Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles Barnes 55g TTSX in 223 Rem

I shot 7 deer with the 55gr ttsx out of a 223 and only recovered one and that was from a head shot at about 25 yards. They shoot around 3/8" @ 100 yards, they kill deer very well so well think that's all I'm going to use from now on here in PA.

I knew the Remington 6 1/2's were for low pressure loads (much like their 1 1/2 SPP). And I can't say it was the case when Anson tried them, they do indeed state it right on the box. I do believe the print should be larger and better bolded/highlighted, but it is in fact on there.



See that small print on the bottom on the side of the box that starts with WARNING:.... That's it. Like I said, it should be more prominent as Anson is definitely not the first person to have made that mistake.

But I've never heard the CCI 400's were for lower pressure loads. CCI doesn't state as such.


I have a brick of 400's and a brick of the 7 1/2's but only a 100 count of the 450's. That's enough to see what they can do though.

Those of you that have had success with TAC, did it favor the hotter primers like the 450?

WIth regards to the H4895 test loads, I used Barnes 62g data for H4895 (max of 24.5 although I did a mini-ladder of 10 shots up to 24.8g). You know how you can sometimes get a double-grouping with a single load? Well, this ladder would group two consecutive charges in one ragged hole and then jump to the next hole with two consecutive charges, and then the next... It did that for 4 times and then one shot went into an existing hole and the 10th shot was off by itself... Never seen that before.

Oh, and that 24.8g of H4895 charge gave around 3,070 fps where as Hodgdon lists 22.6 grains as giving 3,110 fps...

I like H335 for 55 grain bullets. The load I use for my Ruger American Ranch Rifle is 25 grains with a CCI small rifle primer. However, this rifle has a 5.56mm NATO chamber, and using this load in a standard .223 chamber may cause over pressure problems.

I don't recall if I even tried TAC with a "cooler" primer.

I've found H4895 to give slow speeds out of my 223.

I'll try to lay hands on some 450's, & revisit those recipes. If they come together with great groups, I'll throw down for a slice of your favorite pie on 3/14/19.

Just trying to figure out what a mathman might enjoy. Maybe it's a single shot of bourbon in a KFC bucket full o' ice???

FC

I talked with a tech at CCI today about my old 400s. They were made in 1987. Should still be good. He said they are fine in bolt guns in 223 and can be used in ARs but could cause a slam fire due to the firing pin moving forward when the bolt is allowed to slam forward. Said to chamber a round and then let the bolt go from locked back. Check for dimple or an actual discharge. Could do do the same test with a primed but unloaded case. I've seen that dimple with Winchester SRs but never had a slam fire. CCI 450 or the 41 would be better in an AR.

I wonder about the Federal 200 at only .019" thickness.

Ref my experience with the Rem 6 1/2 primers. Mine were given to me years ago. I don't know how old they were. Packaging did not have any low pressure warning. That must be a more recent change.

I tried the most promising load on Saturday with TAC, 24.8 grains. I loaded it with both the CCI 400 and the CCI 450. The CCI 400 gave a 4-shot group in the low .9's, while the 4-shot group from the 450's was noticeably larger (not measured). The 450's increased the speed by 44 fps over the 400's though (3,160 vs 3,116), so it could have easily kicked it out of an accuracy node. I need to back the load down a bit with the 450's until it matches the speed of the load using the 400's and see if that helps.

Oh, and Barnes eventually got back to me on my query on what they would recommend as a max load with the 55 grain TTSX and Hodgdon H4895. Their recommended max was 25.5 grains if anybody is interested. That's a full grain higher than I tried so it's possible that powder could still produce a viable load. I don't know if I'll bother testing with it though, since TAC seems to be producing decent velocity and accuracy.

1-10" Tikka T3 Lite stainless likes the 50 gr TTSX, 26.4 gr TAC, CCI400 primer, 2.180" OAL. 3230 fps, .3" groups.




P

I appreciate all the feedback here, as there's a lot of good recommendations.

Revising my previous results with TAC, QuickLOAD suggested dropping the charge 0.3gr (to 24.5gr) would put the velocity with the CCI 450's back into the same territory as CCI 400's (3,116 FPS) which would hopefully improve the accuracy. With 24.8g of TAC and the 450's the 4 shot group went into 1.687" (one outlier took it from a 0.843" group) and did 3,160 FPS. With 450's and 24.5g TAC 4 shots went into a 0.693" group and did 3,127 FPS, but the velocity spread was about 2x bigger (78 FPS).

I don't like to see velocity jumps like this.
1) 3,127
2) N/A (LabRadar had disarmed without my realizing)
3) 3,088
4) 3,166

Velocity spread with the 400's at 24.8g was 46 FPS, but the group was ~37% bigger. 1 4-shot group each isn't enough to really tell which path to pursue though.

What do y'all think?

I could also try the Rem 7 1/2 primer here...