65 Sierra Game King in an AR- Anyone using it?

[tappedandtagged]

I currently use 26.0 grains of W748 (near max by some books, over by others) and a CCI small rifle magnum primer with the .224 Sierra Game King. Velocity is just under 2800 fps.

My Windham Weaponry AR gives great accuracy with it, but since I can't find any more SRM primers or any more W748, I've decided to see if I can do anything with some H335 and standard primers (only things I have stocked in the way of the AR).

I've got my ladder loaded and plan on testing it soon. I hope to get a bit more velocity out of the H335.

Anyone else have any experience/success with this bullet?

 

[Nevada Ed]

A friend of mine tried those and got fair groups with them but
after shooting 100 he went back to the #1355 with the CANN,
which shot better in his weapon with 4895 and H335.

My 22/250 with a standard barrel groups the Speer 70 gr bullet
which is strange. Never know what a rifle will like.
Tight groups.

Good luck getting primers.............mine are still in the mail.

 

[tappedandtagged]

A friend of mine tried those and got fair groups with them but
after shooting 100 he went back to the #1355 with the CANN,
which shot better in his weapon with 4895 and H335.

My 22/250 with a standard barrel groups the Speer 70 gr bullet
which is strange. Never know what a rifle will like.
Tight groups.

Good luck getting primers.............mine are still in the mail.

The Speer 70 grain is pretty short (for a 70 grainer). For twist, it is length, not weight, that matters. Speer purposely made the bullet short and stubby to work with the "slower" twist rifles.

 

[tappedandtagged]

New load shows a lot of promise! Here's the range report.

Ok, I started low and worked up like a good boy, but for the sake of time, I'm only going over the upper half of the data I've gathered today.

For starters, I fired the last round of my old load (26 grains of W748 with a magnum primer), my go-to plinking/varmint round (55 grain Hornady SP under with a standard primer and 25 grains of H335) and two factory Remington 55 grain FMJ's.

Weather- 5-10 mph wind, I waited for the wind to die down before taking shots, so basically, wind wasn't a factor. 80 degrees, bright sun. I had trouble with my chrono a few times until I took an old T-shirt and draped it over the sun screen (Pro Chrono Pal- doesn't like direct sunlight).

The Remington factory velocity reading was 3,016 and 2976 fps.
The W748 load with the 65 grain Game King came in at 2836 fps.
The old standby of 55 grain Hornady SP with H335 read out at 2930 fps.

The following data all reflects the following combination: Standard Small Rifle Primer (Tula actually), Sierra 65 grain Game King (soft point boat tail) and H335. Only the powder charge changed in all of this. I shot a string of four shot groups. Also, instead of commenting on the group size, I'll post pictures of my targets. All shots were at 100 yards with a cheap Bushnell 3X9 scope.

23.4 grains- I had my chrono fail to read two shots. The other two were 2645 and 2624 fps.
23.7 grains- 2682, 2704, 2754, error on the fourth.
24.0 grains- error on 1st, 2743, 2715, 2704 fps.
24.3 grains- 2754, 2754, 2737, 2754 (yup, 2754 three out of four!)
24.6 grains- 2732, 2807, 2772, 2783 fps.
24.9 grains-2812, 2783, 2795, 2783 (finally getting up to the velocity of my W748 load)
25.2 grains- 2873, 2842, 2849, 2886 fps.
25.5 grains- 2892, 2898, 2898, 2898 (yup duplicates on the last three! and only an extreme spread of 6 fps!)

25.6 grains is the max according to Sierra (using the 63 SMK data as they recommend). Hodgdon lists the max as 25.0 grains. Seeing as my rifle is a 5.56, I have no issues or qualms going a measly half grain above.

Now for the pictures. I believe I'll be using the 25.2 or 25.5 grain load for hunting as with the .223, every FPS counts when used on medium game. I'll be using it on pigs and my wife will be using it on deer out to 100 yards.

Also, on the 25.5 grain load, I called the top shot as being pulled high by me. As far as the "There doesn't look like there's four shots in that group" one (25.2 grains) I assure you there are. The "flier" was my second shot. I have no idea how it got down there. The shot felt good too.

 

[Nevada Ed]

My old Speer manual called for cci 450 magnum primers with H335 and BLC-2 ( w 748 ) powders but in my rifles I had good luck with the Winchester small rifle primer but it may be hard to find in your local stores and might not be worth the cost of the "Haz-Mat" fees on the net just to try them out.

H414 was a sleeper with the heavier bullets in my .244 dia rifles but Hodgdon's data has been watered down over the years and only list heavy target loads that are no where near the maximum pressures for your rifle.

What ever powder you use.......good shooting and hope you find a super duper load.

 

[AzRedleg]

I have loaded the same bullet over 748. This pairing in my Rock River Varmint has produced the most accurate groups I've ever achieved with that particular rifle. About .70 inches pretty reliably at 100M. Hopefully you find a good match for yours.

 

[Infidel_319]

One Word, Varget. If You're Talking About The 69 Grain Smk, My Guns All Have Liked 25.0 Grains. That May Be Over Max, Check Your Manual(S) And Work Up.IEEE

Sorry, Read Your Question Wrong, Varget Still Should Work Great If You Have Any. My Bad

 

[tappedandtagged]

One Word, Varget. If You're Talking About The 69 Grain Smk, My Guns All Have Liked 25.0 Grains. That May Be Over Max, Check Your Manual(S) And Work Up.IEEE

Sorry, Read Your Question Wrong, Varget Still Should Work Great If You Have Any. My Bad

I don't have any Varget. The 65 GK bullet is plenty accurate enough with H335. I still haven't gotten around to re-shooting the two best loads, but I do plan on testing the 25.5 grn load out on some hogs this evening.