223 Bull Barrel Range Report 11-17

[SM Bob]

It was an interesting day at the range today. The range had been closed for the past 3
weeks because of the fire they had in Dulzura. I saw several burned out homes with
nothing left but the chimney and the foundation. There were acres and acres of
total "moonscape". Nothing but dirt and ashes. Luckily the range had no damage to
speak of. They were without power, water and phone for the past couple of weeks.
Anyway, I had loaded up a bunch of 223 ammo to try out in my 223 bull Handi. I
Was using various bullets from 45 grains to 55 grains with Varget and IMR 4895.
I put around 150 rounds through the Handi today. It seemed to prefer the Sierra
45 grain Varminter with 26 grains of IMR 4895.



The bullets I tried were Hornady 50 gr V-Max, Hornady 53 gr match hp, Midway 55 gr
Dogtown sp, Remington 45 gr sp, Winchester 50 gr pp, and the Sierra 45 gr Varminter. It
seems like I have always had good results loading the 223 Remington using IMR 4895. I have
never had good results with any ball powder. I know a lot of people have, I haven't. Towards
the end of the day the Handi was coming unlatched when after I fired it. Time for a thorough
cleaning of the latch area. Both of the powders I was using today (Varget and IMR 4895) burned
extremely clean. I looked down the bore at the end of the day and it looked like I had just cleaned it!
I plan on fine tuning that one load of IMR 4895 and the Sierra 45 gr  Varminter.
One of the interesting things that happened today was I was firing the Handi and I look over
to the guy a couple of lanes down from me and I take a double take at what he is getting
setup to fire.





It was a 30 caliber belt fed Browning Machine gun! It wasn't full auto, only semi auto.
I was talking to the guy for a few minutes. He paid around $700 for it and plans to
restore it. It was pretty damn cool that's for sure! He had it rocking pretty good
later in the morning, even if it only was semi auto it was bad!
 

                                                           Robert

[EVOC ONE]

Your results with the 45 gr and 4895 is close to a load I've been firing in my Handi.  One exception is that I've been using bulk Winchester 46 gr hp from Cabela's.  I've also had good luck using both powders you listed with bulk Remington 50 & 55 gr bullets.  Others here have reported good luck with 4895 in the .223.  Stimpy uses it in his .223. 

That Browning is awesome.  Hmm ... imagine one of those in a Prairie dog town.   

Very sad for all of those folks who lost everything due to the fires.  I hope all works out as good as it can.

[stimpylu32]

SM Bob

IMR 4895 has been my GO-TO powder for my Bull handi in .223 , mine likes the Hornady 55 gr. V-Max followed by the 53 gr. Sierra's . once you get the powder charge right work on bullet seating depth some . took mine from a 3/4" rifle to a 3/8" Tac-driver .

Good report and shooting by the way . 

stimpy

[SM Bob]

Thanks guys! I'll mess with the seating depth some Stimpy and see what happens.

                         Robert

[prairiedog555]

My .223 bull shoots best with 62gr bullets.  I tried 55gr and did not shoot as well.  It really shoots good >1in with 62.  I just got my barrel about 2 mos ago and I must have a 1 in 9 twist.  As I understand it that barrel shoots the heavier bullits best. 

[quickdtoo]

The 1:9" just depends on the bullet, some have had very poor accuracy with 60gr and above, great with 55gr and lighter. Others have had good luck with longer bullets like the 73gr Bergers as one new member recently posted.

Tim

[prairiedog555]

Well Tim,  I guess the only thing you can say for sure about Handi rifles is that they are hard to
Handi-cap.    But you do a pretty good job.
I'm pretty happy with mine.  .308 and .223 bull survivor.