Favorite .223 competition bullet

[freakshow10mm]

You gentlemen shooting MG 55gr, what accuracy are you getting versus Hornady or Federal or Winchester FMJ? Assumption is you tried them before using MG. Same accuracy or better?

[Fullauto_Shooter]

You gentlemen shooting MG 55gr, what accuracy are you getting versus Hornady or Federal or Winchester FMJ? Assumption is you tried them before using MG. Same accuracy or better?

For me, out of my rifle, the MG is slightly better than the Hornady bulk stuff. The MG groups right around 1 MOA, while the Hornady gave me around 1.5 MOA.

[caspian guy]

The hornady 55grs and h335 shoot sub moa out of my guns... They have always had sufficient accuracy to let me hit 10 inch plates out to 400 yards or so if I do my part... (pay attention to what the wind is doing, the range, and my holdovers).

That's not to say I don't prefer to use the hornady 75 bthp when the range gets past about 300 (just to get better movement on marginal flash targets) just to say that you don't have to have uber heavy expensive bullets.

[jaredr]

You gentlemen shooting MG 55gr, what accuracy are you getting versus Hornady or Federal or Winchester FMJ? Assumption is you tried them before using MG. Same accuracy or better?

at 100 yards, i don't see any meaningful difference between them. both of them deliver (for me, out of my rifle) around 1 MOA at 100 (which is the longest range I have easy access to). small differences + or - group size are not consistently in favor of either brand, so I usually buy hornady as they are a bit less expensive for me. winchester 55 gr ball costs me more than hornady or MG, so I have not tried it (or federal either).

[R-Bros_JLR]

60gr VMax or BT loaded with Benchmark for short range stuff and 77gr SMK for longer range. Might give the 69gr SMK's a chance on the next build.

[GentlemanJim]

For hosing...I shoot Win 55s loaded in brass that fails my spec for long range match ammo.

For everything else...I shoot Hornady #2279 75gr bthp match

They slay the steel quite nicely

Jim

[Nuke8401]

So for those using both 55 and 69gr or heavier, how do you sight in and make up the difference in ballistics when switching loads? From running a ballistic calc a M193 would drop 23-24" at 300 yards and a 69 SMK would drop 26-27". I am most interested in what iron shooters do but may switch to an optic in the future. My guess right now, as an iron shooter, would be to sight in POA/POI with the 69 SMK at 300 and deal with the difference when shooting 55gr FMJ?

What do you do?

Thanks

David E.

Edited March 14, 2011 by Nuke8401

[Corey]

for longer range things, Im going to be playing with 73gr Berger BTs. looking forward to seeing their results

Why not the 70 VLDs? They have better BC than the 73 BTHPs.

Sorry i never checked back in here. I've got a box of the VLDs as well, but their VLD bullets usually like to be shot closer to the lands in the rifling and with seating them at mag length, im so far away from the rifling its not even funny. The 73 gr BT are a little sensitive to seating depth and still maintain a decent BC (.371 vs .343).

Going to hopefully do some testing this coming weekend as it looks like the weather may finally give me a break.

[sierra77mk]

So for those using both 55 and 69gr or heavier, how do you sight in and make up the difference in ballistics when switching loads? From running a ballistic calc a M193 would drop 23-24" at 300 yards and a 69 SMK would drop 26-27". I am most interested in what iron shooters do but may switch to an optic in the future. My guess right now, as an iron shooter, would be to sight in POA/POI with the 69 SMK at 300 and deal with the difference when shooting 55gr FMJ?

What do you do?

Thanks

David E.

More like 11-12" @ 300 and 27" at 400 with a 100yd zero.

Sight in for your heavy bullets or whatever you think the majority of the match will call for. A 250 yard zero is usually the trick.

I hate shooting premium rifle bullets at handgun distances so I usually have on hand some hoser loads with win. 55's in my "last load" brass.

They are close enough.

[Kevin Holman]

I run M193 55gr milsurp for anything under 200yds. I bought a shit ton of this stuff back when it was $140/K and I am still shooting it.

I run a Hornady 75gr BTHP with TAC load for any stage with a target over 200yds. I use a Burris XTR with BDC reticle and I zero the 300yd dot dead on at 300yds with my long range ammo. The shorter stuff is all really close, and the longer stuff I calcuate/verify.

When my stash of 75gr's are up (almost gone) I will switch to 69SMK's with TAC. They are flatter and track the reticle better.

[SHinck82]

I run on the theory if there's no precision targets out past 300m go with Montana Gold or Hornady 55 FMJBT, anything requiring a 4 MOA target or smaller beyond 300m the entire stage gets 75gr Hornady. There are better bullets out there but the Hornadys are cheap and shoot extremely well through my rifle.

[frankge]

hornady 55g fmj hit steel np at 250 and group ~2" at 100yds

[orangeman711]

Hornady 55Gr. FMJBT over H335 thru an 18" MSTN, shoots great.