Hi guys. I have a 110 tactical 223 that I just traded for. I shot some black hills ammo to do some scope sight in. I shot a couple of groups with some 55 gr hornady sp. Nothing great, i was kind of disapointed. I tried some 55 gr SPSX hornadys. These were loaded with 26 gr of H335. The bullets never hit the paper. Then I saw them, they were blowing up about 18 to 20 feet in front of the rifle. When I looked at the muzzle the bore was horrably copper fouled. Can you tell me what happened? Thanks

too hot of a load for that twist of rifling?

try backing off on poweder charge 3 or 4 grains.

And, depending on the twist you may want to use heavier bullets.

Tungsten bullets are noted for disintegrating at even moderate velocities, but these were lead core, correct?



VR
Earl

Savage uses a 1-9" twist and is supposed to shoot heavier bullets best. Having said that, my FP10 shoots in the .2's with 55 gr. Nosler BT's and a bit lighter load than the one you are shooting.

My barrel fouled quite heavily for the first 30-50 rounds but smoothed up and now is one of my least fouling barrels.

Did you check for fouling before you fired it? Could be the previous owner never removed fouling before getting rid of it.

If it were mine, I would clean it until there is NO copper in the bore and give it another chance.

quote:

I tried some 55 gr SPSX hornadys. These were loaded with 26 gr of H335.

I would also back off on your load. Hodgdon #26 lists 25.3 gr. as maximum load for 55 gr. bullets.

Give the Nosler BT's a try and slow them down a bit to decrease bullet rpm and let us know what happens.

Regards,
hm

I've posted this many times before...but not everyone sees it...

your problem is not your powder charge.. actually with H 335, you can run it higher, than 26.5 grains....

however, not with ANY SPSX Hornady's... they even state in all of their literature that it is not meant for fast twist barrels...

An SPSX will take up to 180,000 Rpms...

The formula for figuring out a bullets rpms is as follows...

RPM = 720 x MV/ Rate of Twist....

A Savage with a one in 9 twist, with the load you indicated, I have figured out turning about 272,000 Rpms out of your barrel, when 180,000 rpms is about redline for that bullet....

Keep away from the SPSXs in your Savage... pretty much all other varmint bullets will work fine... you may want to test Speer's 50 grain TNT first before loading up a batch of them, but they work fine in my 223s, with a fast twist...

What you describe above, my same experiences showed the bullets vaporizing about 12 to 18 inches out of the barrel...

Try some Blue Box Black Hills with 55gr SP. My Savage LE1 flat loves them. The fast twist is meant for heavier and strurdier bullets than the SX's. 50gr V Maxes work very well too.

My Savage 12FV has never blown up a bullet mid flight. I agree about the copper fowling improving as you go, I rarely clean mine anymore.

These bullets worked well in MINE, may work for you;
69 Sierra Match King
52 Hornady BTHP Match
50 Speer TNT
55 Hornady bulk
55 Midsouth Varmint Nightmare

2 brands of 55 fmj made it to the target, but struck like lightening- never in the same place twice.

What Seafire said. This is a bullet problem. SPSXs are designed to expand even with slow twist barrels and/or low velocity. You'd have to slow them down to something around 2200 fps not to blow them up with a 1:9 twist barrel.

It also sounds like your barrel needs a good scrubbing, but that may or may not be related to the SPSXs.

LWD

Thanks guys. I didn't know that the twist was
1-9. The barrel was clean I did that before I went, and the gun was never shot as far as the guy knew I got it from.
I plan on trying some more 55's and maybe some 60's. Any favorite loads? Thanks Ron

My FP10 shoots in the .2's with near maximum load of H335 & 55 gr. H335 in WW brass & CCI SR primers. Usual warning, start low & work up.

Regards,
hm

Mine likes the Wolf Ammunition 223 Remington 62 Grain Jacketed Hollow Point Steel Case. Bullets touch at 100 yards, if I carefully shoot. Give these a try.
Jeff

My savage loves 60 grain vmaxes with a good stiff charge of varget. Im actually working them back up as I had to change brass types recently. It was 26.2 grains in a federal case. Winny cases much more tight inside.

i have been using aa2230 and 2015 and been getting .45 inch groups with 50 bt,winchester cases and primers.and a chrnyed velocity around 3200 at 10 feet
im goin to try the 55 and 60 vmax and bt now