, as long as SDs are in single digits - it will do.

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I'm committed to making these atips work lol. I'm at about 3 thou jump. I just ordered a powder drop funnel for expited delivery to load my match rounds for next weekend with hopefully less crunch. gonna use the electric toothbrush to load up some more for tomorrow. 🤣

Regardless, I'm prob not gonna f*** with the jump anymore. I'd add a little more jump if I could but my chamber isn't long enough and I can't seat the bullets any deeper. Lesson learned.
if you don`t mind me asking - this .308 build is for competition, or for fun? if competition - which one?

i could not find an old sample with hornadies - same as yours, but i recall the spread was at under the inch or may be 1.2" - not a single hole at all, from 43.2 to 45.5gr - no matter what i tried. it is not applicable anyway, probably, as different twist and barrels and all.
 
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