Father Develops .223 Rem F-TR Load for His Daughter
Jeremy Rowland decided to put together an F-TR rifle for his eldest daughter, who enjoys competitive shooting. For his daughter, Rowland chose the .223 Rem option because it has less recoil and components are less costly than the .308 Win. Here is Rowland’s account of how he developed a .223 Rem load. For more details (with data charts), read Jeremy’s FULL STORY on Sierra Bullets Blog.
Journey to Find a .223 Rem F-Class Load
by Jeremy Rowland, Reloading Podcast
My oldest daughter has been to several matches with me, and has even competed in several, using her .243. I decided this coming season (2016), she would compete with a .223 Rem in FT/R. Looking for a good starter rifle, I settled on the Savage Axis Heavy Barrel since it has a 1:9″ twist. This would be a great little rifle for her to learn on. The rifle was shot unmodified, as it came from the factory. A Sinclair F-Class Bipod w/micro elevation adjustment was fitted to the front.
Next came finding the components I wanted to use for her match loads. After spending hours and hours running numbers on JBM stability calculator as well as in my iPhone Ballistic AE app, the 69 gr Sierra Tipped MatchKing® (TMK®) looked really good. So that’s what I decided to go with. I jumped in head first and ordered a bulk pack of the Sierra 69 gr TMKs. I had settled on Hodgdon CFE 223 since it shows good velocity. I decided to go with once-fired Lake City brass with CCI BR4 primers.
Next came the testing. I decided to run a ladder test (one shot per charge from min to max looking for the accuracy node). The ladder test ranged from 23.5 grains to 25.6 grains, in 0.3 grain increments.
Ladder Test Conditions: Temp: 59.4° | Humidity: 63% | Elevation: 486 | Wind: 5-12 mph
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Bullet: 69 gr Sierra Tipped MatchKing® |
After his ladder test, Rowland settled on a load of 25.2 grains of Hodgdon CFE 223. He then fine-tuned his load with different seating depths: “I loaded up 5 rounds each at .020″ off lands, .015″ off lands, .010″ off lands, and .005″ off the lands. Here are the results from the best group for OAL/Ogive fine tuning. As you can see, I think I’ve found a winner in these 69 gr Sierra Tipped MatchKings.”
Seating Depth Test Conditions: Temp: 36.3° | Humidity: 73.8% | Elevation: 486 | Wind: 5-7 mph
This article originally appeared in the Sierra Bullets Blog.
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Tags: .223 Rem, F-Class, F-TR, Father Daughter, Load Development
Try the Hornady 60gn FBHP for ranges out to 500.
Very consistent in my old banger with a 1:10: twist.
Nice group. I love my savages. You can look at my savage group at 600 yds on my Instagram acct ythj9. All the best.
At what distance was the ladder test done?
It’s too bad that manufacturers tend to shy away from 1:7 twist rates and push 1:9s because the 223 needs all the help it can get in terms of ballistics and the 1:7 allows the use of 80 grain bullets which are a game changer for the 223….
Especially if the rifle can chamber longer than SAMMI spec loads.
I have a Ruger Precision Rifle in 223 (Which appears to have been discontinued unfortunately) and it has a 1:7 twist barrel. That in combination with the AI size mag allows be to run loads of 2.5 inch OAL with 80 grain SMKs and hit 2850 FPS with about 1/2 MOA accuracy.
That’s chasing the 224 Valkyrie very well.
PS…
That’s with a repeater BTW… With what would otherwise be a single shot F Class rifle load.
I started with a Savage 12 FV when I first tried F-TR. I also used Sierra 69 gr TMK’s. I later swapped the barrel out for a 6.5 twist and 90 gr MK bullets. I still use the 90 gr MKs and 6.5 twist barrels in my build rifle.