75gr AMAX in Stevens 200 .223?

V

vonb

Well-Known Member
Joined
Dec 1, 2005
Messages
1,196
Reaction score
211
Location
TN
Anyone played with Hornady 75 gr AMAX out of a .223? I loaded up some of these last night in hopes to do some longer range shooting. I'm started my loads at 23.6 gr Varget with an OAL of 2.390. I went up in .3 gr increments all the way up to 24.8 gr. I know this charge is on the higher side and will pull 'em if I start seeing pressure signs. My other concern is that I'll be shooting these out of a 1/9 twist 22" barrel which is on the edge of stability for a 75 gr bullet in a .223? Anyone have some experience with the 75gr AMAX they wanna share?
 
I know that Lonnie Hummel shoots them in 1000 yd competition. (Way Upper at Hornady)
He runs them fast through a 22/6mmAI. I have 5 or 6 boxes of them and some boxes say 1 in 8" twist where others say 1 in 9" twist. You`ll just have to see. They may stabilize at 100, but see about 300 and check for keyholeing.
 
Tim,
From what I've read, the older 75 AMAX were longer and hence Hornady designated them for a 1/8. However, Hornady decided to redesign them and make them somewhat shorter. This was when the designation was for a 1/9.

I was going to shoot them at 200 and see if they were stabilizing there. One thing is for sure...My Forster seating die hates plastic tipped bullets. It seems to leave a ring around the tips everytime. I have really been wanting to shoot these...I'm hoping they'll work. Otherwise, it's single loading time out of my Armalite NM or trading them for some 69gr HPBTs.
 
Tumble the bullets in a vibratory tumbler with some Flitz case cleaner. Those bullets will have a shine and wax coating to help them seat more easily, besides looking gorgeous. Be sure you are de-burring the inside of the case mouth too. Maybe this will help with the excessive pressure ring.

I will measure both lots of my bullets to see about length differences.

If you end up trading them, give me a holler, I may have something interesting.
 
Thanks for the information...Good stuff on the Flitz info. The case mouths were deburred with a 45 deg. debur tool. I had thought about going to a VLD debur tool (30 deg.) to see if that helps.

If I decide on trading, I'll let you know.
 
I have hand polished many a match bullet with an old T-Shirt and Flitz/Iosso. It does an really nice job. The tumbler will get them 90% as shiny with much less effort.
 
hunt127588 said:
Thanks for the information...Good stuff on the Flitz info. The case mouths were deburred with a 45 deg. debur tool. I had thought about going to a VLD debur tool (30 deg.) to see if that helps.

If I decide on trading, I'll let you know.
Click to expand...

I bought one of the 30 degree deburring tools and tried it a few times. Lots of people are extolling the virtues of using these but I just didn't like it. Maybe if I were using it in a version like the Wilson Case trimmer where the case is held stationary in relation to the deburring and chamfering bit I would like it. I didn't like the case neck inconsistency I got with the thinner case mouths with the 30 degree tool. It went in the spare tool box and the old one came back out. That might just be me too. I'm picky.
 
Whelan,
Thanks for the insight on the 30 VLD tool. I looked long and hard at 'em and just didn't buy one. I often wonder how well they worked.
 
Well, I tried these out in my Stevens last weekend and man was it windy!!! I did my ladder test and it seemed as though the 24.5gr of Varget did the best yielding a 1.64" 4-shot group @ 200 yards. However, everything else seemed to produce shotgun spreads over the whole target. 24.5gr was not giving me a good SD at all but it seemed the most accurate...That was odd to me. I was getting a tad above 2700fps with 24.5gr.

I'm going to go back to the drawing board and try some more ladder testing with Benchmark powder to reduce the compression ring on the bullet.

Tim,
If they continue to not shoot, I may holler at you about trading if you're interested. Just let me know what you have to offer in .223.
 
The 70gr TSX's shoot good out of my Bushmaster Predator with Varget. What is your twist rate, mine is 1 in 8. The 75gr may be a little heavy for some .223 twist rates. My 2cents.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top