Weight bullets for .223, 1 in 7" twist?

[DonMountain]

About 25 years ago I bought a Colt Delta Match H-Bar AR-15 rifle to use for coyote hunting on my farm. And it came with a 1 in 7" twist barrel. After shooting it some a long time ago, my interests moved to shooting cast boolets in old military style rifles and shotguns for trap shooting. Now that I am being pressed to take care of the coyote problem again, I forget what bullets I even used in this rifle. I bought some 50 grain j-bullets and they didn't shoot very well or accurately. Does anybody know what grain j-bullets are appropriate for this 1 in 7" twist for longer ranges for hunting? Maybe you could even suggest some particular makes and styles of J-bullets I could use for this application. I have thought about casting boolets for this rifle but I think for the long ranges I have to shoot that would be self-defeating.

[Mauser48]

The 75 grain hornady bthp and 77 grain sierra smk are favorites among high power shooters and precision rifle shooters. There's is also the 80 grain sierra but it needs to be single loaded. I'm not 100% sure if the 75 grain bullets will feed from a mag or not. Hope this helps.

[NyFirefighter357]

This explains it all
http://blog.cheaperthandirt.com/ar-15-barrel-twist-explained/



62-Grain

1:8 or 1:7



77-Grain
1:7 or 1:8


80-Grain

1:7

[Scharfschuetze]

A good quality 55 or 60 grain bullet will do well in a 1 in 7" twist, but it has to be of good quality. I've shot numerous prairie dogs with my HBAR with its 1 in 7 twist using Hornady or Sierra 55 grain projectiles. I'd look into getting the Winchester 64 grain spitzer soft points (if you can find any) or the Hornady 60 grain spitzer for dealing with Senor Coyote.

Lightly constructed bullets like the Siera MK 52 grain HPs when pushed to maximum velocity in the .223 will sometimes disintegrate on the way to the target and leave a little blueish puff where it came apart due to an excessive RPM from the 1 in 7" twist. When the 1 in 7 HBARs first started showing up at matches in the mid 80s, some shooters used the 52/53 grain MKs for the 200 yard stages and a few frustrated shooters I know lost 10 points for each lost bullet when their projectiles committed suicide.

You can shoot any of the heavy .223 bullets in that twist as NYFirfighter's chart shows. By the way, the Army went with the 1 in 7" twist in the M16A2 in order to stabilize the long tracer bullet that matches the trajectory of the 62 grain green tip ball ammo, even though a 1 in 9" twist was better for just the green tip ball. For NM competitors that 1 in 7" twist turned out to be a fortuitous decision as it allows for the use of 80 grain bullets for the 600 yard stage of the NM course.

[imashooter2]

Try Hornady's 60 grain V-Max. You'll be glad you did.

[dragon813gt]

69 grain Sierra Match Kings(SMK) are the standard all others are judged against.

[runfiverun]

my 1-8 loves those 60gr V-max's
but it seems to like anything 50-60-65grs if it is a quality bullet.

for yotes and such in a 7 twist I'd probably just go with the sierra 65gr BTsp, or their 63gr sp [yes it looks kinda funny, but the results on paper say's it don't]

[osteodoc08]

I'd recommend any quality bullet 60-69gr.

I shoot a Stag super Varmint and easily get sub MOA with 50-69gr projectiles. It's a 1:8 twist.

[DonMountain]

Try Hornady's 60 grain V-Max. You'll be glad you did.

Ok, I bought a box of the Hornady 60 grain V-Max bullets to try on the coyotes. Now I need to find a load for it and try some different powders and primers out. Any suggestions using LC-12 brass? My old Hornady 3rd Edition reloading manual doesn't list the 60 grain V-Max. Although it does list a 60 grain bullet? I was using H335 powder for the AR loadings and have a bunch of it left.

[Mauser48]

I'd recommend varget, h335, re 7, or w748. Tac is supposed to be good too.

[imashooter2]

Varget works nicely. Had great results with Benchmark too.

173722

[Scharfschuetze]

.223 Remington
60 Grain Hornady V Max
LC 74 cases
CCI 400 SR primer
Winchester 748 powder - 25 grains
Velocity = 2925 fps average for 10 shots over the chronograph.

This load is accurate in my rifle and while probably on the mild side, it is quite useful out past 300 yards and holds 3/4 MOA at 200 yards on paper for 5 shot groups. 10 shot groups will open up a bit, but they are rarely over 1 MOA.

Your inclination to use H335 is spot on. It's very close to 748, but as always, work up to what I posted here. I used to get H335 for about $1.50 back in the mid 70s, but that's not the case anymore.

While I'm not a ball powder person normally, in the .223 it is all I use. It goes through a measure lickity split with very little variation so loading a large number of rounds for match shooting or varmint shooting is made much easier.

PS. I just used this load on a prairie dog shoot last month in my Model 70 HB match rifle and it has proven to be a good load in the field as well as at the range.

[Motor]

H-335 would very likely work. We use Reloder-15 with the 60gr V-Max in our 20" 1 in 7. It's a plain jane gov. profile PSA A3 upper with chrome lined barrel and 5.56 chamber. It shoots like a much more expensive free float rifle.

We use all LC-11 brass for this one.

There really isn't much sound support for this over stabilazation thing. MANY of 1in7 barrel match shooters use one of the various 52gr BTHP bullets for the close targets where high bullet weight and high BC is not needed.

The 60gr V-Max should be ok on yotes. Although we had one NOT shoot through a standing groundhog at 125 yards.

I've had both excellent groups and excellent results on deer with the Sierra 65gr Game King. It should be great for yotes if the V-Max don't work out for you.

Motor

[RogerDat]

Varget at around 23.5 to 25 grain as I recall (use official load data not my memory or notes) and 70 grain NOE cast from Lyman #2 and powder coated seem to work well in my mini-14. Clearly better accuracy than factory 55 grain I had been shooting. I have some 75 grain BTHP I plan to try with BL-C(2) powder and bullet were reported to work well together.

What do you know I found a link to my post on that 70 grain load. http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?291430-Which-Powder-for-Heavy-223-Mini-14&p=3655039&viewfull=1#post3655039

[country gent]

For the 200 yd and 300yd stages I used the 75 grn hornady BTHP match loaded to mag length over either varget or reloader 15. For 600yd line I used 80 grn JLKs over either of those powders. It was loaded long and single loaded. ANy good 70-77 grn bullet loaded to mag length should perform well in your rifle. My rifles are all 1-7 twist. My colt H bar with the colt 1-7 twist does well with these loads One thing to remeber is while both reloader 15 and varget perform well switching with out cleaning may require 5-8 rounds to settle back down.

[Smoke4320]

H335 and win 748 are my favorites in 223
I lean towards 748 .it has always done me well
Got a ground hog once at over 700 yds with a 24" 223. Leupold 6.5x20 VX3.. Took 3 rds to dial in. Had 2 witnesses

[Texas by God]

80gr Amax with the tips ground flat to mag length. Deadly on pigs and still sub moa in my 1-7" FN 15. BC may be shot to hell at long range but I don't hunt with the 5.56 at long range. That's what 22-250s are for. Best, Thomas.

[CHeatermk3]

I had good luck with the Winchester 64gn "power point" bullets in my 1/7 HBAR.

ALL the varmint bullets (vmax, Ballistic tip) made it about 50 yds then puffballed.

I used AA2230 and surplus 2200; I think H322 or 335 ought to do well too.

I just checked and they are in stock at Midway as of 8/9/16:

http://www.midwayusa.com/product/1390573203/winchester-bullets-22-caliber-224-diameter-64-grain-power-point

[warboar_21]

I've shot a whole bunch of 55gr z-max bullets through my 1:7" twist. It shoots them really well. It's my favorite bullet weight for general purpose. I also really like the 69gr SMK.

I bought a box of 75gr AMAX but didn't realize they couldn't be seated to mag length.