[Robert Nichols]

Good Morning to you as well. Funny thing. I have a Fatboy Motorcycle (Harley) with a license plate of MYFTBOY. FYI.

Reloading and Marksmanship together are an Art and a Science. When I first started reloading, I just wanted to hear the gun go bang. Over the last 25yrs, I’ve studied enough material to get a degree in it. The more you shoot the better you get, but you have to be able to differentiate the difference between the shooter and the ammo. I have good days and bad days, ammo is the same.

I have found that most all powders fit for a particular caliber can arrive at good ammo. Some can be awesome ammo. However, there are soooo many factors that work together to get those groups down to 1/2 to 1/4 MOA. Remember, 1MOA is damm good shooting. It starts with good components. Let me give you an example. If you take a pile of range brass (different headstamps), size it, prime it, fill it with powder with a load recommended in a manual and top it off with a decent bullet, and then run it through a chronograph, you will find that the velocity varies dramatically ( ~ 150 fps, tested). Now, if I buy Nosler, Norma or Lapua in bulk, separate cases by weight and run-out (case neck thickness), uniform the primer pockets and flash holes, seat the primer .002 from flush, use some high end bullets, choose a bullet profile that works well in your barrel, perform ladder testing at .2 to .3gr increments to find the velocity node (which means the spot that has a dramatically reduced velocity spread), and find the seating depth the produces the best accuracy, you will arrive at ammo that has the capability to shoot 1/4 MOA with velocity spread of 15fps and a STD 4.4. The difference between these two sets of ammo is that you can put them both in a vise and shoot them at 500yds and the first group will string vertically (8 to 10 inchs) and the second will be 1/4 to 1/2 MOA. Thats just taking the shooter out of the equation. You also have to have the right tools to measure things.

That said. I bought the RMR 69gr bullets because of the price. I developed the load I mentioned with 69gr SMK. It shot exceptionally well. People use the SMK because it shoots very well in most rifles, and that’s because it has a forgiving, Tangent, bullet profile. I dont know what the bullet profile is for the RMRs, but it looks like its closer to Tangent??? I will have to test for accuracy and compare the two. Keep in mind that the rifles I am talking about above are high end long distance rifles that I built for that purpose. The 5.56, AR 15, is not build for accuracy. Its designed to get a lot of high velocity rounds down range fast. If you get a AR 15 to shoot 1 MOA, call it a day and move on with your life.

[Robert Nichols]

I posted this earlier in the tread, but in case you didnt see it, here it is again.

The go to load has been 25.70gr of Win 748 (from Ladder Testing), seated to 2.260, with CCI450 (needed to get 748 going). Cases are Lake City 16 sorted to 92.0-92.4gr. I shot several 10rd strings through my CED Chronograph with the following results (avg) 2888fps, STD = 7.7, ES 27. Rifle is a BCM with 20″barrel. Shoots pretty tight groups ~ 0.5-1.0MOA. Only negative is 748 is fairly dirty, but rifle functions just fine (based on thousands of these rounds through this rifle).

The load is fairly well known and has been published in a few places (Ziedker). It was actually 25.5gr, as published, with a 69gr SMK. I just did ladder testing and my node came out to be 25.70, but I did note that 25.40 was almost as good. If you use WIN 748 anywhere in that range you cant go wrong. FYI, Im using a scale with +/- 0.02gr accuracy and weight sorted fully prepped cases, and yes, it makes a difference.

[Robert Nichols]

I have used the 69gr Sierra MK or Nosler CC for years. I tested some Priv Partizan in 69 gr as well. I then found these, in stock, during the thing they called a pandemic, and they worked great. The go to load has been 25.70gr of Win 748 (from Ladder Testing), seated to 2.260, with CCI450 (needed to get 748 going). Cases are Lake City 16 sorted to 92.0-92.4gr. I shot several 10rd strings through my CED Chronograph with the following results (avg) 2888fps, STD = 7.7, ES 27. Rifle is a BCM with 20″barrel. Shoots pretty tight groups ~ 0.5-1.0MOA. Only negative is 748 is fairly dirty, but rifle functions just fine (based on thousands of these rounds through this rifle).

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