Hornady Superformance .223 Speed Test

venatic

venatic

Well-known member
For all you folks that came to the Predator Master Hunt in Las Cruzes you may have gotten some of the new Hornady Superformance 53gr .223 ammo because PM gave away a bunch of it..." A Big Thank You Hornady for that Donation"
Well I was lucky enough to get two boxes and I shared one with a good friend and decided that with the other box I would do a mini testing for speed from different barrel lenths since that question gets asked quite a bit and it would also answer the question just how super is the Superformance.
I currently have 4 .223's but two Dtech's have 20" barrels so took one along with a Savage Predator w/22" barrel and a Remington 700 w/26" barrel to the range with the Hornady Superformance and the closest/hottest .223 load I had.
My hand-load is the 52gr Berger- 25.4gr of VV133 with a Rem 7.5 primers.Realize that this load is for one specific rifle but was safe in all guns that I shot it in but may not be in yours as it is a close to max load.
I took a local PM member to the range with me as he purchased a brand new Savage Predator that morning and wanted to get it sighted in before heading to West Texas on a week-end predator hunt. That is another whole story unto itself and maybe Seth will post about it later upon his return.

Results were impressive in my opinion.

DTech w/20" barrel 1/8 twist

Reload- 3273fps
Hornady 3276-3256-3259 3 shot group .248

Savage Predator w/22" barrel 1/9 twist/WITH NIKON PREDATOR SCOPE

Reload-3363fps
Hornady 3375-3384-3384fps 3 shot group .530

Remington 700 w/26" 1/12 twist barrel

Reload- 3490fps
Hornady 3463-3472-3481fps 3 shot group .295

I have not shot any animals but I know that a couple of folks were using this ammo on the PM hunt and it worked fine on the few coyotes they shot but I did not ask about pelt damage.
From my VERY limited test this is pretty dang good stuff when you can take 3 rifles and they all shot the Hornady Superformance into sub MOA... not too shabby IMO. I will also mention and notate that the Savage Predator I used a 3-9 Nikon Predator scope and with the type target I was using its not so conducive to tiny groups because this gun is capable of more accuracy than the scope can produce.

Hope this was helpeful. I am such a slow typer its painful to get long-winded.
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Almost forgot the target.
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Good test.. I dont see the 200 fps advantage that the Manufacturer advertises, but it would be nice to see a side by side comparison of other factory ammo, and see the results.
 
I have tried them in my Bushy O.R.C and they have been very impressive accuracy wise, infact I probably will not reload for this rifle...the accuracy, I don't think I can match.

I have a total of one and only one kill so far with them. No pelt damage on that one. However keep in mind that it was a center punch in the chest as she was looking at me at 80yds. Here is a pic, tiny entrance, no exit.

jay009.jpg



Chupa
 
Originally Posted By: Orneryolfart357Good test.. I dont see the 200 fps advantage that the Manufacturer advertises, but it would be nice to see a side by side comparison of other factory ammo, and see the results.

My thinking when playing around with this was to see how my much advantage my highest velocity load( with closest bullet weight)would have over the Superformance stuff. I have checked some 55gr factory ammo and it varied from 3100 to 3250fps from 22" barrels. So compared to that one brand the Hornady seems to be faster for sure but that ammo was very accurate as well. But as a reloader more times than not I have been able to get a little more speed than factory ammo.In this case I really cannot "speed-wise" out perform factory enough to make a difference.
 
I see what you mean. If you get the same, or close speed and the accuracy of hand loads from Bullets not really taylored for that particular rifle, thats a good selling point.
 
One more bit of additional information. As noted above I gave one box of the Hornady Superfomance to a friend from Mississippi and he called me yesterday evening and said that so far it was the most accurate factory ammo in his new DTech .223. His is a 18" barreled 1/10 twist Shilen.
 
David I just bought 2 boxes of the 50 grain superperformance for my 222 and I'm going to try them out and see how they shoot in that old Rem of mine. I think they should improve the groups I'm getting over those factory Rem 50 grain SP ammo. I will also see how they do pelt wise on some grey fox and report back to you guys. Take care Seth
 
N+133 give some impressive velocities(100-150fps fastester than Benchmark), if the Superperformance can keep up with N-133, it is a great powder indeed!

Great write up, and a big thanks!
 
Originally Posted By: unloadedWhats odd is Hodgdon is selling this powder but they don't list data for .223Rem You shoulda took one apart and weighed the charge, LOL.

http://www.hodgdon.com/PDF/SuperLever.pdf

peace.
unloaded
The reason is that the powder they use in the .223 ammo isn't the same as what has been released. I would be willing to bet that soon you will see a second superformance powder release.
 
Originally Posted By: rdsii64Originally Posted By: unloadedWhats odd is Hodgdon is selling this powder but they don't list data for .223Rem You shoulda took one apart and weighed the charge, LOL.

http://www.hodgdon.com/PDF/SuperLever.pdf

peace.
unloaded
The reason is that the powder they use in the .223 ammo isn't the same as what has been released. I would be willing to bet that soon you will see a second superformance powder release.

I too would bet its not the same stuff. The Superformance powder is probably too slow burning for a 53gr bullet and is why its not listed by Hodgdon. I would buy some if they release it.
 
I hate to be the one that cry's sour grapes, but after all the hype, I wanted to try this wonder ammo. I had tried the superformance in another caliber and was disappointed but thought I would try again in my 223's. Ones an R-15 and the others a Tikka T-3. The R-15 shoots pretty consistant 1/2 to 5/8 5 shot groups at 100yds with handloads. The superformance shot around 1 1/2 inchs. I also had a pierced primer. The Tikka produced a solid 1/2 inch groups with 60 grain V-max and 8208 powder. With the superformance, it was a very spread out 3 inch group. I am a huge fan of Hornady bullets, just wish the Superformance ammo would have worked for me.
 


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