Rock Chucks & the XP

[sixshot]

The Rock Chucks are just starting to come out in my neck of the woods so I decided to go for a little 4 wheeler ride today. In the lower elevations they have been out for a few weeks but it's just been in the last 10 days or so that I've started seeing them here at the 5700 ft. elevation of Soda Springs.
Several of my favorite Lava Reefs were still covered in snow but I could see on some of them where the Chucks had tunneled up through the hard packed snow to reach the surface much like a bear will do in the spring time when their belly tells them it's time for a snack. I know some of the snow was still 3-4 feet deep but they had clawed their way up & were eating some of the fresh green stuff growing where the snow had melted off.
I only spotted 7 & only got one shot but I made it count with my Custom Shop XP100 223 shooting Hornady 40 gr. V Max slugs & a hefty dose of AA2230 powder in military brass. He fell down into a crevice & I couldn't retrieve him. We've all heard the stories of military brass being thicker, of flash holes being off center & all the other stuff related to military brass being inferior to commercial brass. Over the years I've proved to myself several times that it's not always true & this week I had it happen again. In past years I had read where it's thicker (some times it is) but having weighed quite a few now over the years I've found that some commercial brass is heavier. I've filled the cases with water & checked internal capacities also, same results, sometimes the military holds more water, try it yourself.
Anyway, I prepped some commercial Winchester 223 brass, gauged the flash holes, etc. but I didn't neck turn. Then I started testing at 50 yds. I always accuracy test at 50 yds, this allows me to eliminate the wind for the most part which is a real problem on our range. My control load was my AR load of 26 grs. of BLC2 & a 50 gr. TNT HP which shoots very good in my Ruger AR. Each time I shot a test load in the Winchester brass the military brass shot better. Still, I wasn't getting the groups I was expecting out of the Custom Shop gun with a 3X9 Burris on top. I don't know the twist of these CS 223's. On day 4, after trying BLC2, H322 & H335 (one of my favorites) I decided to switch bullets. I went with the Hornady 40 gr. V Max's & another good powder, AA2230 with a CCI 400 primer.
I fired 4 groups (shown) in a heavy, left to right wind at 100 yds. wanting to get 1 1/2" high at that distance. The top group was with the commercial Winchester brass again, the top right was the same load but mixed military brass, then the bottom left was nickel Federal brass but the same load & last was military brass again with the same load. I did make a scope adjustment before shooting the last group but made no adjustment for the left wind, I just held center & all 4 targets.
This is the Custom Shop 223 with their laminated stock & a Burris 3X9 scope, I'll replace it with a 3X12 BP in the next few days. I mount a piece of counter top on the back of my 4 wheeler to use as a table then throw my sand bags on top & set on a folding stool, works great in the field.


This is the 4 groups I fired yesterday using the 40 gr. V Max & AA2230 powder.



Dick

[jsh]

Dick, I have pretty much found the same to be true. When I started IHMSA I was warned not to use LC brass. At that time I was lucky to have had the extra for the TC barrel, let alone new brass. I started off slow and worked the 7TCU loads up slow, as this was the first wild cat I had ever fooled with.
Fast forward several years. I had found the some what thicker necks acted as a bushing of sorts for the generous chamber size often found.
Virgin Federal brass in 223 had not been offered for a long time. Wanting to better things I got a couple hundred pieces of the gold medal match brass. That was the worst brass I ever had. Virgin, necked up to 7mm, with a 4895 fire forming load. Necks would break off and then ya had to get a bore brush in there to pull the necks out. I thought it may have been so thing I did, so I neck sized them, or should say I started to neck size. Broke a neck off in my Redding die in the first handful. Had to send it back to Redding to get it out, that was how I got to know Bruce Mekur. That last of the loaded rounds I could hold onto and push my thumb against the bullet and snap the neck off.
Made 30x221 out of them later on.
Swore off Federal after that.
H335 is a go to powder for me in my 6-223 XP. Blasty and a fireball, but I have of found better results with anything else.
Have not tried 2230. I did buy 32 lbs of the old AA 2200 data powder years back. Still whittling away at it for several calibers.
Buddy has shot a fair bit of CFE223 he is just nuts about it and he was a big benchmark and Varget fan for years.

I have an itch to scratch. Really considering a 20 practical for a spare XP action. Full bull, 14-15" barrel, a rifle scope and see what I think.
Jeff

[snappy]

I think those chucks are in for some trouble!

[nicholst55]

My findings are identical with reference to LC 5.56mm brass. It's generally pretty good stuff, and has a larger powder capacity than a lot of commercial brass. Swaging primer pockets is annoying, but it only has to be done once.

[bigbrowndog]

I have found case weights to be much more consistent with LC brass as well, I use if for all my 223 and 308 family of cartridges. 223/25x45/243/260/308/358, etc.

Trapr

[bulasteve]

I keep waiting to hear that the state of Idaho has put rock chucks, marmots, prairie dogs and ground squirrels on the emdangered list in the 100 sq. miles of a certain small town. Maybe make it illegal to hunt or shoot while wearing Crocs ?

[jfs]

you guys have all the fun.....

[sixshot]

Well I couldn't wear my Croc's yesterday, it was really muddy! This was probably as early as I've ever started, I like to wait until the pups are out but yesterday I just had the bug to get out & whack something. Still too much snow & mud in many places, I'll need another week & then it should be ok.
One thing I didn't mention was that this XP was new, unfired when I bought it a couple weeks back so the first shot fired was at 25 yds. to check the bore sighting. That shot was my AR load of 26 grs. of BLC2 with the 50 gr. TNT, the shot hit almost dead center so I moved to 50 yds. & fired 3 more rounds of the same load using military brass. I was really surprised, it was just a tick over 1/4", actually .263", wow I thought I had hit a home run right out of the gate. Next up was my prepped loads using Winchester commercial brass & several different loads of H335 which is my normal powder in other XP100's in 223. None of them shot like the mixed military brass, bummmer! The next day I'm back with more test loads using the same 50 gr. TNT & BLC2 with the Winchester brass, same results, no good but another surprise, my AR load that had shot 1/4" the day before didn't shoot very good either.
Back to the drawing board using the same bullet & H322 with Winchester prepped cases, again, no good. The AR load that had shot 1/4" on day one was still giving poor results although they were always better than the commercial brass. So now I'm getting mad! I decide to switch bullets & powder & that's when I hit on the 40 gr. V Max & the AA2230 combo & the Custom Shop starting turning in very good groups in some nasty wind. I haven't given up on the TNT's, but now I have a base line to work with & will try & tweak things over the next few days while the snow melts, the mud drys out & the Rock Chuck babies get ready for lead poisoning!

James, get your fanny out here, I'll have another 4 wheeler waiting!

Dick

[cmh]

🖒🖒😊

[awp101]

Mar 22, 2017 13:51:58 GMT -5 sixshot said:

That shot was my AR load of 26 grs. of BLC2 with the 50 gr. TNT, the shot hit almost dead center so I moved to 50 yds. & fired 3 more rounds of the same load using military brass. I was really surprised, it was just a tick over 1/4", actually .263", wow I thought I had hit a home run right out of the gate. - - - The next day I'm back with more test loads using the same 50 gr. TNT & BLC2 with the Winchester brass, same results, no good but another surprise, my AR load that had shot 1/4" the day before didn't shoot very good either.

Any thoughts why the load shot well the first day but not the second?

[sixshot]

No, except that our range can be quite tricky to shoot in and 2-3 tests can be deceiving. Our range faces south which is exactly backwards for ideal shooting conditions, plus we are down in a gravel pit that gets some pretty crazy cross winds. I will shoot some of the AR loads each time I go to the range to see if I can duplicate the first days results. I still haven't run any loads through the clock either, too windy & cold.
I also want to test the TNT's with AA2230 because these bullets are very fragile & I like them on Rock Chucks, Prairie Dogs & Ground Squirrels if the accuracy is there. If I want the very best accuracy I usually get it with Nosler BT's or Hornady V Max slugs.

Dick