Loads for 80 gr. A-Max in .223?

[David Sinko]

I just bought a box of Hornady 80 gr. A-Max for the .223 and can not find any loading data for it in my older manuals. I don't know what powders are suitable, but I have a lot of H335, BLC2 and Varget and would be happy to use those, if possible. Any suggestions?

Dave Sinko

 

[505Gibbs]

Dave - If you don't get any responses I would suggest you call Hornady customer service. In the past they were willing to send out copies for individual loads from their manual - yea, I know they want to sell the entire set of books.
I have a Sierra manual that has loads for their 80g Match King.
If you get no inputs send me a PM and I'll send you some data from the manual. Tell me again if done this way what powders you'll be using.
The Hornady manuals I have don't use a barrel with a fast enough twist to utilize the 80's!

I found this at AR15armory.com :

I talked to Hornady today and was given the folowing info for the AMAX 80 gr 223:
C.O.L. is 2.390", same as the 75 gr and would be single loaded since it won't fit the mag.


H 4895 ---- START 18.5gr@2200----- MAX 22.3gr@2600
RL 15 -- --- START 19.5gr@2200------------------------- MAX 23.5@2650
WIN 748 -- START 20.2gr@2200----- MAX 23.6gr@2600
VARGET --- START 19.7gr@2200----- MAX 23.8gr@2600

 

[David Sinko]

I hadn't considered that loaded rounds will be too long to fit into the magazine. I think I'll use Varget at the starting load and work up. I bought these mostly as a curiosity and for a friend who has a LWRC rifle with a 1:7 twist. I figure I have nothing to lose by trying them in my DPMS with the 1:9 twist. Incidentally, the 1:7 twist stabilized the 35 gr. V-Max nicely, or at least it did at 50 yards. I didn't expect that.

As for OAL and the magazine issue, is there not a 100 or 110 gr. bullet in use by the SOCOM? I figure the troops aren't single loading these cartridges when somebody is shooting back at them.

Dave Sinko

 

[balldboy]

I hadn't considered that loaded rounds will be too long to fit into the magazine. I think I'll use Varget at the starting load and work up. I bought these mostly as a curiosity and for a friend who has a LWRC rifle with a 1:7 twist. I figure I have nothing to lose by trying them in my DPMS with the 1:9 twist. Incidentally, the 1:7 twist stabilized the 35 gr. V-Max nicely, or at least it did at 50 yards. I didn't expect that.

As for OAL and the magazine issue, is there not a 100 or 110 gr. bullet in use by the SOCOM? I figure the troops aren't single loading these cartridges when somebody is shooting back at them.

Dave Sinko

I spoke to an accomplised High Power shooter who is now teaching advance rifle skills, he mentioned the 90gr. SMK was tried with little sucess, requires a 1 in 6.5 twist and seats too deep in the case for mag feed unless you want really low velocity.

 

[Ron H.]

I hadn't considered that loaded rounds will be too long to fit into the magazine. I think I'll use Varget at the starting load and work up. I bought these mostly as a curiosity and for a friend who has a LWRC rifle with a 1:7 twist. I figure I have nothing to lose by trying them in my DPMS with the 1:9 twist. Incidentally, the 1:7 twist stabilized the 35 gr. V-Max nicely, or at least it did at 50 yards. I didn't expect that.

As for OAL and the magazine issue, is there not a 100 or 110 gr. bullet in use by the SOCOM? I figure the troops aren't single loading these cartridges when somebody is shooting back at them.

Dave Sinko

Sir, I suspect you're going to have velocity/stability problems loading 80s to magazine length with a 1:9 twist. The 80s really need at least a 1:8 twist to stabilize from an AR's relatively short tube.

FWIW, my old 600-yard AR load was a Sierra 80, CCI 450 primer, new Winchester case, and 23.7 grains of VV N540. The bullet was seating long, 10 thousandths off the lands, but I don't have the actual overall length recorded. This load is hot and absolutely NOT suitable for mag-length seating.

From my 20-inch 1:8 barrel, that load averaged 2,672 fps 10 feet from the muzzle--and the wind *still* blew me all over the place at 600.

If you're shooting at shorter ranges, say 200-ish yards or less, you might get away with low velocities from loading mag length, but I think that 1:9 twist will still get you. Give it a try and see what happens, but was it me, I'd swap those 80s off for some 68s.

Hope this helps, and Semper Fi.

Ron H.

 

[kraigwy]

The troops dont use 80 grainers. In AR DMRs they use 77 grain SMKs. For 80s you are gonna need a 1 - 7 twist. If you expect any accuracy at all you need to seat them long.

In ARs 80s are pretty much limited to target shooting, where, you single load at 600 yard prone and 1000 yard sevice rifle matches so it dosnt matter if they are too long for the mag or not.

I use 24.4 grns of RL 15 in my White Oak (upper) service rifle. It works. I use the same load with 77 grn SMKs at 200 and 300 yards, from the mag. They are designed so as they can be stuffed further down the case.

Having said that, I have seen some target shooters cut out the front of the mag so the 77s can be loaded a bit longer in the rapid fire stages. It seems to help but since I shoot service rifle its not quite legal. If you shoot Match Rifle, you can get buy with it.

Ref: H335, it works great in my ARs with 55 and lighter bullets, but I never got it to work with the heavy bullets.

 

[David Sinko]

My goal was simply to see if this works at all. I'm just curious to find out if the bullets hit sideways or what. After some searching I was able to find data for Varget, BLC2, H335 and 4064. I solved the magazine fit dilemma buy cutting the plastic tips off the bullets. That was enough to get them to feed through the magazine. All four loads with these different powders exhibited vastly different grouping characteristics at 100 yards. By far the best performance was with 23 grs. of Varget. That gave me a 4" group with slight horizontal stringing and 1" low, but right to the sights. Some of the other loads were very erratic but every shot fired did produce a round hole on target. There was no clear evidence of tipping.

So what is to be gained by all this? I'm surprised that the load with Varget shot as well as it did. The question is how stable is the bullet? And what will happen when it hits meat? Will it tumble immediately or will it bore straight through? If it does tumble, I guess that could be considered a good thing. Does anybody have any experience with this?

Dave Sinko

 

[dkrause]

I load the 75gr Hornady BTHP to magazine length with pretty good results, about .75-1" at 100yds out of my Rock River 18" Varminter