223 bolt gun questions

mese341

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Minuteman
Dec 8, 2013
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Duluth,Mn
So I have narrowed the caliber down to 223 but now I need to narrow down to the make and model of the gun. I am going to be shooting moa matches 5 times a year which is anywhere from 100 to 600 yards and gonna try and make it to nra high power matches and they are 300 to 500 yards and I am planning on shooting thoes 5 times a year also.
I am leaning twards a Tikka T3 varmint stainless but open to ideas my budget is $900
 
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You are going to need a faster twist barrel to shoot the 77 or 80 grain bullets to 600. You'll need at a minimum a 1-8" twist barrel. If you want to try the 90 grain bullets that might work with a 1-7" or might take a 1-6.5". That may limit your factory options. Check the makers web sites.
 
The 1-8 on the Varmint will handle the 75 ELDM just fine and the 80 pretty good too. My Varmint is a hammer with the 75 over H4895 loaded to 2.49".
 
I have a Tikka T3x Sporter with a 24" 1 in 8 barrel. I use Prime 77gr Match and it shoots lights out to 820 yards. I take it out to 1007 every so often on very calm days.
 
Just make sure the rifle has at least 1:8 twist and ideally feeds from a box mag (if you want a repeater) that is longer than the 2.25" of an AR15. Some of the Tikka mags will feed rounds longer than 2.5" long but others are much shorter.

A Rem 700 or 700 footprint action can feed using 223 AI mags (same size as 308 mag) and that allow you to run loads up to about 2.6" OAL. Then you can hit 2800 FPS with 80 grainers from a repeater, so you can use it for PRS. Plus you can use any chassis on the market.

Hopefully you can confirm that the chamber is throated longer too. You don't want the rounds pushed back into the case when you chamber them.

For the longest time loads like this were single feed only, but now you can do it with a repeater, so that's cool.