Sierra 224 60 TMK

[padom]

Anyone test these out yet ? I just grabbed 500. Gonna test them in my DD 1:7 5.56 10.5" and 16" Wilson Combat AR.

Will post up my test results here. Particularly interested in how they compare to the 55 and 60 VMAX. Being they are cheaper, have a higher BC and a boattail vs the VMAX would love for these to shoot as good or better. VMAX are super accurate in my AR's. The TMK's are cheaper too.

If they shoot great I'll run 5000rd off my 650 and fill some ammo cans.

 

[m jager]

They shoot very well out of the 3 rifles I have tried them in. 1. Savage 223 McGowan barrel. 2. Kelbly atlas MGM barrel 223 fire forming. 3. Ruger american pred 22/250. Solidly sub 1/2 moa in all.

Killed 16 yotes with the 22/250 at 3650fps. Kill very well but fur damage can be ugly. About 50/50 between no or little damage and ugly. Also used on rock chucks with graphic results.

 

[padom]

They shoot very well out of the 3 rifles I have tried them in. 1. Savage 223 McGowan barrel. 2. Kelbly atlas MGM barrel 223 fire forming. 3. Ruger american pred 22/250. Solidly sub 1/2 moa in all.

Killed 16 yotes with the 22/250 at 3650fps. Kill very well but fur damage can be ugly. About 50/50 between no or little damage and ugly. Also used on rock chucks with graphic results.

What powder you using in 223

 

[Potsy]

Damn. I just did get a load nailed down and my 16” BHW barrel is loving 53 V-Maxes. Now you folks put these in front of me.........

 

[m jager]

What powder you using in 223

8208 but will use benchmark sooner later

 

[padom]

8208 but will use benchmark sooner later

Gotcha. I'm going to run my tests with something that meters great out of a Dillon

 

[padom]

Alright I know there are much better powders to use with these bullets. But, I have a bunch of 8lb jugs that are collecting lots of dust, so I set out to find a powder I dont use for anything else with these bullets. I want to be able to run off 5000 or so on my Dillon once I find a load and fill some ammo cans.

The first 2 contenders, RE15 and AR Comp. I decided to start with RE15. I loaded up an OCW in .3gr increments up to my book max for 60 VMAX. Also, I loaded essentially 2 identical OCW's, only thing being different was primers..... I picked up like 10k Remington 7.5 Benchrest primers a few years ago at an insane price of like $15/1000. Well I have never had good luck with accuracy any time I use them so they have been my plinking primers. I decided to test out this accuracy problem so I loaded Federal 205's and these Rem7.5's in identical side by side OCW's.

Shot this OCW @ 50yd with a red dot form the bench, bipod and rear bag over LabRadar.

Test Gun
16" Wilson Combat 5.56 Ranger Barrel 1:7 Mid Gas
BCM Mlok Handguard
BCM MOD4 Upper Receiver
Geissele Super Gas Block
Toolcraft DLC BCG
Rugged 2 Port QD Brake
Geissele Carbine Buffer and Spring
Spikes 6 Position Buffer Tube
Magpul ACS-L Stock
BAD Ambi Safety
Geissele SD-E Trigger


Load
Reloader 15 OCW
3xLC Brass FL Sized, Trimmed
Sierra 60 TMK
Seated 2.26" COAL
Rem7.5 and Federal 205 Primers





For reference, very bottom right corner I shot a 5 shot group with my go to 55 VMAX loads. Just grabbed 5 out of the ammo can to take to the range that I loaded years ago. Down to about 500 of those left but as you can see, they shoot lights out in my AR's. I love that load.

So it looks like my primer theory was right. The 205's consistently shoot tighter groups than those Rem7.5's which has been my experience all along. My conclusion, these bullets are gonna shoot, but RE15 isnt the powder. The speed is too damn slow. My 55 Vmax load is about 3000 where the fastest RE15 load is sub 2750... And thats just getting compressed so no more powder going in these cases..

Next up, AR Comp and Ill probably load a H4895 OCW just to see how it compares to the 55 Vmax load speed and accuracy wise.

 

[padom]

Loaded up two more OCW's. All components and equipment being the same as the last test except I used Federal 205's for all further tests. Loaded up an AR Comp OCW and an H4895 OCW.

Conclusion, I found my powder to run a bunch off on the Dillon. AR Comp is giving the speeds I was looking for and the accuracy without any pressure signs. SD's are very good too! Very happy with it. Now to get some in the Dillon and see how consistently it throws.







H4895 didnt show me anything spectacular. Faster than RE15 but the same high SD's and slightly worse accuracy.





Really happy H4895 didnt work out and AR Comp did. I have 16lb of it with 2" of dust on the jugs in the back of the cabinet. Been collecting dust for years. Now time to order 5k of these things and fill some ammo cans.

 

[padom]

Got 100 loaded up to test today to confirm load then off to seeing how AR Comp throws on the 650 and how these 60 TMK's feed in the bullet feeder

 

[Iron Worker]

I've shot them in my 12" cut rifled bbl in rare cartridge called a 22/250 . 41.6 grs of w-w 6.5 staball produced 3725 AVG and under 1/2 MOA at 100yds.

 

[bobke]

Padom
I throw a fair amount of AR Comp for 6.5 Grendel in a Redding BR30. Love the powder, but doesn’t throw as consistently as 8208 or CFE. That said, I scale every charge on a Parker tuned Redding scale. Given a reasonably broad node, what kind of charge and velocity variance would you accept if you still are able to stay within a POI, but have some ES variance?

 

[bobke]

Bump for update on AR Comp throw accuracy.

 

[padom]

Bump for update on AR Comp throw accuracy.

It throws decent. Not as consistent as ball powers but i ran off 500 of them and down range the accuracy was just as good as my weighed charges so the target didnt care downrange. If that helps you any.