First results with new 12 FV .223

[CFJunkie]

The following are the results for the morning of April 17^th shot in Northern Virginia at 100 yards.

Temperatures from 57 to 68 degrees with winds from 3 to 6 mph. Altitude of the range is 250 feet above sea level.
All rounds were shot with a Savage 12 FV with the action screws torqued to 35 in.-lbs.
All the rounds were loaded using CCI BR-4 primers and all bullets were loaded to achieve a 1.134 msec. exit time that should be the sweet spot for a 26-inch 3% carbon steel barrel.
The load description field shows the powder and charge, the O.A.L., the trim length, and the bullet exit time from the 26-inch barrel.

This is the first time shooting the 52 grain Hornady ELD-M # 22491, 50 grain Berger FB #22406 and the Berger 70 grain VLD #22416 bullets.
The 69 TMK bullets were shot to see if there would be a difference in performance if I seated those bullets close to the Sierra recommended O.A.L. that I generally do not use. I normally seat the 69 TMKs out around 2.320 to keep the jump the same as I would see for SMK bullets seated at the Sierra SMK recommended O.A.L.

# Grps Load Description Bullet Weight Velocity Avg Median Std Dev 1 2 3 4 3 N133 22.7 gr 2.258 1.753 wf 1.134 * 62/2deg F. Berger FB # 22406 50 3121 0.390 0.392 0.064 0.325 0.392 0.452 4 N133 22.5 gr 2.252 1.754 wf 1.134 * 58/58 deg F. Hornady ELD-M # 22491 52 3094 0.333 0.332 0.072 0.265 0.277 0.387 0.403 1 IMR4166 23.9 gr 2.268 1.755 wf 1.134 *55/57 deg F. Sierra Tipped Match King #7169 69 2937 0.510 0.510 0.510 1 IMR4166 24.1 gr 2.267 1.751 wf 1.134 65/68deg F. Berger VLD #22418 70 2940 0.785 0.785 0.785 9 0.422 0.392 0.157

I shot one group of 69 TMK bullets seated back near the Sierra recommended O.A.L. of 2.260 to see how it performed compared to my normal seating at an O.A.L. around 2.320 or 0.060 further out into the barrel.
Actually, the jump at 2.320 for a 69 TMK is about the same as for a 69 SMK seated at 2.260 because the tip on the TMK extends the O.A.L. by 0.060.
The results with the 12 FV .223 are as follows for the 69 grain TMK:
O.A.L Grp Avg
2.268 0.510
2.317 0.367
------ 0.395 Average of all 69 gr TMK groups.

The results with the 12 FV for the various bullet weights to date are:
Wgt. Avg. ---Mean --St Dev # grps Rank
50 --0.390 --0.392 --0.064 ---- 8--- 4
52 --0.366 --0.382 --0.079 ----11--- 2
53 --0.384 --0.342 --0.141 ----3 ---- 3
55 --0.343 --0.305 --0.094 ----4 ---- 1
60 --0.487 --0.487 ------- ------1 --- 6
68 --0.653 --0.653 --0.001 -----2 --- 7
69 --0.398 --0.408 --0.074 ----10--- 5
70 --0.785 --0.785 ------- ------1 --- 8
All --0.408 --0.392--0.108 ---- 35