-
223 mid range shooting to longer Advice
Hi there Looking for some advice
looking at 2 tikka t3 223 varmint heavy 1:8 twist
one is a 20″ barrel with a lothar- walter match grade barrel and the other a standard 24″ tikka barrel heavy 5 to 6 yrs old
want to get out to 600 yds and forward
What would u recommended
It a small gun but it's to to get started
Cheerz for ur help -
12 Replies
-
For me it depends on how much life's left in the barrel , if every thing is equal I'd stick with the Tikka barrel , over here in England Lothrt-walter are for me a budget option for a replacement barrel and if it's done on a budget I'd stick with the Tikka barrel ,
The distance you want to shoot will not be a problem , -
What the man above said 😉
-
Hi Larkin
The 24″ barrel is abt 5 to 6 yrs old
The 20″ is new
Would there be much difference in the 24 and the 20 inch barrel for the distance vs accuracy
Cheerz for the advice
For me it depends on how much life's left in the barrel , if every thing is equal I'd stick with the Tikka barrel , over here in England Lothrt-walter are for me a budget option for a replacement barrel and if it's done on a budget I'd stick with the Tikka barrel ,
The distance you want to shoot will not be a problem , -
The longer barrel will get more use of the pressure behind the bullet ,
For me stick with the Tikka barrel has if I'm correct somebody has shot out the .223 and rebarreled it to sell ( on the cheap ), or they've had it rebarreled and there something just not Wright , it might be me looking too far into it , my .223 tikka with a varmint barrel has had 100 round a month for the last 3-4 years with no sign of needing work on the barrel -
If both barrels are 8 twist you will be looking about 150fps drop in velocity with the shorter 20″ barrel…on average in my testing I lost 35fps per/inch on a shorter 223 barrels, but some shorter barrels are pretty slick and have above average velocities.
I've compared and shot the factory TAC 20″ barrel side by side against the factory Varmint barrel, same day with handholds / same bullet for each…both rifles shot equally well out to 500yrds but stretch that to 1000yrds and the Varmint was superior by a large margin. I was shooting 80.5gr bergers out of both rifles and I can tell you the extra barrel weight and velocity out the varmint model was clear winner on the targets.
You won't be sorry with the factory Varmint barrel as long as its still got life left in it…might want to have it inspected by a qualified person first.
-
I would follow dogdown's advice
-
And so would i .. 8)
-
If both barrels are 8 twist you will be looking about 150fps drop in velocity with the shorter 20″ barrel…on average in my testing I lost 35fps per/inch on a shorter 223 barrels, but some shorter barrels are pretty slick and have above average velocities.
I've compared and shot the factory TAC 20″ barrel side by side against the factory Varmint barrel, same day with handholds / same bullet for each…both rifles shot equally well out to 500yrds but stretch that to 1000yrds and the Varmint was superior by a large margin. I was shooting 80.5gr bergers out of both rifles and I can tell you the extra barrel weight and velocity out the varmint model was clear winner on the targets.
You won't be sorry with the factory Varmint barrel as long as its still got life left in it…might want to have it inspected by a qualified person first.
Just for curiosity : At what velocity do you load the 80.5gr Bergers to ? I myself use 80gr Berger VLD bullets and love them. Just haven´t chronoed those buggers yet .. 🙁
-
2700-2800fps for 80.5gr Bergers…Approximate 24.5-25grs of Varget to get this velocity.
You will have to single load these because of length…will not fit standard mag.In my experience the 75gr Amax is the perfect long range projectile though…even though I had a bad lot of projectiles with non centric tips… but that problem seemed to be only batch related. If you can find them with the new ELD tips buy as many as you can…
2800-2900fps for 75gr Amax, this is my bullet of choice when I have the time to weight sort and inspect each projectile…accuaracy and ballistics are better if you want to stretch the gun out to 1000 yards…
25-25.5grs of Varget will get you in the sweet spot…
You will have to single load these because of length…will not fit standard mag. -
I know the single loading issue. I need to do that with several different bullets when loaded to preferred OAL. I use Vihtavuori powders (VV N 140 & N540 for the Heavy bullets) so i need to do some testing regarding the powder weight.
I agree the 75gr A-Max being a very good bullet for LR. Can´t order them anymore though due the fact Hornady discontinued them so if i want something similar i need to go for the 75gr ELD Match.
I actually ordered a box of them to try out. -
I think you are on the right track…
I don't think you will find a better projectile than the old Hornady 75gr Amax or the new 75gr ELD match for a factory rifle setup…obviously custom target guns setup to run 90gr projectiles are in a totally different realm then we are talking here.
I've tested just about everything available up to 80.5grs in my 223, and finding the 75gr Amax projectile to be the best combo if you weight sort and inspect everything in the load… the 75gr projectiles shoot like a dream out to 1000yrds. Its is by far the easiest and most accurate projectile I have loaded in my T3 “once” you find the sweet spot for the gun for both COAL and charge weight… If I play with the charge weight +/- to compensate for temp and weather my gun is a consistent Moa shooter out to 1000yrds.
I've altered my factory mag to accept the longer OAL, so its great for long range predator hunting.
I shoot the 75gr Amax (will be switching to the new ELD) with 25-25.5grs Varget…25.2-25.3grs being the perfect sweet spot…I increase or decrease the load by .2grs to dial in different conditions…
Even though Varget is considered temp stable, the small change in charge weight does help to get the rifle shooting best and consistent from summer to winter shooting.I pretty much only shoot 60gr Noslers and 75gr Amax through my 223…Both extremely accurate loads.
See attached for load development on the 75gr Amax and how they seat in altered factory mag. -
Nice job on the oem mag !
I myself have found the 77gr Lapua Scenar as an extremely accurate bullet ( and the same goes for the little Brother 69gr Scenar ) but the A-Max 75gr was a very pleasant surprise . Unfortunately i have no 1000 ytd/1000 m range to shoot on so i do the testing on 200/300 meter range instead.
And the A-Max has been very good – in fact it's arguably the most priceworthy bullet out there. I need to try the VV 540 powder at around your specs behind it. The VV 540 seems to be a very close to your Varget in burn rate.
Log in to reply.