Off topic a little.. but I was working up some load data for the 53 V Maxes, since Marty ( Iron Eagle) is interested in it for his 223.. since his resources are limited with family and all... I decided to do some working up and testing it to cut the curve for him...
Tested 6 powders and charged them to what was listed as max load, and then added a little of my own 'fudge factor' based on experiences working with some of the powders in the 223 already...
that 53 V Max is supposed to have a better BC than the 60 grain V Max.. I normally don't care, because I shoot at 200 yds or under usually, and no where near max velocity as you don't need that for 200 yds...
however I also like to see what the upper end of a cartridge will do, just to know where that point is...
with the 53 grain V Maxes, with an OAL of 62.36 mm shot out of a Ruger VT, I had 3 powders give me MVs of 3450 to 3500+ fps...
I also went out to the range yesterday and shot two of those powders at 100 yds and was impressed with the accuracy also..5 shots coverable with a quarter...close enough for 200 to 250 on sage rats and say 300 to 350 on prairie dogs...
those three powders were RL 7, H 322 and W 748...
actually I was disappointed that RL 15 only gave about 3250 fps...
AR Comp was in the low 3400s, so maybe half a grain more or so will break the 3500 fps range... not important to me, the extra 100 fps in the field... but it is nice to know it is there if ever needed..
tried a load earlier with TAC and it blew a primer or two.. so I took it off the list for max velocity...
that velocity potential and the BC on the 53 V Max, makes for a good long range potential for the 223...
