When you're at the mercy of commercial ammunition as I was for a number of years, you use what works best with your rifle. The Applied Ballistics 175 Tactical was the best out of my GAP rifles by far. Unfortunately, it is not currently available and there's no way of telling when it will be. Typical ES with the AB175s out of my rifles ranged from ~15-25 fps. Following a recent re-barrel to a longer (30" vs 28") heavier contour (MTU vs M24) barrel, the AB175s no longer grouped well at all. Likely a barrel harmonics issue as the same reamer was used to chamber the new barrel.
Fortunately, because I hadn't started reloading at the time, I had a bunch of the FGMM 175s and they shot remarkably well out of the new barrel (<0.5 MOA 5-shot groups at 100 yd). I have used them in several local 300/600 yd matches and been very satisfied with their performance at those distances. They are running right at 2750 fps from my rifle, with a typical ES of close to 50 fps.
I have used the FGMM 175s (out of necessity) at a few 1000 yd match at Camp Pendleton. Under fairly benign wind conditions, they shot surprisingly well (>/= 94%). Once the wind came up, I might as well have been using a precision shotgun. The combination of relatively low MV (2750 fps), mediocre BC of the SMK 175 (0.243 G7), and ES close to 50 fps, is not a recipe for success. I won't use them past 600 yd in competition again. They're great for 300-600 yd MR matches, particularly because I don't always have enough time to get handloads prepared due to work constraints. Past 600 yd...it's not worth the frustration. As mentioned, if you want to be competitive you'd better reload with a better bullet or at least pay someone else to do it for you if you shoot where there's any wind at all. Having developed a pretty good handload with Berger 185 Juggernauts, I'm now in a position where I can choose when/if I want to shoot the FGMM 175s. It's a much better place to be.
I flipped a coin about whether to weigh in here, so here goes:
I purchased a Savage 12 FTR in 308 (30 in barrel 1:12) for a 1000 yd summer of fun in FTR. Got hooked late last summer and tried my 223 at 600. No looking back. Here is some data that I have gathered so far. A few things 1) All this data was collected at below 20oF and I am waiting for warmer weather to move forward/confirm possible loads 2) Velocity is from Magnetospeed so it is at barrel. 3) I am looking for accuracy nodes not insane velocity 4) Until the snow melts, I cannot get beyond 300yds, so I cannot confirm real BCs or drops at 600/1000 5) I am new to this so work up your own loads as everything seems to effect things.
Since I am also playing around with 155 vs 175/178, here goes (again in 30 in barrel, below 20oF):
155 SMK Palma (2156) in Lapua case at 0oF
around 44 gr XBR 8208 2960 fps
around 45 gr XBR 8208 3010 fps
155 SMK Palma (2156) in LC case at 20 oF
around 44 gr 8208 2980 fps
around 44.5 gr 8208 3010 fps
175 SMK in LC case at 15 oF
around 44 gr Varget 2820 fps
175 SMK in LC case or FC case with F210 primer at 15oC
41.8 gr IMR4064 2760 fps
This is supposed to duplicate FGMM correct?
42.8 gr IMR4064 2813 fps
178 AMAX in WIN case at 0oF
around 44 gr Varget 2757 fps
around 45 gr Varget 2804 fps, ES=9, SD=3 this is HOT for my rifle, be careful
168 gr Hornady in RP case at 17oF
around 44 gr varget 2855 fps, ES=4
Drew