Safety/accuracy concerns 75 grain Hornady A max moly

Devon County Shooter

Well-Known Member
Evening all,
I'm looking to shoot the above bullet through the following rifle.

.223 Remmington Steyr Pro Hunter mountain
20 inch barrel, 1 in 9 twist

Apart from magazine issue will the rifle stablize the bullet out to 500yds?

As I only see this bullet in the Hornady manual .223 service rifle section, will it be safe for me to use?

I have no load data at present and will have to have to look into C.O.A.L.

If you have any data then please share?

Regards

Carl.
 
Been experimenting today with the general physics of the weapon system.

The magazine is a no go as the bullets are far too long (was expecting this).

If I try and place the round in through the ejection opening to lay on top of the mag I then get issues with the round catching and not chambering properly.

If the round isn't fired and I eject it, the complete cartridge will be too long to clear the ejection port.

Ideally I would like to seat the bullet just of the lands like I do with other bullets. Would it be safe to seat the 75 grain A max deep, I may get higher pressures but at least I can chamber them correctly from the magazine and they will eject as wel?. If they are well back from the lands will this cause issues?

Any way I think I'm pushing the limits to much here. I'm still not sure if the rifle will stabilise the bullet. These bullets really belong in a bench rest action in my opinion.

Thoughts?
 
i shoot hornady 75grn tap (it's a match type hollow point) through mine it's 1-8 20" tube the rounds cycle and eject perfectly
 
I'm thinking the 75 grain A-Max bullet will be marginal in that 1:9 twist -especially if you're required to reduce case capacity by deep seating the bullet in the .223 case. Just my general feel for it. Might work OK.

Where did you find "moly" bullets. I would avoid them. To many reports of screwed up accuracy when trying to return to general copper bullets. Dealers in the US can't give them away.~Muir
 
Its great that some manufacturers offer fast twist barrels on their 223 rifles so shooters can use heavy bullets but i find it a total lack of forethought that they dont equipe thses rifle with magazines and ejection ports, to suit the increased OAL of cartridges loaded with heavy long bullets.

Ian.
 
Moly coating,have seen some discussion on corrosion beneath the deposits in barrels.
And there are some more discussions that the claim is a load of tosh... One thing I willl say is that cleaning post moly is a bit of a pain but it does come off eventually.

I've used moly coated bullets and they do go faster, 123gr 6.5mm scenars were about 200fps faster for the same given load without the moly.

To the OP, if you can get the 75gr going fast enough then your twist shouldn't be a problem. On the other hand, my tupence is that if it is keyholing (and I mean keyholing, not clover leaf) at 100yds it won't work to 500yds.

Chamber length may be an issue but these things typical have a long tangent ogive so you can load them quite long before they actually engage the lands. An OAL gauge, such as the one made by Hornady, and a comparator would be useful in finding the max length before engagement.

What are you planning on using these for? I ask as there are good bullets in the 69gr range, and you won't have any issues with those.

P.S. I have load data for this, no COL, just powders. PM me with your powder choice and I'll send data.
 
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I agree. Corrosion under the residual moly isn't much of an issue but getting the dammed moly out of the barrel is. A good friend of mine is an accomplished NRA 600M High Power Rifle shooter and he has a match-grade barrel & upper receiver for an AR-15 that he "retired" after being unable to transition from the moly bullets he was shooting to standard, uncoated bullets while maintaining a reliable degree of accuracy. He gave me a 308 bolt rifle to play with that had been shot with moly bullets from its building, to see if I could figure out how to get the residual out. I got a lot of it gone but it continued to toss a wild flier from an otherwise sterling group after several hundred rounds. Not horrible from a hunting standpoint ( 3.5" out of a 200M group that was shooting 1.2" for the other 9 shots.) but a real score killer for competition shooting. I eventually gave the rifle back and have no idea what became of it. My friend gave away all his moly-match bullets because he just didn't see any practical value to them. I avoid them, which is easy as US dealers really don't stock them much anymore.~Muir
 
If you are not stuck on the A-max have a look at the sierra 69 grn SMK, an excellent bullet which shoots rings round the 75s in my rifle (T3 Varmint 1:8). Will fit in your magazine and will cycle in your factory chamber. Failing that, I have some A-max if you want them :thumb:
 
I suggest you get hold of Laurie Hollands series of articles in target sports on heavy bullets in .223. If you cant, then PM Laurie on this site he is the most helpful of chaps.

As I type I have a box of 75grn Amax, moly next to me, states 1:9 twist. They shoot well out of my 1:8.

You will need to be careful to what cases you use, as case capacity and load compression will be an issue. You really need to use Lapua cases.

Also you may have issues with popped primers if you use standard CCI. Remmy 7.5s are harder and better. May need Remmy 7.5s BR's.

As I have a remmy 700 in an AICS I use a modified .308 mag and as such have no issues with loading longer .223 bullets.

You will have to give some thought to powder selection/availability.

If you want pm me with your no and I will run your spec through my Quik load.


From Lauries article, 75 A max 23.5 to 24.5 grn Varget 100yd gp average 0.54", be warned no two rifles are the same.

As for molycoated bullets.

My shooting mate swears by them, and when another mate got his new 30_06 we molycoated the barrel prior to use. The accuracy of this particular rifle is outstanding.

I cannot comment further.

D
 
Just got my reloading data book out. My COL is 2.484, measured off ogive 1.960, load at 1.950. Loaded some with Vit N140 23.5-26 gns.

D
 
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