Getting ready to start load development with some 175 TMK's with both IMR-4064 and Varget.. Anybody have any experience with the new projectile?
No experience as of yet but I am willing to bet load development should be pretty straight forward. what works for the older style will probably be very close to the new style. Seating depth may become more of an issue with the new bullets but that's the only problem I can possibly see. The Tipped Matchking should give you a bit better everything in every category good luck and keep us informed of what you find out.
Be mindful of seating pressure. Tipped bullets don't like being seated with a lot of neck tension
Explain pleaseOriginally Posted by Robinhood
"And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” John 8:32 (New King James Version)
Very nice looking bullet. I am so happy to see Sierra up their game and update some bullet designs. Ive got some .22 cal 69 grainers in the mail, cant wait to try them.
77's arrived today. To bad i am on my way to Ohio or i would try a few out tomorrow.
"And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” John 8:32 (New King James Version)
Guess I am getting grumpy in my old age. I would still like to know what makes tipped bullets so much more sensitive to seating pressure than regular bullets. Someone please enlighten me without saying it will break the tip off of the bullet which would mean your seating plug is wrong.
"And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” John 8:32 (New King James Version)
Sorry Earl. You hit the nail on the head.
How do these bullets stack up against the berger 175 tactical match?
They who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.
BC's should be higher. I'm looking forward to hearing how they do as I want to try them.
Well, I've got maybe 50 downrange so far and I see quite a bit of potential. First thing I've noticed is that the new 175 TMK runs about 50-75 FPS faster than the 175 SMK with the same powder charge. It was about 15 degrees colder when I collected the chrono data on the 175 SMK. Also, I'm running both loads at the lands of my rifle but there is a difference in base to Ogive measurement. (175 TMK = 2.248 and the 175 SMK = 2.267 in my rifle.) It looks like one of my nodes for the 175 TMK is going to be close to 43.2 grains of IMR-4064 which will push it right at 2700 FPS and allow me to stay supersonic till almost 1200 yards... I shot a .393 moa group at 300 yards but it was a full MOA high since I was used to dialing up 4.75 moa for the 175 SMK.... Its gonna be a nice upgrade I'm sure...
Outstanding.
Great information. I've been using 41.5 worth of 4064 to get 2700fps at an elevation of 4200ft. That's a great pattern at 300 for those tmk,s.
Is the new 175 grain TMK as particular about seating distance / jumping into the lands as other vld style projectiles?
I can't answer that question yet. I've seated everyone I've loaded at the lands so far... Maybe someone else will let us know what they have found out
Thanks! I'm trying some out tomorrow morning.
Last edited by 390fe; 05-03-2015 at 02:11 AM.
This is what I am getting with the 69 grainers in my factory 12 twist savage. 37.5gr R17 at 3440fps. First three went in the same darn hole. My 12 year old nephew shot this load in our monthly match and placed third overall out of about 15 other shooters. These new tipped match kings are providing about 1/2 moa flatter trajectory than the standard ones at 500 yards for me.
I met up with mattri today north of Afton at the range and we had a good time despite winds between 11 to 25 miles per hour.
I did some load testing with the 175 grain tmk this morning.
Once again my rifle showed pressure before the reloading manual's recommended max load. 43.5 grains of IMR4064 in Remington brass required special techniques to extract fired casings from the chamber, and deformed primers.
43 grains showed real promising, with only horizontal stringing due to wind, but the primers were starting to flatten. This worries me, the range temp was 75f and it easily gets 25 degrees hotter later in the year.
42.5 grain loadings look best, no sticky extraction or deformed primers, and was pretty accurate, despite the wind.
Again, my rifle, my atmospherics, 175 grain TMKs in Remington brass with Remington 9 1/2 primers, and IMR 4064. Cartridge overall length was 2.910, which will just fit and function in the magazine.
That 42.5 grain charge is also the same as my old 175g Matchking, and my 175 Gameking loading.
I've not seen these pressure signs and I've taken IMR-4064 up to 44.4 grains in Lapua brass using FGMM primers but like yourself I've been in 75 degree and cooler weather. It gets pretty steamy here in the summertime also, so I'm gonna keep a close eye on that. I ended up finding best results at 43.2 grains of IMR-4064 seating bullets at the lands (2.248 to ogive) on my rifle. I think I'm just going to load like this a couple firings and have some fun with the rifle.. Obviously the availability of the TMK is hit or miss right now, so hopefully that will change as well...
I have shot this load out to 1325 yards dialing in all my elevation (58 moa) holding another 2 moa for a total of 60 MOA at 1325 yards. I was hitting low probably another moa or so on a large AR-500 steel target we use.. I was sending those at 2678 FPS out of my 26" barrel which has it traveling about 1050 FPS at impact. That is as far as I've ever successfully shot and it was awesome. I think I hit 6 out of the last 10 shots I had.. Hardly any wind that day, perfect conditions needless to say...
For what it's worth, my rifle has shown pressure signs early with three different powders. This is why responsible reloaders always start low and work up.
An update to my post on 5/3/15
I have settled on seating my 175 grain TMK's at 2.910 coal. These are jumping into the lands by a healthy amount...
I'm using 42.2 grains of IMR4064, Remington brass, and Remington 9 1/2 primers.
Velocity from my 20 inch Hog Hunter is 2590 according to my FDAC and JBM ballistics.
Last edited by 390fe; 06-22-2015 at 12:11 AM.
I've never understood why this is such a concern to people? The 175 SMK will flawlessly cross trans-sonic, Sierra specifically built it that way for the army; with the military testing and watching....
I'm a firm believer in the theory that if it bleeds, I can kill it.
That is good to hear.. The only experience I've had with projectiles tumbling was with some 165 SGK's that I was shooting at 1000 yards and got some sideways hits on the steel. I assumed that was due to crossing the trans-sonic. I just assumed the SMK would likely do the same thing.
No. After the debacle at Camp Perry, where the original 168gr MK wouldn't cross past @ 800; and the civilians started whupping on the Army's chosen few, they called Sierra. The army didn't ever want that to happen again, and did mountains of testing along side Sierra's development.
Dr. McCoy did mountains of work on this separately, and it comes down mostly to tail angle. 8.5° is the the best compromise between survival and BC. The original 168 had a 13°. Gives a sexy BC, but guarantees destabilization.
I'm a firm believer in the theory that if it bleeds, I can kill it.
I was not aware of that information.. Thanks for letting me know..
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