Day at the Range and Workin' Some Loads

[Firetoad]

Well, I had a great day at the range today. Headed up to a local unmanned Department of Conservation firing range earlier this morning to work on some reloads that I rolled for my 3 Gun AR.

Here is the rifle that I used:

The setup is as follows:

CMMG Lower

Chip McCormick Drop-In Trigger Assembly

Magpul Aluminum Enhanced Trigger Guard

Magpul BAD Lever

BCMGUNFIGHTER Charging Handle w/ Mod 3 Latch

Magpul MOE Grip

Magpul MOE Stock w/ Extended Buttpad

Arredondo Magwell

DPMS Upper

DPMS Mk12 1:8 18" Black Stainless Steel Barrel

YHM Steel Gas Block

DPMS Miculek Muzzle Brake

Clark Custom Carbon Fiber FF Handguard

American Defense RECON Mount

Burris XTR-14 1-4x

MGM Switchview Throw Lever

Lightened Carbine Buffer

So, I have been shooting this setup for a few months. As shown in my other thread, COPS USPSA Multigun March 2011 Match, I recently ran this setup at the COPS [Rolla, MO] USPSA Multigun Match this past weekend. I was happy with the performance of the rifle even though it only had a 25 yard zero on it (elevation sighted in was purposely low). Man was it high at 200! But, I only had Black Hills 55 gr factory loads to run and 55 gr'ners are all that I have run through it. My intent for some time has been to work up a load with some 60+ gr bullets. Well, I decided to take the AM off today from work and head to the range with some loads, rifle and various equipment.

So, I arrived at Logan to find not a single person there. Needless to say, within seconds of carry gear from my truck to the bench, the parking lot filled! I was pleasantly surprised though by the safety, respect and friendless everyone showed throughout the morning. Always makes things easier and nicer at an unmanned DOC range when the Barneys aren't out in force!

I setup the Nikon spotting scope (love this thing!), multiple targets at 65 yards (max range), bag rest for the bench and the rifle itself. I decided to start out by zeroing the rifle using factory loaded Federal XM193F M193 5.56 loads. Accuracy was acceptable but by no means was impressive.

My final confirmation target with the M193 was only four rounds -

Extreme Spread of 2.210"

[Firetoad]

Next, I decided to work on a few different loads that I had rolled up. The loads I had were:

- 68 Grn BTHP Hornady Bullet, 24.2 Grns Varget, LC Scharch Brass, Standard Small Rifle #400 CCI Primer, COL 2.250"

- 68 Grn BTHP Hornady Bullet, 24.5 Grns Varget, LC Scharch Brass, Standard Small Rifle #400 CCI Primer, COL 2.250"

- 69 Grn Sierra MatchKings HPBT Bullet, 25.3 Grns Varget, LC Scharch Brass, Standard Small Rifle #400 CCI Primer, COL 2.260"

- 69 Grn Sierra MatchKings HPBT Bullet, 25.7 Grns Varget, LC Scharch Brass, Standard Small Rifle #400 CCI Primer, COL 2.260"

[These loads came directly from the bullet manufacturer's reloading manuals.]

I sent 10 rounds of each load to a fresh target for each load. Here is what the swiss cheese looked like downrange:

68 Grn BTHP Hornady Bullet, 24.2 Grns Varget, LC Scharch Brass, Standard Small Rifle #400 CCI Primer, COL 2.250"

Extreme Spread of 2.080", Dropping out the two most extreme rounds yields a spread of 1.465"

68 Grn BTHP Hornady Bullet, 24.5 Grns Varget, LC Scharch Brass, Standard Small Rifle #400 CCI Primer, COL 2.250"

Extreme Spread of 2.205", Dropping out the two most extreme rounds yields a spread of 1.390"

69 Grn Sierra MatchKings HPBT Bullet, 25.3 Grns Varget, LC Scharch Brass, Standard Small Rifle #400 CCI Primer, COL 2.260"

Extreme Spread of 1.335", Dropping out the two most extreme rounds yields a spread of 0.895"

69 Grn Sierra MatchKings HPBT Bullet, 25.7 Grns Varget, LC Scharch Brass, Standard Small Rifle #400 CCI Primer, COL 2.260"

Extreme Spread of 1.350", Dropping out the two most extreme rounds yields a spread of 1.055"

After I checked the precision of the loads in the rifle, I ran them over the chronograph. I know, it is a little backwards, but I had to do this in order to optimize my time available at Logan. 10 Rounds of each of my four worked up loads were fired over the chrono and gave me the following results:

- 68 Grn BTHP Hornady Bullet, 24.2 Grns Varget, LC Scharch Brass, Standard Small Rifle #400 CCI Primer, COL 2.250"

- Average Velocity: 2660 fps, Standard Deviation: 13.8 fps, Maximum Velocity: 2677 fps, Minimum Velocity: 2635 fps

- 68 Grn BTHP Hornady Bullet, 24.5 Grns Varget, LC Scharch Brass, Standard Small Rifle #400 CCI Primer, COL 2.250"

- Average Velocity: 2712 fps, Standard Deviation: 17.0 fps, Maximum Velocity: 2737 fps, Minimum Velocity: 2688 fps

- 69 Grn Sierra MatchKings HPBT Bullet, 25.3 Grns Varget, LC Scharch Brass, Standard Small Rifle #400 CCI Primer, COL 2.260"

- Average Velocity: 2791 fps, Standard Deviation: 12.8 fps, Maximum Velocity: 2807 fps, Minimum Velocity: 2766 fps

- 69 Grn Sierra MatchKings HPBT Bullet, 25.7 Grns Varget, LC Scharch Brass, Standard Small Rifle #400 CCI Primer, COL 2.260"

- Average Velocity: 2820 fps, Standard Deviation: 11.7 fps, Maximum Velocity: 2836 fps, Minimum Velocity: 2801 fps

So, from the chrono data and the targets, it looks like my setup does NOT like the Federal factory M193 loads. This isn't surprising, but a good thing to confirm. The Hornady Data and subsequent loads appear to be just a little anemic. Maybe a little more speed would help things out but the loads as tested were not liked by my rifle as is very evident from the images of the targets above. Now, the Sierra MK loads were impressive. Specifically, the 25.3 Grns of Varget load was DA BOMB BABY! This was Sierra's recommended precision load and it was certainly no slouch out of my gun. I will tweak the 25.3 Grn load around a little to see what, if any, improvement can be made. But, I think I am on to something with this load paired with this rifle.

In the end, not being a sniper or a champion sharpshooter, I was happy with the performance of the equipment and myself today. But, then again, any day on the range is better than a day in the office!

[RH45]

If you bump up your load, behind the Hornady, 68 grain match bullets, I wouldn't be surprised to see the kind of groups you show, at 200 yards.

[Firetoad]

I was wondering about that. I was also wondering why Hornady's manual has such anemic powder charges listed vs Sierra.

[RH45]

I was wondering about that. I was also wondering why Hornady's manual has such anemic powder charges listed vs Sierra.

Their bullet is shaped slightly different!

[Firetoad]

I figured there was some difference but wasn't sure the specifics. And, that is why I stuck to their recommended charge weight.

[RH45]

I figured there was some difference but wasn't sure the specifics. And, that is why I stuck to their recommended charge weight.

The biggest problem I've found with Varget, behind a 68 grain, Hornady match bullet, with mixed brass is that different brands of brass has different capacity, and if you seat and crimp separately, once you get over 25 grains of Varget, with some brands of brass, the bullet will pop up before you can get it to the crimp station.

[Firetoad]

Ah, the crunch factor. I pretty much have been exclusively reloading LC with a little Privi here and there. The 69 SMKs with 25.3 grains of Varget crunch (compress the powder) if I don't do a good job of tapping the case down to settle the powder.

[Aaron M]

XM193 is not a load built for accuracy, it was built to military 5.56x45 Nato specs so it will functions flawlessly in an AR-15 rifle but for shooting for accuracy out to 200 yds in your AR I would go with the SMK's.

[Firetoad]

XM193 is not a load built for accuracy, it was built to military 5.56x45 Nato specs so it will functions flawlessly in an AR-15 rifle but for shooting for accuracy out to 200 yds in your AR I would go with the SMK's.

Yeah, I didn't expect any great feats of precision from the round. As I said, the precision of the M193 factory loads from my rifle was of no surprise. I wanted to use the M193 as a baseline for my personal load testing. I have used the M193 factory loads for years and, as you said, they operate flawlessly and I know what to expect from them.