Retested the 22.3 gr TAC, Fed AR Match primer combo, and it's the final load for sure. Great accuracy, and no popped primers.
It still amazes me how big of an impact the primer can have on a load.
"What would a $2,000 Geissele Super Duty do that a $500 PSA door buster on Black Friday couldn't do?" - Stopsign32v
Revisiting these heavies with a box of Barnes Factory ammo inbound. And also adding the Nosler 85gr RDF bullet to the research.
"What would a $2,000 Geissele Super Duty do that a $500 PSA door buster on Black Friday couldn't do?" - Stopsign32v
Lord this topic is popular!
I loaded some head to head tests, Match Burner vs. RDF with Both TAC (a new lot) and VV135. The RDF is a VERY 'pointy' bullet requiring a dramatic adjustment on the seating die to get it to mag length. I wish I could haul my loading set up out to the range and finish load work up in one day, but we'll see what happens.
"What would a $2,000 Geissele Super Duty do that a $500 PSA door buster on Black Friday couldn't do?" - Stopsign32v
I've had some impressive results with the 85 RDF, but that experience was with seating them close to the lands in a bolt gun. What kind of accuracy are you seeing with seating at mag length?
Really good. I'm still working on a load, but we're at 2604 FPS out of a 23.75 Bolt gun. We're seeing MOA accuracy. I'm leaning towards stopping there. Chasing Barnes's 2700 fps velocity is a fools errand. That ammo is just outstanding.
I'd like some pressure cushion for the summer months.
I did load 5 RDFs to 2.335" with 23.5 gr of Varget. Those shot 2705 fps and shot MOA too. I'm more interested in a mag length load with VV N135 though since I have 900 of the bullets remaining. We already have a single feed load of 88 gr ELDMs that can't be beat by anything.
"What would a $2,000 Geissele Super Duty do that a $500 PSA door buster on Black Friday couldn't do?" - Stopsign32v
Here's a 200 yard 5 shot group with the Black Hills 87gr Barnes ammo:
Also easily sub MOA. Neither of the 85 Match Burners or the Black Hills load do anything exciting at 1000 yards. We feel like we're wasting money when it takes 3-4 rounds just to get on steel.
"What would a $2,000 Geissele Super Duty do that a $500 PSA door buster on Black Friday couldn't do?" - Stopsign32v
85 Barnes factory load after a 1 gallon gel jug - Cardboard 18 inches behind the target to see what passed through.
"What would a $2,000 Geissele Super Duty do that a $500 PSA door buster on Black Friday couldn't do?" - Stopsign32v
Im not surprised this is a good terminal performer, the Army was testing some experimental 87gr 5.56 loads that were pretty explosive. Andrew on TFBTV gel tested this load and it performed better than 77gr SMK, fairly short neck on par with 75gr Hornady, lots of a frag with good chunk of core going deep. Might be a good choice for a 20" to get as much velocity as possible out of these while getting as much mass on target as you can from a 5.56.
Forward Ascertainment Group
Bookmarks