Sierra 69g HPBT Matchking, First test Results. 

Fee_ Lo ...Hi thanks for the comment and checking out the video, I definitely can’t argue with your statement Sometimes as reloaders we always strive to develop our loads to squeeze out as much accuracy and speed as we can manage while keeping within safe parameters , and also maintaining good brass life , that is sound advice Fee_Lo I appreciate the comment 👍

Hey Bill , thanks for checking out the video and leaving a comment most appreciated , I think this wasn’t to bad a type of ladder test in terms of seeing what sort of accuracy and also establishing chronograph data without using a whole bunch of rounds in the process, I think once you have a accuracy node along with good numbers then I think it stands a pretty good chance for longer range shots after that as long as nothing changes in terms of neck tension or bad powder drops and the Nut behind the Butt does his job those targets should be a ringing...well that’s the theory...lol ..all the best G.😁👍

Hi Ronald, thanks for checking out the video and leaving a comment, I have found that 24.5-25g seems to be about as much as I would drive them at , when I was using Varget the powder charge was 25.9g and speed was 3,080fps which is at the top end and there were never any issues, but then Varget wasn’t available here anymore so I switched to the N140 which is a little temp sensitive so between summer and winter there would be I would say about 40-50fps difference so you can tune the load accordingly and have 2 charges within your ballistic app for the different times of year or add a few more clicks on the scope for the drop , with seating depth I have them at 1.960 my barrel has been throated for at least a 70g bullet so I can seat them comfortably long maybe not so good for people who have had their barrels throated for 55-65g bullets that’s also something to bare in mind and also with people using small roomed magazines, hope this helps and please let me know how you get on would like to see the results with a video if possible all the best G. 😁👍

Hi JP, oooh 82g that’s a decent size chunk of bullet my man lol how many grains can you fit under that thing , is that single fed or crushed to magazine length any problems with doughnuts or do you have a decent throat length, how is the speed through that 28in barrel.

@@GianniG55 single shot target action. The barrel was chambered for this bullet . My charges can be north of 25gns. 24.6 is go to load for now. I'll continue testing in the spring

JPquad that sounds awesome, get some videos up I would love to see it in action and to checkout the build... come on share the love 😁👍

Thanks buddy 😁👍

24886544 ...hahah Ninja mode love it , still kinda funny though as my last testing with the 69g Tipped matchkings which I redid in August at only 25g came out at 3,008 FPS and may have been due to warmer conditions, so there is the possibility of them picking up speed too which I will have to account for in summer so 25.4 might very well be best left where it is , cheers for the comment buddy 😁👍

@@GianniG55 GianniG Yeah I'd agree that the temp will have a contributory factor to speed, I'm a total dorky novice but from what I've read & researched the cold will effect speed so in the weather where you strip off the flex the GG tan I'm sure speeds will be knocking at the door of 3k 👍🏻

24886544 lol ... yeah varget probably was a bit more temperature stable in summer and winter so I never really had to factor that in too much. 👍

Hi Mojo , thanks for checking out the video I appreciate it, glad you are enjoying your new reloading hobby I still think it’s satisfying to reload for your own rifle and have a understanding of components and harmonics it’s a great sport/hobby, as for the time delay as to when the bullet reaches the target when I line up the two film clips I like to leave a couple of seconds so when the viewer is looking at the shooter they have enough time to then glance over to the target cam in order to see the bullet form the group otherwise you tend to miss all the detail from watching one window box to the other, hope that makes sense to you ? Thanks for leaving a comment cheers G. 👍

Hans the distance is 100 yards, and thanks for checking out the video 😁👍

@@GianniG55 Thanks!

Hi, I’ve not tried the 70g RDFs May have a look at those at some point , I do believe the builder throated the barrel for around the 70g mark as I was keen to shoot the 69s Sierra”s and have also shot the 70g Bergers when I first got the rifle, but I would like to see what the RDFs can do too as I do enjoy reloading and challenging myself to try different bullets especially when I see others trying to develop a difficult bullet it’s always nice if you can find a decent load for it , thanks again for looking cheers G👍😁

GianniG My throat is about 60 thous shorter than yours (based on the data you previously gave with the 69TMK at 1.9555 bto... I loaded mine at 1.895 bto) I have a hard time reloading with varget because I miss case capacity and run quickly overpressure...Question: does the vh-140 fills the full case just like the varget or it got spare room? The RDFs are great bullets believe me!

Martin , with Varget I used 25.9g but switching over to N140 I use less powder though I found on quite hot days 25g would give me 3000fps /plus and like in this video on colder days it was about 50fps slower at 25.4g so this winter I may redo the winter load or just keep it at that speed not sure yet , or just use both speeds one for summer and one for winter shooting it’s no big deal , depends on how much I want to tinker about..lol 😁

GianniG thanks for the input! I might try the N-140...25.9 of varget! At 24 I stopped...2800 fps was the top for me. I should take my rifle to a gunsmitch and ask him to recut my throat longer!🤔 Thanks again

No worries Martin let me know when /if you get it recut I would be interested in having a look how you get on cheers 👍

Chris I wish we had some snow I love it, lol thanks for the temperature conversion too, the calibre is .223 Rem. the primers are Federal gold match 205.

@@GianniG55 30 degrees and snow is fun... 18 degrees not very fun

Don’t think I can argue with that lol 😁

My results have moved on since making this video, and have them shooting sweetly with a little bit of tweaking, glad you are happy with your load and thanks for sharing.

@@GianniG55 I’m sure they have since I’m just noticing this video is 3 years old. It’s a gem and I’m glad I stumbled upon your channel.

Thanks Leonardo most appreciated 👍

Hi thanks for checking out the video, normally when you find the right barrel harmonics the chrono will tell you if the combination is correct, I try to get both accuracy and low ES to work together hopefully lol 😁👍

Hi and thanks for checking out the video, I have had some great results with my final tune since that video , and they are still performing very well, I know that some people are having some good results from using a tuner whether that’s using a factory barrel or even a custom barrel which that is ( it’s a shillen ) I just haven’t had the need for one , a while back when I was using Varget powder for my previous loads I shot 2 groups , the first was a 3 shot group that measured 0.273” minus the bullet diameter of.224 = 0.049” which just looked like one hole lol and the second was a 5 shot group was measured 0.359” minus bullet diameter = 0.135” so I know the rifle is capable sometimes it comes down to the shooter lol 😂

@@GianniG55 it would be nice to see a video on say 4 or 5 different tuners/brake and compare results with prices vs. performance on factory barrels as the variance is much greater on those.

@@DLN-ix6vf yes it would be interesting to see the results, although there are shooters out there that can also buy a tuner hoping that it would shrink there grouping but still could be doing bad load development , which sometimes a tuner just can’t put right but I’m always open minded, and then again I’ve also witnessed shooters shoot a smaller group with a chronograph stuck on the end of their barrel but then shoot a bigger one once they took it off , so barrel harmonics can be some what frustrating lol , and then there is thick barrel over skinny barrel ya-da ya-da it’s certainly a rabbit hole lol.

@@GianniG55 true but after shooting approx. 500 rds. I found first you should find a good load without the tuner/brake. No sense in using chronograph for this. Next duplicate the case , bullet & load and shoot at 15 - 1" targets as Harrels has 15 major stages/full revolutions 5-shot grps. Repeat 2 or 3 times and you should find at least 3 maybe 4 small grps. and then pick the lowest # and stick with it. Doing all of the above there is a major grp. spread between 2600 , 2800 & 3000 fps. This test will take 3 to 4 tuner/brakes and at least 600 to 900 rds. of ammo. Very costly unless people will loan you their tuner/brakes and you reload yourself. :) At the end of this the manufacturers will either drop their prices to match Harrels or pay you not to RU-vid your video.

@@DLN-ix6vf yeah I guess that is a heck of lot of shooting and for some depending on what calibre can burn through a barrel relatively quickly , I guess it comes down to what level of accuracy do you want to achieve and what discipline do you want to shoot in before you are content.

Lol I know it can be so annoying sometimes it doesn’t do it all the time when I have rounds in there but when there is just one it can just drop onto the mag, but I had to cut the spring as it was too powerful and would dent my cases when ejecting them which drop me more nuts lol , I may have cut the spring a hair to short , but sometimes if I draw the bolt back quicker it can spit them out ok but I should look for a longer spring but one that is weaker than the original, thanks for the comment G.

@@GianniG55 great shooting tho

@@2legit89 Thanks buddy.

steyrman2 I did mention in the vid that the cases were 6 time fired and can also add that they have been annealed too, I don’t weigh my bullets anymore I measure base to ogives with a comparator only now.

Hi Bobby , the barrel length is 24 inches.

@@GianniG55 thanks!

Lol I was having trouble with my cases being dented by how they were being ejected out of the chamber because the spring was too powerful so I ended up cutting two or more coils off but sometimes if I try to eject too slowly they fall as you were seeing in the video, so may need to look at a alternative to try and find a happy medium .

steyrman2 lol a few people have mentioned that before, it is intentional I shortened the extractor spring so that the cases did not go flying all over the place I can have them drop into the magazine well or if I pull back more quickly they will drop beside me.

Nothing like losing brass in the middle of the night I call it controlled extraction

steyrman2 damn it I should have called it that lol and yes that is definitely one of the reasons lol .😁👍

Hey , hi bill what type of magazine is that ? Does it have a plastic insert if so some material can be removed like I showed in one of my earlier videos simply by using a Dremel tool of a small file the magazine I use is the steel Accurate Mag which has a plastic insert which makes it easy to remove a very small amount of material from the top right hand section where the tip of the bullet goes it’s so simple, but I don’t know what your magazine is actually like but the magazines which have the plastic inserts can be some what adjustable with issues like this, although 40 thousands is not a huge amount there can be some possibilities or compromises, hope this helps Bill..? All best cheers Gianni.

@@GianniG55 It has been very hot here in NV. +100. Just removed some material from my Legacy after market magazine. The best I could come up with is a c.b.t.o. of 1.920 to 1.913. my bullet to lands is 1.988, that gives me a off the lands of .068 to .075.. Best group of .500 @ 50 yd. using CFE.with 25.3 gr. Legacy magazine does not have much plastic to remove. Kind of cheep oh well.

Hey bill , I’m not how much throat length you have in that rifle but would think it would accommodate at least up too a 70g bullet unless it has been throated only up too a 60/65g bullet which I would have thought was doubtful as factory rifles tend to have fairly long throats, is there no other after market magazine you could buy to fit the magazine well? Or even change the bottom metal which has a magazine that can be purchased with it.

I’m sorry are you asking a question or demanding an answer to a question???

@@GianniG55 My apologies. Had some problems posting. Would like to know your rifle's barrel twist -- but certainly not demanding. I've had some difficulty finding twist on several sites. Also, reloading manuals often limit their load to only one twist, i.e. 1:12 for 223. I have a 1:9 & a 1:7. Wish I had a formula to convert the data. Really liked your video and definitely admire your marksmanship.

Jeff Hi , sorry for being funny about your question I’m only too happy to help it’s just sometimes when ask something without even a hello it does kinda piss me off lol, anyway back to your question I do say at the end of the video that the shilen barrel is a 1.9 twist , so with that twist the max weight I shoot is 69-70g bullets I believe it was throated for around the 69g so 70g is no problem either, I have shot quite a lot of the Sierra 55g spitzer boat tails and have had some good results too as shown in some of my other videos, obviously there is going to be a jump to the lands and I do sit the bullet as far as I can get a way with while still keeping safe , now there is a choice that if you only want to shoot Varmint rounds then I guess a 1.12 twist should be fine for bullets 40g -60g but I wanted to shoot heavier bullets like the 69 or 70g some people had had some decent results with 75-80g with a 1.8 twist but you would be best to throat the barrel for them so your not losing to much case capacity and also with seating the bullet to far down you may well run into doughnut issues all depends on what you like shooting really , for me I like a bit of everything with my .223 so with a 1.9 I can do quite a bit with the different bullet choices , the Sierra 69g HPBT and 69g TMKs have hit steel at 800 yards without issues and knocked off golf balls from spikes at 500 yards and have taken a lot of vermin with the 55g too , only telling you that so you can understand that that there is plenty of fun you can have when you set your mind to it and the right twist , hope this helps cheers G.

If you read the description it says Vihtavuori N140.