Alliant 2000mr in the ar15 - impressed

[lte82]

I did a little load testing today with 2000mr and 77 smks, trying to get an idea of how it does in the ar15.

Turns out it works very well, and I was actually able to get lower es/sd than my current varget load, and put some very decent groups together. Im still at the low end of pressure and velocity (2600 fps) but plan on working up to 2800+ soon.

These are the last two groups at 200 yards at top and center. Prone / sling / iron sights. Just a basic woa uppered ar with a geissele nm trigger.

Anyone else shooting 2000mr in their semi autos?

 

[bruddah]

Pretty damn good for iron sights! Slap a scope on there and re-shoot it for us!

 

[milo 2.0]

No, but I've been eyeing it, 9lbs of 748 left and then it's this or AR- comp for me.

 

[Bear24]

What brass, primers and charge weight were you using?



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[MarshallDodge]

Thanks for posting your results.

I picked up two 8-pounders of MR2000 and a bunch of 69,75, and 77 grain bullets last month to try. Your post makes me more confident in my purchase.

 

[redneckbmxer24]

Can you share what brass your using, primers, and where you started with powder and left off?

I had been using RL15 but ran out. I got a little over 5lbs of 2000MR from a friend I was going to run.

 

[lte82]

I was using commercial 3x fired winchester brass, br4 primers, and 77gr smks at 2.25" oal, with 25.2gr of powder. Velocity was low, averaging 2616 fps.

My varget loads are also slow in this brass though and it needs 1+ gr more powder to hit the same velocity as with lake city brass.

Oh, my primer cups are perfectly rounded still. Very low pressure at 2616 fps and I should be able to get into the 2800 fps realm with no ill effects on brass life.

 

[lte82]

Loaded up some more last night at 25.8, 26.0, 26.2, and 26.4gr. Hopefully will get the 26.2-26.4gr loads into the 2750-2800 fps range with good accuracy. If it's anything like 2000mr in the 308, it will shoot best when it's close to max.

I'll also get some testing done with lake city brass over the holidays.

 

[Fatelvis]

Please keep us posted. You're my Guinea Pig! Lol

 

[Bear24]

Is this a 16" barrel?


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[lte82]

Is this a 16" barrel?


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20". Ill chrono some in my 16" today as well.

 

[lte82]

Chrono data in.

25.8: 2672 fps
26.0: no data
26.2: 2718 fps
26.4: 2746 fps

Even at 26.4gr, I can still see the "B" on the primer (using br4's). IE, still very low pressure. No primer cratering, and the cups are still perfectly rounded.

26.2gr shot the best group, right under 1 moa.

I guess I'll try 26.6-27gr if I can even fit that much powder in there. 2800 fps is so close I can taste it.

 

[Bear24]

Thanks for the update! I'm getting almost the same velocities with 1 grain less power using LC brass in my 24" surgeon. I'm really hoping I can get to 2800fps this week as I still have no pressure signs. If i can get there and the load shoots well ill be very happy bc that load will match my 178g Amax load in my 308 out to 550 yards almost exactly in elevation drops. (Wind is obviously more drift with the 223)


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[user]

Tagged. Got the same powder and bullets. Going to try this out. Thanks for posting.

 

[lte82]

Loaded up a ladder from 26.0-26.6 and retested. 26.8 was just seemed like too much powder and not enough case left to seat the bullet. Nearly identical results from before and amazingly the 26.6 load turned out to be my best node. 2789 fps with 11 sd and a solid sub moa group. I held a sub x ring sized group prone with a sling and iron sights.

Also tested 82 bergers from 26.0 to 26.4. 26.4 was the best node at 2718 fps with 9 sd and a sub moa group. Actually I had four in about a .3-.4 moa group with me pushing one right about 1 1/2 inches. (Target was 200yd)

Also I had about a 8 mph wind left to right and the 82gr bergers had about 1.5" less drift... though I guess it could be partially poi shift?

And as before... zero pressure signs. Absolutely nuts.

 

[bruddah]

Awesome news!

 

[lte82]

Ok, I tried 26.8gr. Turns out that load gives me vertical issues somewhat.



Retested with my varget load just to verify it wasnt me. I guess it may have been me? Hmm.



Then I retested the berger 82 / 26.4gr load that I will shoot at the 600yd line. There are four in there...



I may end up backing down to the 26.2gr charge for the 77s and will for sure stick with the 26.4gr charge for the berger 82s. They have nearly identical velocities, and while they are only ~2720 fps I think the accuracy trumps pushing them faster.

 

[bruddah]

Nice shooting brother!

 

[EMC]

Has anyone tested loads with 69 smk's and this powder yet? The suggested load on the website load guide is 26.6 with an advertised velocity over 3000fps which seems very fast for 69gr.

 

[bruddah]

Has anyone tested loads with 69 smk's and this powder yet? The suggested load on the website load guide is 26.6 with an advertised velocity over 3000fps which seems very fast for 69gr.

Yeah it does.

 

[Fatelvis]

All these loads are still in Winchester brass still, correct? I'm using LC brass and was wondering how much I should reduce for the thicker brass.

 

[lte82]

All in winchster brass still. Maybe .5-1gr reduction for lc? I really dont know yet.

By the way, I won on the 600yd line at yesterdays across the course match with my berger 82 / 26.4gr 2000mr load. My vertical spread was extremely low, and I shot a 190 6x in 12-14mph wind. One of the high masters who shoots typically mid 190s only scored a 183. It was really tough.

Also I shot a sloppy 95 on the first string of 10 at the 300yd rapid prone, but focused on the next group and shot a 99 6x. Needless to say the 77gr loads will shoot clean on the 200 and 300yd line if you can do your part.

Glad I have 16+ pounds of this powder.

 

[Fatelvis]

Thanks for the info Lte. How much does your brass weigh?

 

[lte82]

Well, I've never actually weighed this brass until tonight, and I came up with some really strange numbers. This is all primed brass ready for loading just to keep in mind. Out of the 8 I weighed, I had 4 that were 95.5-95.6gr and four that were 97.8-98.0gr, with none in between. Like I said, strange.

The 5 lake city brass I tried were all 95.2-95.4gr, also prepped and primed. No real outliers in the bunch I tried.

 

[Pinecone]

It is my understanding that in .223, unlike .308, LC brass is not really different in capacity than commercial brass.

 

[lte82]

The winchester brass holds .3-.4gr more water than my lake city brass.

 

[user]

i loaded 26.3 with this and 77 smk's and got 2334 avg oy for a 14.5" barrel.

 

[lte82]

Finally got around to developing a load with lake city brass.

77 smk
25.8gr 2000mr
2.255" oal
rem 7 1/2 primers
2700 fps out of a 20" 1:8 tube

This group is from today, setting zero on my across the course gun @ 200. Iron sights and sling only.

 

[Mad_Charlie]

Thanks, much appreciated.

 

[redneckbmxer24]

I finally tested out 2000MR with 77gr noslers in LC brass with Tula KVB556 primers in my KAC LPR. I tested 22.5gr-26.4 loaded to 2.55" OAL and saw no pressure at all. 26.4gr yielded almost 2800FPS. I got lazy and didn't record the whole string of shots which I should have done. I had a definite node from 24.6gr-25gr and another from 25.2gr-25.6gr which was over 100FPS faster than the 24.6gr-25gr node. I found that pretty odd. All 20 rounds went into one 1/2MOA group. I only shot at the 100 yard target because I was mainly watching the chrono and we didn't have a spotter to watch bullet impacts for a ladder at 300 or 500 yards.

For comparison I also ran a Varget ladder as well and got the following:

22.5gr 2496
23gr. 2526
23.2gr 2564
23.4gr 2587
23.6gr 2575
23.8gr 2645
24gr. 2662
24.2. 2655



Grain for grain Varget runs faster in this rifle but in LC brass at 2.55" it compresses around 23.2gr and I saw pressure around 24.5gr in a previous test. I went all the way up to 26.4gr of 2000MR with zero pressure and that load wasn't quite compressed. I'd guess it would crunch just before 27gr.

 

[BLDTYLRY]

Here's my OCW using 75gr Hornady HPBT, CCI Small Rifle Primers, and Speer Brass out of a 22" Wylde 1:8 Twist AR15.

Group #1
Shot Speed
1 2680 ft/sec
2 2656 ft/sec
3 2660 ft/sec
4 2634 ft/sec
5 2679 ft/sec

Min 2634 ft/sec
Avg 2662 ft/sec
ES 28 ft/sec
Max 2680 ft/sec
S-D 19 ft/sec

Group #2
Shot Speed
1 2682 ft/sec
2 2651 ft/sec
3 2698 ft/sec
4 2678 ft/sec
5 2701 ft/sec

Min 2651 ft/sec
Avg 2682 ft/sec
ES 31 ft/sec
Max 2701 ft/sec
S-D 20 ft/sec

Group #3
Shot Speed
1 2699 ft/sec
2 2711 ft/sec
3 2710 ft/sec
4 2702 ft/sec
5 2729 ft/sec

Min 2699 ft/sec
Avg 2710 ft/sec
ES 11 ft/sec
Max 2729 ft/sec
S-D 12 ft/sec

Group #4
Shot Speed
1 2711 ft/sec
2 2759 ft/sec
3 2720 ft/sec
4 2739 ft/sec
5 2718 ft/sec

Min 2711 ft/sec
Avg 2729 ft/sec
ES 18 ft/sec
Max 2759 ft/sec
S-D 20 ft/sec

Group #5
Shot Speed
1 2754 ft/sec
2 2754 ft/sec
3 2739 ft/sec
4 2753 ft/sec
5 2754 ft/sec

Min 2739 ft/sec
Avg 2751 ft/sec
ES 12 ft/sec
Max 2754 ft/sec
S-D 7 ft/sec

Group #6
Shot Speed
1 2779 ft/sec
2 2779 ft/sec
3 2793 ft/sec
4 2756 ft/sec
5 2801 ft/sec

Min 2756 ft/sec
Avg 2782 ft/sec
ES 26 ft/sec
Max 2801 ft/sec
S-D 17 ft/sec