So here we go.

[Frog]

Purchased the ftr .223. First thought, bed it while I wait for my scope to arrive. I have bedded 6 other rifles with great success. Needless to say, destroyed the stock beyond repair. No idea what I did wrong, thinking old material maybe. Not sure. It was super melded like something hotter than the sun struck it. So now waiting for a new chassis from PDC custom to arrive, while I kick myself in the arse for messing up my factory stock. Messing up as in I had to cut it, smack it, run it over with lawnmower, soak it in regurgitated camel spit, to get it off. Maybe there was a power tool or two involved also. Craig at pdc was great to deal with, gave me a veterans discount also. Lead time is 8 or so weeks so I have plenty of time to figure out what else I can destroy in the mean time. I played with the trigger and have it at 1 pound with out it tripping out when I cycle the bolt pretty rough. I have a weaver t-36 coming for a scope until I can sell a kidney and get a March or NF. I have the weaver on a win 52c, and it is a darn fine optic in my humble opinion. For now anyway it will get me by. So I am looking for any info on a good starting load for this chamber/barrel combo. Not sure if it's a tight chamber etc. I reload .223 for an ar15, but this will be my first bolt gun .223. I use win 748 for my ar. The barrel is 30 inches on this gun!! Any one have this gun and can give me an idea what or where to start, as far as loads go? Also, stand by for my next football bat move, you might get a laugh out of it. Thanks guys.

[Robinhood]

Reloder 15 w/80 grain SMKs maybe? 23.5-23.8 gr. start lower and work up.

[Texas10]

Have you got a range close by where you can shoot targets at 600 yds and beyond?

Do you have a chronograph?

Have you bought your dies yet?

[jim_k]

Yes, Win 748 is excellent, but if you shoot strings, like 20 shots of F/TR, the groups get too big. The powder is temperature sensitive. I have not seen any F-class shooters using any powders other than those considered temperature-stable. That includes all the Hodgdon Extreme powders and the new IMR Enduron powders. Bottom line, either Varget or H4895. Get some Berger 80 gr VLD's. I totally agree with bedding your own actions, since I have always wanted to be able to do my own accuracy enhancements. Sometimes you get "educated". I have also noticed that anything educational tends to be painful and/or expensive. OK. Get educated anyway. If the Weaver shoots well for you, do not sell your organs for a March. Lake City surplus cases have shot just fine for me. I would work up the load by first finding the distance to the lands, using my Hornady Case length gauge, and try what Berger recommends to find optimal seating depth. That is, load 5 cartridges at various lengths, from 0.005" off the lands to 0.100" off the lands, at intervals of maybe 20 thou. Test load would be H4895, at some safe pressure, maybe 23.5 grains. See which seating depth gives the best groups, and hopefully very little vertical dispersion. Then load everything that length, but vary the powder charge, by increasing 0.2 grains each time, working up to whatever you think the maximum should be. Compare those groups, and pick the one you like. Then you can vary the seating depth in increments of 0.005", to fine tune the seating. Pick what you like from that process, and shoot it. Every barrel will be different. As you get close to selecting the magic load, you might want to shoot some 10-shot groups, just to see if the results are consistent. It's all fun. That's the process I use, and my final 10-shot group was 0.462" center to center. I used Benchmark and Nosler 80 grain Custom Competition bullets, in Lake City cases. I don't compete any more, or I'd use Berger/JLK 80's and H4895 or Varget, like I said above. I also recommend getting QuickLoad from NECO, and comparing the barrel time to the Long Family Optimal Barrel Time chart. That is the starting point for all load development.

[Frog]

Wow, thanks jim. I will definitely follow your advice. I looked at the quickload, it's now on my list along with a lab radar. I pretty much have everything else. For now I'm stuck at 100 yards for testing, until I decide to travel to a longer distance range. Hard to find or join any clubs around my area. You can go shoot in a match, but you can't practice unless your a member or know one, and the waiting list is around 5 years it sounds like. I am going up to the Huntsville area to check out a range up there soon. I do have 4895 and varget on hand and some 80g Smk's to start with. I just prepped 200 rounds of federal lake city brass and ordered some lapua too. Can you recommend a primer to start with? Once again thanks. You are saving me time and money. This will be my first dabble into the accuracy game.

[Robinhood]

Where are you Frog. Crosby, Rosharon and Pearland/Alvin area have clubs.

[Fotheringill]

It is a bit pricey to do, but better than messing up a good factory stock.For a 22 and my first bedding job, I got a $25 compatible stock and bedded that one first. I learned from my mistakes and then was able to successfully bed the real stock.

[Frog]

Robin hood. I'm in texas city. Pearland is the one it sounds impossible to get in unless you know a guy who knows a guy. I will check out crosby and rosharon. Thanks for the info. I may just end up getting in a lease somewhere and try that route if I can find one close enough. I have my brother checking out liberty hill, but that's a pretty good haul.

[Frog]

Lab radar on the way. Now working on getting quickload. I'm trying to decipher if my wee brain has enough of the active gray matter to use it. I did find a range in the houston area called american shooting centers. They have a 600y range. Plus they give lessons, but I feel sorry for the instructor having to teach anything to me. Has anyone shot there?? Looks top notch from their web site.

[Frog]

I am also thinking about getting my barrel cryogenic treated while I am waiting for my new stock. Worth it for a factory barrel? I keep reading barrels suck, barrels great. Should I just bite the bullet and get a new barrel coming? In hindsight, I should have just bought an action and started from the ground up. Oh well to late for that.

[yobuck]

Wow, cryogenic, haven't heard that word used in probably 20 years, maybe more.
Back then it was the in thing to do, and if you didn't, you would never hit anything. lol
Since I couldn't hit anything anyway, I fell for it. And no it didn't help.
I think they just leaned my barrel in a corner for awhile before just screwing it back on.

[Chrazy-Chris]

I've had great luck with 77gr Sierra Tipped Matchkings and 8208 XBR in my 1:8 AR. The tipped matchkings offer a higher BC than the hollowpoint. Always wanted a bolt .223, if anything to shoot up the rejects that I sort out due to potential cycling issues in the AR. (Run them all through a Wilson case gauge and if they don't drop in perfectly, they go in the reject pile for plinking)

[Frog]

Lab radar. Check. Quickload, ordered. Lyman boroscope. Check. Cryogenic treat factory barrel? Hell no. New barrel. More than likely. Come on new chassis!!.

[Frog]

So smk vs. Tipped smk's. Any one do an actual field test on these. I've shot thousands of smk but never the tipped yet. I was under the impression the actual hollow point was some kind of a advantage over say a fmj.

[Texas10]

I've shot both the SMK and TMK out of my 223. Sierra warns that the TMK has a longer bearing surface than the SMK so develop the powder charge accordingly. My particular 8 twist 223 seems to prefer the TMK and will shoot it quite well out to 750 yds at Best of the West shooting range in Liberty hill (quite a drive for you).

Typically I shoot these at 200 and 300 yds with good success. YMMV.

As for FMJ, the range I shoot at prohibits these for their ricochet potential. There I have picked up spent FMJ bullets that, besides land engraving marks were otherwise pristine. Hard to imagine that after going through a target and into a dirt berm, where they are then ejected by another bullet impact, yet they remain substantially undamaged.

[noname]

I use a lot of CFE223...