grade barrel and its 1:8" twist, this bullet would have to shoot well in this configu- ration – at least according to book data with its generated ballistic coefficient of 0.372 at 3,000 f.p.s. Setting up my reloading schedule,
five handloads were selected using a mix of powder brands in the search for the most accurate group out of the Stag Arms AR Super Varminter. With the rifle’s ability to plant three shots touch- ing from a rough field setup, I was very sure that tack driving accuracy would not be difficult to achieve. First up for testing was a handload consisting of 22.6 grains of 4895 compressed under the brand new Sierra 77-grain MatchKing BT bullet. This bullet has been designed by Sierra just for long-range work using the 223 Rem. (5.56 NATO). Loading with Federal once-fired
brass, Federal SM primers, with a finished AOL of 2.260" marking at the bullet’s cannelure, the completed round worked through the Stag Arms magazine without a hitch, and during field application did not fail or jam at any time. Even omitting the final crimp against the cannelure still allowed the handload to function when loaded with a standard RCBS two-die type A set. From my portable bench rest the
first group of three shots downrange produced a 0.734" group at 100 yards. Considering that I was still trying to shoot groups in early spring transition weather, which always brought with it a lot of wind, I was very pleased with the results. With the group shots taken on site
in a good prairie dog town, I simply turned my muzzle farther downrange and sent an additional sample of the 77-grain Sierra at the first large rat I was able to locate with my binocular. Ranged at 387 yards, the big yellow grass rat sat up like a nice dog, and with the crack of the Stag Varmint AR, he simply disappeared in a cloud of red prairie dust. I was shooting on ranch number two which has a prairie dog town that stretched for miles in one direction and at least a mile wide in another. This town allowed me to stretch the long-range AR to its maxi- mum limits. Now all I needed to do was put the project on hold until I got some dead calm mornings for more sending downrange those new 77-grain and Black Hills 68-grain bullets.
The rifle would now be fitted with
a new scope using the Federal ATK Ni- trex brand glass. This scope has a 50mm bell, varmint ultra fine cross hairs with a slight duplex at the center, and has a power range of 6-20x50. With good clear optics, and the added power for push- ing bullets way out beyond the smaller nine power of the previous scope, I was set for the final run in field applications with the Model 6 variant of the Stag Arms product. Bases and rings for the new Nitrex
glass also were a Federal ATK Onalaska product in that the Weaver line of Grand Slam steel rings set up for the flat top Weaver rail on the Stag Model 6 was just the ticket. These rings were “Xtra High,” by Weaver’s definition, and lucky for that as the 50mm bell just cleared the large free-floating barrel fore-end tube on the test rifle. South Dakota being what it is, a
wide open grandstand for rifle testing, the march just pushed on with addi- tional rifles coming at me on an almost
Shooting For Groups Handloads
Load: H4895 22.6 grains, 77-grain Sierra MatchKing .224 cal. bullet. MV : 2,708 f.p.s. Group #1 Group #2 Group #3 Group #4 Group #5
53.100 CUP 0.734" 0.885" 1.324" 0.671" 1.443"
Note: Wind gusting 18 degrees quartering, 15 to 20 mph.
Load: Accurate 2520 24.0 grains, 77-grain Sierra MatchKing .224 cal. bullet MV: 2,740 f.p.s. Group #1 Group #2 Group #3 Group #4 Group #5
1.256" 0.970" 0.884" 1.477" 1.160"
Note: Wind conditions same as above.
Load: Varget 23.7 grains compressed / 77-grain Sierra MatchKing .224 cal. bullet MV: 2,737 Group #1 Group #2 Group #3
50.700 CUP 1.207" 1.538" 0.976"
SHOTdata, 03-12-2008
Description .223 Rem., Sierra M.K. 77 gr. Standard Metro
Bullet Weight (GRS): 77 Effective BC: 0.3720 Zero Range, Yards: 225 Standard BC: 0.3720
Range Velocity Energy TOF Drop Yards Ft/Sec Ft-Lbs Sec
0 50 100
3,000 2,871 2,746
1,538.6 1,409.5 1,289.4
0.0000 0.0515 0.1049
150 2,625 1,177.8 0.1608
2,170 2,064 1,961 1,861 1,764 1,672
804.9 728.1 657.1 591.9 532.2 477.8
0.4123 0.4832 0.5578 0.6364 0.7192 0.8066
Defl. 30 MPH Impact
Ins In/10 MPH Lead Ft Losin 0.0 0.0 0.0
-1.5
0.5 0.3 2.3 0.8 2.1 0.9 4.6 2.1 4.8 1.9 7.1 2.2
200 2,506 1,074.0 0.2193 8.8 3.4 9.6 1.1 250 2,391 977.5 0.2806 14.1 300 2,279 888.0 0.3448 21.0 350 400 450 500 550 600
5.4 7.9
12.3 15.2
29.6 11.0 18.1 40.0 14.6 21.3 52.5 19.0 24.5 67.2 24.0 28.0 84.6 29.8 31.6 104.7 36.4 35.5
www.varminthunter.org
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