Anyone play with the Sierra 80 gr SMKs?

[markm]

I was mis shipped 500 sierra 80s instead of 77s and didn't catch it unitl I cracked open the box and loaded one of them.

Looks like we'll be getting a lot of single feed long range practice in soon. I'm going to start loading these to a rough OAL of 2.45". That gives me a .020" jump on my Bergara.

Any experience with these javelines?

[ICANHITHIMMAN]

that sucks I dont think the olgive is long enough to even load them to mag length.

[sinister]

Too long for magazine feed, but will spank a 77 at 500 and 600 for wind-bucking. You'll need a 1-8 or 1-7 twist.

A 5.56 throat will get you about a 2.500 - 2.550 overall length. A .223 civvy or rapid-fire throat will be around 2.450 - 2.500.

Hover around 24.0 - 24.5 grains of propellant unless you're using a Tubb Carrier Weight (then you can go up to 25.0 of Varget with a 2.500 length).

VihtaVuori 540 will get you an extra 150 fps with less pressure than Varget or Reloader 15.

[markm]

that sucks I dont think the olgive is long enough to even load them to mag length.

No chance of them going mag length. I started to load a few and was like... WTF is my seating die set at?? I wheeled it down to get it to 2.25" and there was a hefty gap at the case mouth.

I was like... those ****ers at Sierra changed the ogive.

Anyway... I'm going to make this into a learning project. Ordered a single feed follower from Sinclair yesterday.

Too long for magazine feed, but will spank a 77 at 500 and 600 for wind-bucking. You'll need a 1-8 or 1-7 twist.

A 5.56 throat will get you about a 2.500 - 2.550 overall length. A .223 civvy or rapid-fire throat will be around 2.450 - 2.500.

Hover around 24.0 - 24.5 grains of propellant unless you're using a Tubb Carrier Weight (then you can go up to 25.0 of Varget with a 2.500 length).

VihtaVuori 540 will get you an extra 150 fps with less pressure than Varget or Reloader 15.

Yep. I put some together last night. 2.475 OAL to start. This will also give me the opportunity to burn up the box of 75 gr AMAXs that have been sitting in my drawer forever.

[ALCOAR]

What's the BC of those?.....got a pic of it and a 77gr. side by side by chance?


I'm not scared to hand feed them on a calm day and make another honest attempt with a 16" .223 Recce @ 1k....you roll em, and I'll waste em


eta...I just found out the BC part of my question:


.420 @ 2200 fps and above
.400 between 2200 and 1800 fps
.393 @ 1800 fps and below

Killer BC for a .224 projectile, damn shame you can't sport 20/30 of them in a pmag.

[markm]

What's the BC of those?.....got a pic of it and a 77gr. side by side by chance?


I'm not scared to hand feed them on a calm day and make another honest attempt with a 16" .223 Recce....you roll em, and I'll waste em

I'll get a pic tonight. The kicker in this is that I had a box with about 30 77 grains left in the bottom and I poured the 80s in and friggin mixed them.... When you're on... you're on. And Sunday... I WAS ON FIRE!

So I sorted them off by length. I'll ship you a batch if you want! Let me see that I've got any kind of load with promise first. I've got 500 of these to burn up. I welcome any help in this!!!

(when I think I've got a load... I'll ship you 50 to try... I'll PM you if anything looks like it has potential)

[Ironman8]

I'll get a pic tonight. The kicker in this is that I had a box with about 30 77 grains left in the bottom and I poured the 80s in and friggin mixed them.... When you're on... you're on. And Sunday... I WAS ON FIRE!

So I sorted them off by length. I'll ship you a batch if you want! Let me see that I've got any kind of load with promise first. I've got 500 of these to burn up. I welcome any help in this!!!

(when I think I've got a load... I'll ship you 50 to try... I'll PM you if anything looks like it has potential)

Don't you/PB have a .223 bolt gun? Should do nicely there if you have one...

[markm]

Don't you/PB have a .223 bolt gun? Should do nicely there if you have one...

The thing is that the 5R is a nominal 1/9. It does shoot 77s like a champ, but these 80s are significantly longer.

We are going to try them with the suppressor removed. The REM 700 in .223 is a pain in the dick to single feed... It's not as friendly as the .308s are.

[ALCOAR]

I've been saying now for perhaps a cpl. yrs., and I'm pretty sure in discussion w/ you or PB about custom rolling, and hand feeding a heavy true LR .224 projectile.

I have no problem hand feeding a load that allows me to get on a 2/3rd size steel torso @ 1k with a 16" .223/5.56 Recce reliably. Especially if it's heavy enough to really start generating one of my very favorite sounds, the infamous 1k Bang....................................Ding

Seriously, the 1k bang....ding is the most addictive thing I've found yet in the world of shooting. Nothing like it, period.

You, and PB have thrown out a generous offer on a few occasions to send me some of your beautiful bean footage....and if you brew up a hot loaded .224 bullet w/ a BC above or around .400, count on me making it a small project of mine.

[markm]

Cool! We're Alpha testing on Saturday. Wish I could take my Chargemaster with me to the desert.