Currently shooting Markm’s H322 load for 77gr bullets. Current rifles shoot the SMK, the Noslers and the Hornady 75’s with the same accuracy and the same POA/POI out to at least 400. Got a bunch of the Noslers, so I’ve bulk loaded them up for my 18" SPRish build.
Thinking of switching over to the 69gr TMK’s or possibly the 77gr TMK. The 69gr SMK has shot well in every rifle I have tried it in, so it’s tempting to go that route. The 77gr tend to be a little more picky, it seems, although the H322 load shoots well in all barrels I have shot it in.
Wondering what’s working best for everyone? Longest shots would be 600-800 yards.
ETA: Should add that these would likely be primarily for my 18" SPR, but would also likely end up as a backup round for my SBR’s (behind factory Federal Fusion).
Man… we hand loaded a few hundred of the 77s, but never really developed a preferred load. Frankly, it’s hard to hand load them after shooting the 556 BH factory versions.
If I were going to go into TMK, I’d likely deviate from my extruded powder preference and run a warm TAC load.
Mark pretty much ran his regular 77grain load. Shouldn’t require much , if any change. I’ll be interested to hear if others can get more accuracy out of the TMK. We got it to shoot a bit flatter, but not more accurate. Still shot well.
We just hoped for better of everything.
XBR is a good powder as well. We have played with it. Seen lot to lot variation so buy a couple pounds at a time.
My buddy and I have good luck with markm’s XBR load and 77gr TMKs. Not as good as his SMK loads, but still pretty good. For 10-shot group averages, I average about 1.5 MOA, but we include even our nastiest called fliers. The bigger compared groups are worth it for us because we’re in a very windy area.
For the price though, we will be switching to the 62gr BTHPs since we are 1/4 mile and in for most shooting.
Recently tried the 77 TMKs. A mere 22.8 of varget was a compressed load, avg MV of 2612 out of an 18" barrel, and it was showing signs of overpressure. Not really happy with that performance. Not sure if I can push them as quickly as the 77 SMK. They are just so long there is not much case capacity left. Guessing I need to drop the varget for something else.
Are the shorter 69 TMKs able to be pushed as hard as their SMK cousin?
23.5gr* of IMR XBR in LC Brass to Magazine Length with a CCI SR Magnum primer. It is a literal laser beam and I have shot 8" gongs in tropical storm force winds pretty easily with it. I’ve also got a sub-MOA 3 shot group at 1,000 yards using that load (which is bs, but the guys at Sierra were impressed) I’m not sure why Mark doesn’t like that bullet considering he takes his .223s out pretty far too. It is an absolute game changer when you get >800 yards.
It’s ok if you don’t believe me. I don’t let that kind of thing bother me anymore
*This is over max and I do not recommend you do this out of your rifle. I am only posting what load I use and my results with no suggestion on my part whatsoever.
