I decided to try somthing other than partitions this year for my wife's .223. I went with Barnes TSX 53gr bullet. I havent done much load development, but I just cant get them to group. At 50 yds I am getting random groupings of 2.5inches to 3 inch groupings. Does anyone have a load recomendation?

BTW
I am using a Barnes .224 53gr bullet with 26.7gr of Varget

I have shot the same bullets through my a-bolt medallion, and @100yds I got 1" groups, some as large as 1.250" these were 3 shot groups. That is good enough for a deer but I get alot better results with 60gr partitions and 55gr sp both resulting in .500" to .750" 3 shots. Barnes recommends touching the lands I always set them .010 off lands and went with that. I used 27g of H4895 or 27.5g of RE15.

quote:

Originally posted by thecanadian:
I decided to try somthing other than partitions this year for my wife's .223. I went with Barnes TSX 53gr bullet. I havent done much load development, but I just cant get them to group. At 50 yds I am getting random groupings of 2.5inches to 3 inch groupings. Does anyone have a load recomendation?

BTW
I am using a Barnes .224 53gr bullet with 26.7gr of Varget

I just bought those exact bullets for my 22-250 using Varget. TERRIBLE groups. Next I am going to try more "jump" (0.050" off lands) as that seems to be the consensus for this bullet. We'll see what happens. I'll report once I try this. I have also read where they like to be shot rather hot.

I tried the 53 grain TSX in my 22-250. I loaded 38.0 grains of H-380 and a three shot group was well over a inch at 100 yards.

So I loaded 39.0 grains of H-380 with the same bullet and COL and it now shoots a 3 shot group @ 100 yards .41. It just need more speed to stabilize the bullet. Just my .02 cents worth.

Steve

I haven't tried any TSX's in that caliber but all of the ones I have tried seem to work best between .030-.050" off the lands. In 223, we have been using either 63gr Sierra's or 55gr TBBC's depending on the area being hunted. A friend of mine had the TBBC's and they would not shoot in his rifle. I have a couple of rifles that shoot well with them and the same POI as the Sierra's.

If you twist is 1-14 this may be why you are getting big groups. I think you need to be shooting them in a 1-9 twist.

Canadian, the TSX are more sensative to your choice of powders then the typcial cup and core bullet.

Next time out, choose 4 or 5 different powders. Load each with the minimum load, and enough for one group each. If that first group is over 3 inches, that's it, you are done with that powder, move on to the next one. Usually one will give you a sub-moa group, and that the one choose to continue your load work.

I don't load alot of Barnes bullet, but when I do, I've found this to be the least frustrating method to find a load.

As others have said, seat them a bit deeper than a cup-&-core bullet.

I usually start at COL, then go deeper. Also, you may have to try different powders to get accuracy.

In my 270Win, I wanted to use RE22, because I got 3,200+fps with it. However, I had horizontal stringing with all powder charges. I went to H4350 and H4831SC and got great accuracy with both, but I lost 50-75fps.

quote:

Originally posted by hammer2506:
Barnes recommends touching the lands I always set them .010 off lands and went with that.

This is absolutely FALSE. Barnes recommends starting the bullets at 0.050" off the lands and then adjusting to 0.030-0.070" off the lands once a powder and charge has been selected.

quote:

Next time out, choose 4 or 5 different powders. Load each with the minimum load, and enough for one group each. If that first group is over 3 inches, that's it, you are done with that powder, move on to the next one. Usually one will give you a sub-moa group, and that the one choose to continue your load work.

This is an interesting thought regarding the use of the lowest charge and 3 inch group being a sign that it isn't the powder for your rifle.

I'll need to go back and look at some of my powder selections during load development and see if there is any trend with your assumption.

I use 70gr TSX with AA2230. Accuracy and speed been good!! If yout twist can deal with it give it a try!