Cleaning (for copper) is a good suggestion. That can always throw you for a loop. I will tell you that my reloading experience from my .223 Savage Carbine, the 69gr.SMK's didn't group all that well. I can't recall the groups, but I know I wasn't impressed. However, what did shoot one-hole ragged groups was the Hornady 68gr. BTHP Match bullets. I loaded 'em over 24.5gr. of Varget and just set the COL at the Hornady recommended of 2.250. (Honestly....with this Savage and my previous T\C .223, I never had any group difference when I seated the bullets longer or shorter than the recommended COL. Now, that was just with the .223 caliber.)
Oh, one other thing is when I size my brass, I DO NOT use the sizer button. That does give the brass a tighter neck tension, but for me, I have found that it gives me those teeny groups. Your results may differ. You may want to load say, ten with the sizer button in, and ten without. (For the .223 I just use a Lee Sizer die and I screwed in the lee universal de-cap die pin. That universal de-cap pin is thin enough to pop out the old primer without touching the brass neck.)
Of course....for sizing my other "big boy" cartridges, I use those incredibly expensive RCBS bushing dies. But....they do work well.
If you haven't tried the Hornady's then don't give up yet.
Dave
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks