I'm getting ready to work up a load for this bullet to shoot out of my AR15, and it does have to fit in the magazine. I played around with it a little bit last year with BLC(2), but it did not prove to be all that accurate. I plan to shoot the rifle in a Tactical Rifle Match that will have targets from 100 to 1000 yards. I know that beyond 500 I'll be lucky to hit the target, but this is the best rifle I have at the moment. It's a Colt HBAR Elite with a 24" stainless tube, free floated, with a Leupold 4.5-14 Tactical. Any help will be much appreciated.

Try 24.5 grs of Varget, lit by a CCI BR primer. (If you load commercial brass, you may be able to go a little higher with the powder charge.)

At 1000 yards, you're gonna be working for your hits, but you seem to realize that so go have fun!

I assume you have the 1:9 twist, so you should be able to even try the 77MK or the 75Hornady HP (not Amax). As mentioned, Varget is great, and RL15 is also a strong powder for heavy bullet 223 shooting. Many Highpower shooters use a Vitavouri powder (can't remember which one). Sierra should be able to help you with specific load data.

Hodgdon shows up to 25.0 gr of Varget behind the 80MK, so that should readily work behind a 69gr. Good luck!

Varget From 19.9 grains to 26.4 grains
Remington 7-1/2 Primer

Sorry, left out the most important part. It is a 1:9 twist. I may try the larger bullets later this year, but right now I have about 700 of the Match Kings sitting on my reloading bench. Thanks for the help.

I've gotten good results with VV N133 in my 700 1:12 and my ArmaLite 1:9 with 52 SMKs. I just got a RRA 1:8 and I'm in the middle of loading up for this Saturday. I'm going to try N133 with the 69s, but I suspect N135 will work better. I will also try Varget. It worked well in the 700, but not as well as N133. BLC2 was a bust for we, as well.

Eddie

Most AR-15 competitors that are shooting at distance are shooting "Service Rifles" with 20" barrels. The 24" barrel on your rifle will give you a nice increase in velocity which will do two things:

1. It will allow you to launch the 69 gr. bullet at higher initial velocity, which will increase the distance it travels before it drops to subsonic.

2. The extra velocity allows you to get away with shooting a slightly heavier bullet in a slower twist barrel. Try the 75 gr. And even the 77gr. and see what happens before you rule them out. The heavier the bullet your gun will stabilize the better off you are when it comes to shooting at distance.

You might be surprised how well your rifle can shoot out to 700 - 800 yrds.

Good Luck !

It also depends stronly on what your elevation is, and to a lesser extent the humidity. The lower the air density, the lower the resistance, the lower the overturning moment on the bullet. At high elevation, high humidity locations, the 75/77's will probably work just fine. At my 5,000 feet, 75's stabilize fine at 3,000 fps. HTH, Dutch.