Home Forums Reloading Varmint Rifles Talk to me about TAC

I bought a big jug of this back before the election with no use in mind at the time. Now I have a new 17FB and decided to give it a whirl. Book says 20.7 max for 20gr bullets. I worked up .2 ant a time to 20.9 and a MV averaging about 4100 - 4150. Accuracy is best @ 20.0 gr though and I'm still averaging 4066 for a 10 shot string. that seems high to me given almost a grain less powder. No signs of pressure even at 20.9 gr. It does seems dirty though compared to the IMR4320 I run in my 17 Remington. Am I correct in that observation or not?

Also, how temperature sensitive is TAC in your experience? It's about 80 here today, but hunting season is usually 0-40 degrees max.

It should work well ok in cooler temps.

With that small case a small amount of powder will make a huge difference.

Like loading a hornet,22tcm it don't take much to get the speed you are seeing.
Have often found it to be better when just off a max load.

I like it.

I like TAC for my 223 contenders it is a bit temp sensitive but not a real problem for me, shoots flatter in the afternoon compared to
mornings, here in the summer we are 60s in them AM and 100s in the PM haven't missed that many rodents

ALL powders are "temp sensitive" when temperatures get much above 70 degrees. In hotter weather, temp-sensitivity is relative: Some powders will gain more pressure/velocity and some will gain less--and all can vary somewhat in how much they gain in different applications. The ones you want to avoid for warm-weather shooting are those that act fine at 70, then result in stuff bolt lift or blow primers or on a hot day, especially when the barrel gets warm. I've never had that difficulty with TAC, and when the .17 Fireball was my primary prairie dog round settled on TAC as the primary powder.

Have tested TAC at both 70 and zero with 50-grain bullets in the .223 Remington, and it got exactly the same velocity at both temperatures. This summer tested it in he .204 Ruger at 115 degrees with my favorite PD load with 40-grain V-Maxes, and the velocity was 24 fps faster than at 70 degrees.

I've never found TAC dirty-burning when loaded to max loads, though it is with "starting" loads. In fact have one .223 I've shot 500+ times without cleaning when shooting PD's, and it was shooting just as well. The first patch showed a little powder fouling, the second very little, and the third none.

You might try magnum primers. They aren't necessary for good accuracy with TAC,, but do help many spherical powders burn cleaner.

Thanks for that MD (and others). I played around with 25 gr Hornady HP this afternoon as well. .3 gr under max was giving me dime size 5 shot groups and 3750 average MV, and these are fire forming loads. I think I'm going to like this TAC.

JB got me pretty well hooked on TAC...then along came "The Big Book of Gun Gack" and I just HAD to mess with some CFE223....

Between the two they are pretty well my go to powders for velocity in the small bores.

I use TAC in my 17 FB.

Going to try CFE BLK next to see if maybe I can beat some copper.

Tac is my go to in 20 tac

Seems appropriate.

I load TAC in my .223 Rem for all bullet weights from 40 to 77 gr. While it may not be the absolute best accuracy/velocity in each weight, it is more than adequate for my purposes for all of them. It also works as the second choice in the .338 Federal (right behind IMR 8208XBR). When loaded close to maximum levels, it burns clean, and meters great through my powder measure. What's not to like?

My 2 223s love TAC with 50 gr NBTs. Just loading some CFE223 in a 22-250 to see how they do. Shoots sub MOA with Big Game at 3550 (55gr NBT). Will see how it does with CFE.

I bought a keg a year or so ago and have been using it mostly in three Colt ARs with bullets in the 65-75 grain range. TAC loads have never quite equaled H4895 loads for accuracy or velocity, but they have been close enough that I wouldn't feel disadvantaged if I had to use TAC as my only .223 powder. It does flow through a measure better than H4895.

I had a Palmetto State AR that'd run around an inch at 100 for 3 65grain gamekings and I THINK 25.0 grains of TAC. It'd hold about 1-3/4" for 3 at 200 yards.
Metered like water. Grouped consistently across a pretty wide range of temps, but never shot that rifle past 200.
Been playing with LeverRevolution and 75 HPBT's in a different AR for the last little bit, but I've got 3lbs of TAC I need to figger out what to do with.....hmmmmm.

If that's the case, I'd bet you're either holding back a bit on the TAC loads or running H4895 pretty hot, maybe both. TAC should push that bullet weight range faster in a 5.56. If you're not aware of it, use Western Powders' load data, they have actual 5.56 data instead of just 223 Rem like most others.

Yondering- I've tried to develop the most accurate loads with both powders. The most accurate H4895 loads shoot a little faster than the most accurate TAC loads. I've primarily used two Sierra bullets simply because they shoot so well: the 65 GK and the regular (untipped) 69 MK. I stay just below max. with both powders. I have the Western book and I'm aware of the 5.56 loads. I just don't have a need for such, at least for now.

My experience as well.

TAC with either of those bullets shoots the best at max 5.56 loads in my experience, I load both of them as well. If you haven't worked up into 5.56 load territory with TAC, you probably haven't found the most accurate loads.

Also in my experience, X-Terminator will give slightly better velocity and accuracy than TAC with both of those bullets. Again, this occurs right at max loads.

It's only a 22 centerfire, it's not like you need to load it down to save your shoulder and wear on the gun. Your AR was designed for durability with 5.56 loads.

X-Terminator will indeed sometimes result in slightly better accuracy and velocity than TAC--at "normal" temperatures. But in my tests it isn't nearly as temperature-resistant as TAC, which performs very similarly in the .223/5.56 anywhere from zero on up.