Reloading for a Remington 700 ADL Bolt .223

[LHS]

Picked it up Sunday, deciding this one ( a vbery good sale price!) was better than the Savage AXIS I was waiting on. She has the camo stock and a 1 in 12 twist in her 26" barrel (bolt action).

Love the feel of it, but was wondering what grain bullets will shoot best out of her? I reload pistol and already have an RCBS die set in 223, but waited on buying bullets & Powder.

Anybody out there have one and want to share their best recipe or favorite factory ammo?
Thanks!

 

[Rule3]

With the 1:12 twist you need to stay with the lighter bullets.
Max 65 gr..

This page is helpful:

223 Rem + 223 AI Cartridge Guide

 

[GLC1]

I have a 700 ADL in 223. I put mine in an H&S Precision stock to free float the barrel and had the trigger reduced to 2.5 lbs. It consistently shoots 1/2" -3/4" groups with my best loads.

I'm partial to the Sierra 55 grain HPBT bullet with Varget powder. I use 27.0 grains which is near max and slightly compressed but get great accuracy and high velocity from it.

Your gun (like mine) will have 1-12 twist so you'll have to stay with lighter bullets as a previous poster pointed out. I can shoot the 65 grain Sierra SBT GameKing but accuracy is not that great. I suspect that's about as heavy as you could possibly go.

Your rifle will shine with 52, 53, and 55 grain bullets. Benchmark and Varget are my favorite powders.

Have fun!

 

[thearborbarber]

My Model 70 loves Hornady 60gr HPs

 

[LHS]

I was told on another forum (gasp!!) to use only 40 gr varmint style bullets, but was hoping I could use the 55's and still get good accuraccy.

 

[anomad]

My Handi-rifle has a 1:12 barrel and it will keyhole anything over 55 grains. But it does well with the 50 grain "dogtown" bullets from midway. It also comes with a free screwdriver to use as an extractor.....

Obviously a little lower on the quality scale than a Remington 700....

 

[Engineer1911]

Remington 50 grain hollow point bulk bullets and Accurate Arms 2230 powder. Great accuracy and devastating on prairie dogs. Any reloadable 223 brass will work.

Suggest a load that is 1.5 grains above starting load and after brass is fired in your rifle just neck-size to reload. If you want 3700 fps velocity you should have bought a 22-250. The targets won't know the difference--paper or flesh!

 

[LHS]

Remington 50 grain hollow point bulk bullets and Accurate Arms 2230 powder. Great accuracy and devastating on prairie dogs. Any reloadable 223 brass will work.

Suggest a load that is 1.5 grains above starting load and after brass is fired in your rifle just neck-size to reload. If you want 3700 fps velocity you should have bought a 22-250. The targets won't know the difference--paper or flesh!

Used to have a 22-250. Loved it and it was deadly on groundhogs at 400 yards, but my brother "borrowed" it more than I shot it as my longest field to shoot was 200 yards and his was 500-600. I ended up selling it to him or what I had in it. That was 20 years ago and he still has it!

 

[LHS]

Anybody else?

 

[Rule3]

When I got my Savage Varmint I bought several 50 round boxes of Hornady Varmint ammo on sale just to warm it up and to save the brass.

Do you have the Hornady manual? Just need to experiment with what your rifle likes best. Or what ever bullets you prefer. Hornady seems to have a wide selection and are not expensive. Depends on what shooting you do.

Keep your brass separated for just that gun, trim it and then you can just neck size.

 

[Davwingman]

Seems like the 223 is the 38 special of rifle rounds. Most any load within reason shoots well enough. Bullet selection depends a lot on the intended purpose. Before the lead ban here I shot thousands of ground squirrels with bullets from 40gr. V-max to 55 gr. Sierras & Hornadys. If you want a fur friendly bullet use something like a Sierra 55 gr. or if you just want them dead use the lighter bullets for explosive hits.
Bullet construction,intended purpose & desired velocity determine which load to use.

 

[Rule3]

Seems like the 223 is the 38 special of rifle rounds. Most any load within reason shoots well enough. Bullet selection depends a lot on the intended purpose. Before the lead ban here I shot thousands of ground squirrels with bullets from 40gr. V-max to 55 gr. Sierras & Hornadys. If you want a fur friendly bullet use something like a Sierra 55 gr. or if you just want them dead use the lighter bullets for explosive hits.
Bullet construction,intended purpose & desired velocity determine which load to use.

Yes, depending on the twist rate there is a wide selection of bullets to select from. Of course now there are Zombie loads

Basic 55'ish gr bulk bullets seem to work well for anything.

 

[SMSgt]

Sierra 55 grain BT spitzers will literally explode ground hogs. Range and accuracy is outstanding in my Rem 788.

 

[jrd1976]

I have about 3000 rounds through mine. It is topped with Burris Signature 8X32 scope for prairie dog hunting.

I use the Sierra accuracy load from their reloading manual, with the 50 grain Blitzking and H335. The hunting load sometimes blows primers in my guns in hot weather. I neck size only. The 50 gr will buck the wind better than a 40 or 45gr and shoot flatter than the 55 gr.

My Savage has a faster twist but also shoots the 50gr. very accurately. They both like the 50 gr Hornady VMax, but I prefer the Blitzking for some unknown reason.

 

[armadillo]

I have experimented with more than a dozen different bullets (50-60 grains) in my Rem-700 .223 12" twist. The one it likes best is the Hornady 53 grain HP with any powder I have tried. I had never used this bullet before, but an old timer I met at the range suggested I try it.

 

[4barrel]

700

Picked it up Sunday, deciding this one ( a vbery good sale price!) was better than the Savage AXIS I was waiting on. She has the camo stock and a 1 in 12 twist in her 26" barrel (bolt action).

Love the feel of it, but was wondering what grain bullets will shoot best out of her? I reload pistol and already have an RCBS die set in 223, but waited on buying bullets & Powder.

Anybody out there have one and want to share their best recipe or favorite factory ammo?
Thanks!

I have a 700 bdl bull barrel. I shoot a 55gr. Sierra spitzer with 27gr. of varget or 748. It likes 52s & 53s also. I get depressed if it wont shoot a 5 shot 1" group @ 200 yards. Stay away from fmjs. You will also need a good scope. With a good 6x18 power you can see your bullet holes @ 200 yards. I like to shoot at bullet holes & bugs on a target board.

 

[LHS]

Anybody else have anything they'd like to add?

 

[Homie]

Your Remington promo "Camo Varmint" is basically a great gun, but results vary from gun to gun. My little group of shooters bought 6 of them last year, and they've been shot a lot.
The trigger will go down to 2.5# like the factory says. Check the scope for parallax. If it doesn't shoot well float the barrel. My main complaint is the sloppy firing pin hole in the bolt face- nothing that a $75 bushing job won't fix.
We shoot mostly 40 and 50 Gr. Noslers on PDs. Benchmark, H-335, and the new CFE223 all work well. Stay with Rem. 71/2s. The 40s will go 3800, 50s 3550. Jump the bullets .010-.020. If you experiment enough it should shoot 1/2" sooner or later.

Good shooting.

 

[RussellD]

Hornady 55 SP, Ramshot tac and wolf primers will work well in the 1/12 twist.

 

[M_E_]

Well, with a 1 in 12 rate of twist, you have limited yourself to anything 55 grains or lighter. May want to consider getting a 1 in 8 barrel to shoot heavier bullets for greater ranges. But I think you wont. So, Hornady Amax or Vmax will be your top performers.