Ok, I stuck a new 1/8 twist Bison Armory 18" barrel on my 223 AR. I am wanting to work up a load using one of the heavier bullets + 60 gr. Mainly will be used for punching holes in paper and shooting at some steel.

Whats every ones opinion on the best bullet/powder combo? I have looked at the 77gr Sierra or 75gr Hornady match bullets but I am wide open to suggestions.

Thanks

Can't go wrong with either bullet. The 77 or the 75, see which bullet the barrel likes best and roll with it.

The 69gr and 77gr SMK seem to be easier to load for, they have a more forgiving design, but you pay for it. Nosler makes a similar match bullet but my experience has shown them to not be as accurate as the Sierras or Hornadys. The Hornady 75gr HPBT is my favorite. While not as forgiving, they can still be very accurate and cost a good bit less than the sierras. They also work well as a hunting bullet.

From my 18" 1/7 twist Douglas SPR barrel I typically get 3/4" groups at 100 yards and less than 4" groups at 400 with the Hornady 75gr. Velocity is 2750fps. For the money, they are a great bullet.

I have realized the 75 bthp can not take a hard kick in the rump and stay accurate. In none of our guns.

But if max MV doesn't matter to you accurately, I ran the 75s a bit slower, I don't recall how much, but likely 75 or 100 fps slower than I could have, and they were ok.

69s always shot better than 68s in my guns also.

77s could be really good or not depending on the barrels.

73 bergers were just super accuarte out of every tube but they may not be what you want or need.

Thanks for the replays so far. Thats what I am looking for. Mainly looking for a cheaper bullet to send out of the AR. As much as I love Bergers, I don't see much need for them for my use in the AR.

What powders are you guys finding work good with the heavies?

TAC, Varget, RL-15, and IMR8208.

TAC has worked well with the 75's in my guns. 24gr of it has been accurate in several barrels.

Varget works extremely well with the 77 SMK's but the velocity isn't quite as good.

Add CFE223, N140/540, H4895, and Lever has shown some promise.

I would add H4895 to that list as well. CFE223 was a disappointment for me.

I had better luck with the Sierra 69's and 77's than the Hornady bullets.

TAC is/has been virtually unobtainable for a long time, so I've scratched it...........

Add RL-15 which performs almost identically to Varget but usually with a little higher velocity, AR Comp, MR 2000 & H4895.

I usually stop with IMR8208 at the 69 gr bullet level; it's accuracy is always very good but the pressure seems to get too high before the velocity equals the others with the heavier bullets.

MM

Powder valley has TAC

cheap bullets... look and see if you can find armscorp... I think they may have a heavy.

If not 68 Hornady. Or 63 sierra semi point, 64 WW power points, 60 sierra flat base HPs.

Or go down to any of the RP/WW type bulk bullets in anythign but FMJ....

W/o getting into FMJ's in bulk from an offshore source, the Hornady 68 & 75's a re about as cheap as you will get for a halfway decent bullet.

The 60 grain Nosler BT or the Win 64 gr PP are both decent & not too expensive but are still more than either of the Hornady's............at least at the prices I have been able to find.

MM

63 gr Sierra LINK

60 gr Sierra HP LINK

62 gr Bonded SP LINK

Just a few suggestions.

BTW, I just bought 1,000 of the 62gr bonded bullets. They sure look like Nosler Accubonds to me.

Ed

Thanks for all the input.

Looking at my powder stock, im good on powder and have a few boxes of bullets on hand to play with.

Now I just need to find time to get to the loading bench.

You could try the 65gr SGK as well. Sometimes it shoots better for me than the 69gr SMK, pushed to max velocity with AA 2230 or 2460.

I have had good luck with the 75 gr Hornady and the 77 gr tmk with CFE 223, A2230 and A2460 has worked best with the 69 gr tmk, for some reason the 77 gr Noslers don't shoot well with CFE.