Sierra 69 gr MK and powder

IMO varget and the heavier 223 bullets are made for each other. I run the 69 gr SMK over 25.4 gr of Varget out of my Rem 5R with fabulous results.
 
As always it depends on what your rifle likes, Barrel twist rate length of Barrel etc'.
I have a 1 in 9 Twist Barrel on a Kimber Montana and the 69 Grain Sierra HPBT Match king has been the most accurate Bullet for me. Powder load Varget 25.8 grains also get pretty much the same results with IMR 4895 with 24.4 grains. The Match King not necessarily a Hunting bullet but has worked for me on Coyotes and Deer and have killed 3 Hogs with it, 2 of them over 200 lbs. Shot placement is most critical, my rifle loves that 69 Grain Sierra. Good luck and may your bullets fly straight.
 
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In my experience benchmark really shines with bullet weights under 60 gr. varget would be a better place to start for the 69's, but if you can find some H4895 those things will really shine.
 
223, 1-8 twist, 69 gr SMK 25.1 gr Varget with Wolf mag primers for 223 - 5.56 ammo. You might want to try TAC powder with Fed AR match primers. Don't have a load yet for 69 gr SMK but shot really well with 55 gr Blitz King.
 
223, 1-8 twist, 69 gr SMK 25.1 gr Varget with Wolf mag primers for 223 - 5.56 ammo. You might want to try TAC powder with Fed AR match primers. Don't have a load yet for 69 gr SMK but shot really well with 55 gr Blitz King.
 
My best load with the 69 SMK in a Savage 10FP was 26.0 gr of Varget in Federal cases with a Federal primer. It was a very accurate load too.

It was a fairly hot load but it never had pressure problems and it was in one of my books. I don't remember what the velocity was. I did lots of testing with it working my way up.
 
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Good results today with IMR 4895 /69 SMK in my bushmaster varminter...im happy with that group.
 
BCM mid-length with 16" stainless, 1:8 twist barrel. .6 MOA with 25.5gr Varget, WSR primers, and 69 SMK at 2.26" COAL.

Now on to the 65gr GameKings for hunting! I know lots of guys on here like the 69 SMKs for hunting, but I'd like to try the GameKings and see how the accuracy is.
 
Hunting is easy. Load some 70 gr TSXs over some TAC or Varget and go hunting for anything a 223 could possibly kill, and what many 223 bullets can't reliably kill....
 
2muchgun,

I've gone through several boxes of the 70 TSX, 62 TSX, and 62 TTSX trying to get them to work. Never got better than ~1 MOA on anything; I settled on the 62 TSX with Varget for a 200y max deer load but have moved on to the Sierra bullets for yotes and steel. Maybe I'll go back and try the 70 TSX with Varget, never tried that combo. I know that seating them deep (.08 off the lands, COAL 2.18") helped tighten up the 62 TSX.

I really wanted the Barnes bullets to work for some reason! Maybe I'm just being to picky....
 
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I have used both TAC and Varget with 62 and 70 TSXs out of 2 different 223s. All combos work quite well on deer/yotes.

I don't think 1 MOA is too bad for a deer/yote load in a 223. Better is nice, but that is still plenty good for hunting to 600 yds IMO....
 
I'll be loading up test loads for my new Savage 12 with a 26" barrel this weekend and hopefully get to go shoot them sometime next week if the weather permits. I'll be running a full set of test loads with Varget and H4895 with the 69 grain Sierra MK's and I'll try to post full results including chronograph info.
 
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