New LWRC REPR Load Q

[Wildwillalaska]

So broke down and bought my first AR10 last Friday. Buddy who has a local shop had been trying to talk me into this gun for a couple weeks and needed it sold--so he finally made me a deal I couldn't pass up.

So proud owner of a super sexy 20" fluted Patriot Brown gas gun. Had fun this weekend, saw some decent groups with 168 FGMM and M118LR but have 500 LC LR brass ready to load and hope to find a little more accuracy (knew it would not likely be some .3" one-holer, hove plenty of bolt guns for that) by hand loading up some of this brass.

Did a search and didn't find what I was looking for, most posts were older too--so:

Anyone have good load data for 165/8's or 175/8's in LC brass and varget by chance? Will work up but not looking to recreate the wheel if others have reference points.

Thanks.
Will

 

[Smcarroll]

I have had great luck with varget and rl-15. Mine likes fed gold match primers, loaded to magazine length. Start a grain and a half under Max and work up. I found my 18" barrel likes 40.6 grains of rl-15 behind the smk 175 the best. Don't just drink the 168/175 koolaide, I shoot a ton of 150 fmj-bt and they work great. Coyotes are severely allgeric and they don't fuck up my pelts.

 

[jaycoux]

I use lclr brass, 175 SMK and varget with cci br2 primers. 42.5 up to 43 grains is a pretty good place to work up to. I have owned or loaded for 5 different larue rifles and they all liked that range. Granted, it isnt a repr but its my experience with what i have. 43 is a little hot depending on how heavy the brass is, so work up.

 

[Wildwillalaska]

Thanks fellers. That is what I was looking for. I have a few hundred 165 and 168 bullets to play with but have all kinds of 175 and 178 and 185's as it's what I mainly shoot through my 308 bolt guns. But have used only Lapua brass for several years and wanted to get some feedback on the LCLR knowing there would be a capacity difference, although it sounds much closer to Lapua than say Winchester.

My hope is to find a load for this sexy beast to get it to shoot close to a Larue. I also recently picked up a Larue PredatOBR but in 556--that little thing shoots.

 

[jaycoux]

I havent checked capacity, but my lapua brass runs about 175 grains, and my lclr brass is very consistently 177-178 grains. It is all the '04 lot.

 

[Oleshep]

In my 20" Direct Impingment AR10 I run Lapua case, CCI #34, SMK 175gr, 42.5gr Varget seated to mag length. I am getting about 2540fps and this load is 1gr from max pressure for my rifle. I get about the same speed with 42.5gr of RE15 too. They seem to be about the same.. The groups are sub MOA as long as I do my part...

 

[Smcarroll]

Have you guys seen a loss of accuracy once you get up there on the powder charge?

 

[Oleshep]

Have you guys seen a loss of accuracy once you get up there on the powder charge?

I did not do accuracy testing along the way since what I was looking for was max speed. I needed the speed to keep the 175gr Supersonic at 1000yds at lower elevations. When the bullet goes subsonic at long ranges bad things happen on the target.. :-( Most guys at the 1000 yard line shoot longer barrels than 20" so they get higher velocity...

Conventional thought is that each barrel has a natural "harmonic" that when reached with the perfect charge will produce the best groups. I don't think it really matters if it is a Hot load that gets you there. However when running Hotter loads I think you brass will not last as long. The primer pockets seem to get lose for me.

 

[Joea132]

LCLR brass, br2 primer, 41 gr Varget under a 175 SMK. Runs very well out of my 20" REPR.

 

[Smcarroll]

I did not do accuracy testing along the way since what I was looking for was max speed. I needed the speed to keep the 175gr Supersonic at 1000yds at lower elevations. When the bullet goes subsonic at long ranges bad things happen on the target.. :-( Most guys at the 1000 yard line shoot longer barrels than 20" so they get higher velocity...

Conventional thought is that each barrel has a natural "harmonic" that when reached with the perfect charge will produce the best groups. I don't think it really matters if it is a Hot load that gets you there. However when running Hotter loads I think you brass will not last as long. The primer pockets seem to get lose for me.

In my experience slower is usually more accurate. I don't usually use my repr for 1000 yard work, I have my 300's and 338 for that. I guess I see my repr as more of a dmr.

 

[Wildwillalaska]

Great info here guys. I'm looking for an accurate mid-range gun as well. Do not see me playing with it much past 750 yards and much of the longer ranges will be on steal--but will want to get the best accuracy I can out of it.

I'll try to get out and do some OCW testing with the LCLR 165's and 178's with 41-42.5 gr of Varget.