Kasteel Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 This powder surely meters well. I understand that TAC works better with heavier 69+ grain pills as opposed to 55 grainers in .223. How about suitability for particular bullet weights in .308? From another thread, it appears that Varget is still the king when it comes to accuracy and temperature insensitivity. So, is TAC relatively temperature insensitive compared to other popular powders for .223 and .308, or is the temperature insensitivity claim for the Ramshot line just hype? Has anyone done any serious testing with TAC? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 I haven't done any real serious testing with it, but I have tried it in both .308 (.147 gr) and .223 (55gr FMJ and some HPs). Worked OK for both, but I didn't get the feeling it is a holy grail powder. I like the fact that it can be used in both 223/308 with good results, and it does meter well. If I was looking for one powder to use for these calibers it would be a good choice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kasteel Posted February 21, 2012 Author Share Posted February 21, 2012 (edited) Right. The bullets you mention are both at the lighter end of the spectrum for those calibers. I wonder if TAC is just slow enough to suit heavier projectiles better? Care to share specifics on velocities and accuracy you achieved? Barrel length on the guns? Thanks. BTW: finding one powder to use in both .308 and .223 was precisely what I was looking for. To tell the truth, I was hoping for Varget in a smooth metering ball powder. A little optimistic on my part? Sure. But I could get a ton of the stuff when Varget and the rest of the usual suspects were rare as hen teeth! Edited February 21, 2012 by Kasteel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R-Bros_JLR Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 I've used it with great success for 77g pills and it appears to actually work really well for 53g Vmax as well. It may not be the best, but it works plenty good. I ran 77s at around 2750 out of a 20" and run 53s in the neighborhood of 3050 out of a 16". The 77s shot 1/2-3/4moa and the 53s will shoot 1/2moa out of my brother's gun, but only around 1moa out of my thrasher 16" barrel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cotys Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 (edited) Serious testing, not really. I have gone through a pound making 5.56 75 gr Hornaday BTHP and .308 168 gr AMax with it. I've noticed the load books where TAC and Reloader-15 seem to always have identical loads. On the powder burn chart, they are pretty close together. TAC is about $3 cheaper a pound than RL-15 at my local store. It is nice to have one powder for 5.56 and .308. I tried it because a local custom ammo guy raves about it. My next steps will be to try it at the range against my standard loads. I just re-barreled my long range AR. I'll have to start from scratch comparing 75 grainers with TAC and RL-15 with the new barrel. With what I have shot so far sighting in and testing the suppressor point of impact, the accuracy seems to be there with my standard RL-15 load. Edited February 21, 2012 by Cotys Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shadowrider Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 For those looking for a dual purpose powder, try BLC2. Ball powder, meters great and it dominated the .223 bench rest crowd back in the day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kasteel Posted February 21, 2012 Author Share Posted February 21, 2012 I've seen references to that one. How is it on the temperature insensitivity? I've heard people opine that ball powders are generally and inherently sensitive to temperature. Any truth to this? If so, why? Do the Ballistics gods just not want us to have our cake and eat it too? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mpeltier Posted February 23, 2012 Share Posted February 23, 2012 I have had excellant results with Tac and 75 Hornady bullets. I have had good to excellant results with 55 bullets as well. I believe the results you get with the 55's have more to do with the quality of the bullet than the fact they are 55's. I have used and chrono'd tac in very hot and cold and not found much spread in velocity. I do not find it all that temp sensitive. I'm not sure where all this temp sensitive talk stems from, its not something I ever gave much thought to reloading for AR type rifles. Does this stem from bench rest circles? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dauntedfuture Posted February 23, 2012 Share Posted February 23, 2012 good results with 24 tac, 77g and Wolf SRM primers so far. 2650 fps 18" CHF. 10 shots 1" at 100. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kasteel Posted February 24, 2012 Author Share Posted February 24, 2012 I'll be trying that one out dauntedfuture! I assume CHF is "cold hammer forged"? Daniel Defense or other? Not chrome lined is it?? As to the question on temperature sensitivity, where I'm shooting we can see temperatures over 100° in the summer to below 0° in the winter. That resulting variation in velocity can hurt you in a match at longer ranges, or for predator, varmint hunting. The temperature range from early morning to late afternoon can even introduce enough variation to bother the more OCD of us. I have plenty of problems with the nut behind the grip of my guns, so I try to eliminate other sources of I consistency. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RH45 Posted March 4, 2012 Share Posted March 4, 2012 My standard match and varmint load for .223 was 25.5 grains of Varget behind a Hornady, 68 grain bthp match bullet. I don't remember, without looking, how much TAC I'm using, but, velocities are pretty much identical, point of impacts are identical, and groups at 100 yards are under 1/2" with both. For .308, I was using H335 behind a sierra 125 grain softpoint, for my 3-gun, "gamer" load, and in the middle of loading, I ran out of H335. I filled the hopper with TAC, and to my surprise, it threw the same weight as H335. I loaded 10-20, and took them to the range for testing, and they were the twin to my H335 load. TAC is all I plan to use any more for 3-gun, and .223 varmint loads. The only rifle powder that I remember using, that showed definite temperature sensitivity was Winchester 748. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CocoBolo Posted March 4, 2012 Share Posted March 4, 2012 For those looking for a dual purpose powder, try BLC2. Ball powder, meters great and it dominated the .223 bench rest crowd back in the day. You forgot to mention BLC(2) powder was designed for the 308. I used it extensively for 55gr .223. I did have to do a lot of testing to hit the accuracy sweet spot, the tightest groups for me happened at 27.1 gr. I got a load by calling Hornady 28.1gr but afer getting a copule rounds stuck in the gun I decided it was too hot for range brass. Meters great. I use TAC for 69gr SMK's, works for those 480 steel targets, on windy days. I'm out of BLC(2) so if some one would share their 55gr FMHBT .223 load with TAC which I have plenty of I can load some up for the TX MultiGun Champ. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mpeltier Posted March 4, 2012 Share Posted March 4, 2012 For those looking for a dual purpose powder, try BLC2. Ball powder, meters great and it dominated the .223 bench rest crowd back in the day. You forgot to mention BLC(2) powder was designed for the 308. I used it extensively for 55gr .223. I did have to do a lot of testing to hit the accuracy sweet spot, the tightest groups for me happened at 27.1 gr. I got a load by calling Hornady 28.1gr but afer getting a copule rounds stuck in the gun I decided it was too hot for range brass. Meters great. I use TAC for 69gr SMK's, works for those 480 steel targets, on windy days. I'm out of BLC(2) so if some one would share their 55gr FMHBT .223 load with TAC which I have plenty of I can load some up for the TX MultiGun Champ. MG 55 gr bullet over 25gr Tac gives me 2950 in my 20" WOA bbl here in Florida. And just under 1 moa. This should give you a good start. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cotys Posted March 5, 2012 Share Posted March 5, 2012 For those looking for a dual purpose powder, try BLC2. Ball powder, meters great and it dominated the .223 bench rest crowd back in the day. You forgot to mention BLC(2) powder was designed for the 308. I used it extensively for 55gr .223. I did have to do a lot of testing to hit the accuracy sweet spot, the tightest groups for me happened at 27.1 gr. I got a load by calling Hornady 28.1gr but afer getting a copule rounds stuck in the gun I decided it was too hot for range brass. Meters great. I use TAC for 69gr SMK's, works for those 480 steel targets, on windy days. I'm out of BLC(2) so if some one would share their 55gr FMHBT .223 load with TAC which I have plenty of I can load some up for the TX MultiGun Champ. MG 55 gr bullet over 25gr Tac gives me 2950 in my 20" WOA bbl here in Florida. And just under 1 moa. This should give you a good start. Here's the TAC 223 page from their PDF. I've used RL-15 for 75 Grain Hornadys, TAC matches that load exactly at 24.1 grain max. TAC 223.pdf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nuke8401 Posted March 5, 2012 Share Posted March 5, 2012 (edited) I use TAC for 69gr SMK's, works for those 480 steel targets, on windy days.I'm out of BLC(2) so if some one would share their 55gr FMHBT .223 load with TAC which I have plenty of I can load some up for the TX MultiGun Champ. 24.2 TAC Hornady 68 HPBT 24.8 TAC Hornady 55 FMJBT (Bulk) These two loads have the same POI at 200 yards from my 16" and stays close out to 400. David E. Edited March 5, 2012 by Nuke8401 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raz-0 Posted March 5, 2012 Share Posted March 5, 2012 I like tac. I haven't had a chance to test out it's temp sensitivity much as the temperature swings around here since I started trying it out haven't been all that severe (at least when I could get to the range). I tried it side by side with varget, and at least with the bullets I'm using, accuracy was a tad better with TAC. I suspect that is largely due to to the fact varget meters like lincoln logs, and is a compressed load. I hit the end of the pound of varget before I could get to the point where seating and metering were even near consistent so I would get more OAL variation and variation in charge. As fro temperature stability, the closest I have seen to a serious test was an american rifleman article about temperature stability and one of the powders tested was TAC. He loaded up a bunch of loads, and tried it in a wide range of temps. TAC showed very little velocity change across the temperatures. IIRC one of the other powders was a hodgdon extreme powder that is treated to increase temp stability, but wasn't varget. (article was I think summer of 2009 if anyone has a pile of old AR magazines they want to look through) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wannabe Posted March 16, 2012 Share Posted March 16, 2012 I have had good results with 25.0 grains under a 69, running 2900 fps out of 18" DPMS barrel, sub moa. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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