SteveT-NV

It's been a while since I've loaded FMJ but this was my recipe: Hornady 55 g FMJ OAL 2.23 25.8 g W748 18 in JP Avg Chrony - 2823 at 55 degrees in January. I no longer use W748 because of it's bad rep for temperature sensitivity and it seemed "dirty". I've been happier with Ramshot X-Terminator. YMMV Steve

I'm not sure this will help you, but I shoot the 55g VMax and it has no problem activating steel out to 550 yds. I choose the VMax over the heavier bullets because of its lower cost and excellent accuracy in my rifle. Steve

Power factor is not taken into account with Time Plus for scoring. Enter penalties only. As long as the competitor has the minimum caliber required for their division, then they are good to go. Cheers, Steve

I know this has been beat to death, but I feel that the shotgun tube length should be limited in tactical. As a relatively new competitor that has already purchased a mag extension, and now knowing I should purchase a longer one is quite annoying. Yes I know it's only another $100, but all those $100 purchases add up pretty quick. It's not just the equipment race, but it was my understanding that a big part of the shotgun portion of the matches was the competitors ability to reload the shotgun. It's a bit disheartening, that after spending a lot of time practicing my reloads daily for the last six months and now knowing that just buying a longer tube can take away some of that potential advantage. Thank you for allowing input on the rules. Steve

Hi Steve, Thanks for sharing that. I had been wondering if anyone would consider exactly that course of action. Once I started learning about the physical details of bullet performance I came across the Vmax line and got to pondering. If you don't mid sharing, what brass, powder and primers do you typically use? Thanks Again, Mike Hi Mike, Don't mind sharing at all. Before I started reloading I was shooting Federal AE and kept all the brass so I had around 2000 rounds of this saved up. These are now on their 3rd time around through the gun. Powder is 24.6 g of Ramshot Exterminator OAL - 2.25 MV ~ 2990 fps Primers CCI No 400 - I've also used the CCI BR-4, Federal and Winchester and haven't noted any significant difference. The BR-4 gave the most consistent MV, but not enough to be significant. Rifle - 18 in JP SCR11 Give 'em a try, I don't think you will be disappointed. Cheers, Steve

I like to keep things simple so I've taken a bit of a different route and handload all of my .223 with 55 g Hornady VMax. It's more expensive than the FMJ's, though less than 69 SMK. The accuracy is excellent in my rifle( ~ 0.6 MOA). I like the simplicity of reloading every bullet the same and using the same ammo on every stage. It has been accurate for me out to 600 yds, performs well in the wind and activates all reactive targets without problem (at least so far). Steve

Thank you!

Come join us for 5 stages of 3-Gun fun at the monthly WNPL 3Gun match on Saturday June 2. You can make a weekend out of it and stay for the USPSA match on Sunday. Stages will be posted on the WNPL Site a few days before the match. Steve

As said above either the Safariland or the Voodoo bags will work well. I have an Eberelestock Gunslinger II back pack and I'm happy with it. A lot of guys use carts with and/or without a bag. You may want to go to a couple matches first before spending a lot of cash on bags. AR Mags Pouches - Bladetech, Safariland, they are all pretty good. Shot Shell Caddies - If possible try and decide which load technique will be your primary Shotgun load system. Weak hand or the Load Two system. There are many, many videos on each. If you choose the Weak Hand system then there are a bunch of choices. The Man Mountain Caddies are probably the best (IMHO). If you choose the Load Two system then your choices narrow a bit, but keep in mind that some of the Load Two options can also be used using the Weak Hand system. FWIW, I've attached an "Intro to Multigun" file to this post that we use at our club. Some of it is pretty basic and some of it is club specific, but it may give you some ideas. Steve IntrotoMultigun.pdf

I've been very happy with the Williams Fire Sightes. Have had them several months and they have worked well for me for many rounds of practice, several local matches and the recent MG Nationals. Easy to focus on when shooting slugs, but don't even really see them when shooting close up stuff or clays. Steve

Great idea, glad it is working. We have been just using the "oreos" stuck in a bank at the end of the bay, we will have to try the tape idea out next match. Just curious... a similar idea could be used with the Do-All Ball Targets (hanging from some twine). I've used them for practice and they seem to work well, very reactive, no need to reset. Are they too expensive? Don't hold up? Other? Steve

Just curious how old your battery is/was? I also have the Meopta and have found it to be plenty bright in bright sun, for me anyway. It does dim when the battery gets old, and I wonder if you changed the battery in your scope, then it may be bright enough for you. Steve

The downloadable Fed Prem Catalog has the BC at 0.269 Steve

Not sure if this will help or not but, before I started reloading I was shooting the AE 55 grain FMJ and was getting an average MV of 2905 fps out of an 18 in JP SCR11. As you said you would have to chrony your rifle to see what you are getting. FWIW, I also use the Strelok calculator and I have found it to be pretty accurate, and it correlates pretty close to other ballistic calculators like the one at JBM Ballistics From my previous reading I don't think that it is that uncommon for the ballistic reticles to not correlate that well with actual results, especially with factory ammo. Ideally you would make up a custom load to work with your reticle. Before giving up though, it may be worth double checking your rifles zero, making sure you are getting reasonable groups at distance, and measuring the drop in your groups at set distances to see what you are getting. But, you really need to know your MV to check your ballistics. Steve

Montana Gold FMJ's are a pretty good deal by the case - https://www.montanagoldbullet.com/pricelist.html Many powders work well for .223, try searching this forum. I'm very happy right now with Ramshot X-Terminator for 55 gr bullets. Steve

300 yrd target with the CCI BR4 Primers. All other date above is the same. 3 Shot group - 2.50 in 300ydsCCIBR4.pdf

300 yrd target with the CCI 400 Primers. All other date above is the same. 3 Shot group - 1.53 in 300ydsCCI400.pdf

I guess this thread has gotten a little off topic from my original question. But I did more testing today to see if I could improve on the high variation in MV. I used a different Chronograph and compared two different primers. I took my time and was more careful in positioning the chronograph and tried to make each shot from as close as possible to the same position. Not sure if that's why I got better results though. Here are the results. Rifle - JP SCR11 Powder - Ramshot X-Terminator 24.6 g OAL - 2.250 Once fired Federal Brass Bullet - Hornaday 55g VMax Temp - 69 F BP 30.05 in 5 Shot Strings Primer - CCI 400 Low - 2937 High - 2997 Avg - 2952 Es - 60.38 Sd - 25.63 Primer - CCI BR4 Low - 2950 High - 2982 Avg - 2966 Es - 31.98 Sd - 14.96 I also shot some groups at 100 and at 300 yds. I got better groups with the CCI 400 than the CCI BR4 though I attribute that more to my shooting than the primer. I was "in the zone " for the first 4 shots at 100 yds (0.516 in group) but lost it on the 5th shot and was unable to get back into it after that. It would seem that even though the BR4 primers showed better results as far as variation in MV goes, they are probably not worth the additional cost for the targets/distances shot in Multigun. Attached is the 100 yrd target. I will attach the 300 yrd targets to additional posts. Steve loadtest100yds.pdf

I've only been reloading a few months, but I agree that it seems high as well. It's higher than I've gotten in the past as well. Not sure if it's user error or the powder. Since the accuracy was there I shrugged it off yesterday, but I should probably try and figure out what the problem is. Steve

In case any one is interested I thought I would follow up on my post. I was finally was able to get out and do some more testing today. Below are the results. Rifle - JP - SCR-11 - 18 in Bullet - Hornady VMax 55 g Brass - Federal once fired Primers - CCI Powder - Ramshot X-Terminator OAL - 2.250 Chrono results 24 g of X-Term Low - 2807 High - 2950 Avg - 2859 24.6 g of X-Term Low - 3040 High - 3157 Avg - 3091 No pressure signs seen. Sub MOA group with the 24.6 g load. These seems like a good powder and I plan on continuing to use it. I also like the VMax bullets. More accurate than FMJ, better MV than heavier bullets, seem to handle the wind pretty well. Activates targets at least to 400 yds. I've attached my target from today, in case anyone would like to see the results. loadtest41712.pdf

Here are some photos taken by my wife of Squad 2 - http://rohirrim.smugmug.com/WNPL/3-Gun/USPSA-Multigun-Nationals-2012 Most of the photos are of the Reno Crew but she got photos of all of the squad members on Stage 1 starting on page 12 of the gallery. Great shooting with all of you on squad 2 and congrats to Andrew for taking 5th place. It was my first big match and I had a great time. The RO's and office staff were great to work with and I thank you again, for all of your efforts. It was great to see everyone's generosity at the awards ceremony in helping out a fellow shooter. I think more than one person had a tear in their eye. I enjoyed all of the stages, they were all a blast to shoot. My only little nit pick is I thought they were a little too heavily biased towards hoser type stages. Steve

Sierra's Load Data for an AR15 (20in Barrel) - http://accurateshooter.net/Downloads/sierra223ar.pdf - shows the min load for a 55 grain bullet at 22.5 g of H322 giving a MV of 2700 fps. I believe the Powder companies use a universal receiver and a pressure barrel that may not apply to the AR15 rifle. You may be able to carefully use the higher powder weights in the Sierra Data, while of course watching for pressure signs. Though, since your groups were opening up with higher powder weights, you might need to consider a different powder. Steve

Current Favorite Load Glock 34 Montana Gold 124 grain N320 Powder - 4.06 g OAL - 1.15 Avg MV - 1053 fps Before the above I had tried Powder - W231 - 4.3 g Avg MV - 1072 Montana Gold 124 grain FMJ OAL - 1.15 Powder - AA #2 3.95 g Avg MV - 1029 Montana Gold 124 grain FMJ OAL - 1.15 I prefer the N320 - accuracy is better, and is a lot cleaner than the other two powders.

Perhaps one more item could be on the Poll-- had one and got rid of it. I had one, it ran well for two trips to the range, on the third trip it failed miserably. Wouldn't feed, when I took the mag out of the gun to try see what was wrong, several rounds just flew out of the mag. Sent it back to Midway.

From the USPSA Nationals Website - http://www.uspsa-nationals.org/ - American Shooters Accepting MG Ammo Shipments American Shooters, a long time Gold Sponsor for the USPSA Nationals, has graciously offered to continue to accept competitor ammunition for the 2012 DPMS USPSA MultiGun Nationals. Make sure your box is CLEARLY marked with your name and "MULTIGUN NATIONALS" in legible print in order that your ammo can be easily gotten for you. Send ammunition to: American Shooters 3440 Arville Street (just north of Spring Mountain) Las Vegas, Nevada 89102 American Shooters will also be providing a free range pass (retail value: $20) to each shooter, so once you've registered feel free to stop in and dial in your gun!