77 Grain Match King Loads

COL is 2.54 (based on the Sierra manual)

I'm going against my own advice bc I can't fit enough stick powder behind the 80 & 90 gr bullets and TAC is tight enough that I'm hoping to get the velocity I need. If it doesn't work I am SOL at 1,000y but I see guys online shooting the heavy bullets that fast so I figured it's worth trying.

Don't know why you say you can't "fit enough stick powder behind the 80 & 90 gr bullets". This is wrong. Varget is a compressed load and with the Sierra 80's I loaded 24.5 grains. These were shot from 6.5 and 7.7 twist barrels, .010 to .020 off the lands. Mainly used at 600 yards but when my kid was thirteen or fourteen he shot it at a regional at Quantico (in a new RR) and he beat all the shooters from the AMU at 1000. Came home with the coaches business card and was told to call when he was old enough.

Want more velocity, go with Rel 15.

I swiched to 90's for 1000 but felt that JLK's shot much better than Sierra out of my 6.5 twist Krieger barreled service rifle.
 
I just loaded some 77 grain match kings in lake city brass with WC844. I haven't shot them yet but velocity should be around 2500 fps. Varget is listed as 22.6 to 23.9. Velocity is listed as 2400 to 2550 fps. This is in the AR section. Velocities in the bolt action section are much higher.

With 75s and 23.0 varget i get 2500fps out of one of my 16" guns and 2450 out of the other.
 
I just bought some Hornady 75s and 68s that I want to try in my 16" 1/8 wylde AR. I have TAC and Reloader 15 on hand. Got some testing to do....
 
24.1 gr (thrown from a Hornady measure on a progressive press) of RE-15 under a Sierra or Nosler 77, lake city brass and wolf SRM 223 primers got me to distinguished


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
That's my 'go-to' load as well.
 
I had good luck with 23.9 of RE-15 with the 77 TMK. That one sits deeper in the case.

I never got around to trying the TMK myself but I've heard nothing but good things so far.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I just bought some Hornady 75s and 68s that I want to try in my 16" 1/8 wylde AR. I have TAC and Reloader 15 on hand. Got some testing to do....

I will be re exploring different loads after my 18" varmint build failed at 600 yards...., could be me or the rifle but ..... RL15 and TAC on hand.
 
I never use the heavier bullets because I only shoot out to 300 yards so let me ask this. Does the RE-15 work well with 69 grain SMK? Right now I'm still using 24.5g of 2520, but I'm going to run out of it in about a year so I need to find something. I can't find Varget lately either.
 
I never use the heavier bullets because I only shoot out to 300 yards...

I only shoot 120 yards so the heavier bullets can be overkill but I wanted to experiment with different bullets. Also the price was right with the Hornady 75s and 68s...
 
I use the heavier loads because where I shoot always has a sea breeze and because of the terrain has some weird wind patterns and thus the heavier loads help stabilize as much as possible.
 
200 yards or under, look into 50-55 grain flat base target bullets. They can shoot holes very close together.
 
I never use the heavier bullets because I only shoot out to 300 yards so let me ask this. Does the RE-15 work well with 69 grain SMK? Right now I'm still using 24.5g of 2520, but I'm going to run out of it in about a year so I need to find something. I can't find Varget lately either.

Yes, the 69s shoot great with RE-15. The 77s seemed to group a little bit better at 300 so I switched but the 69s weren't bad at all.
 
200 yards or under, look into 50-55 grain flat base target bullets. They can shoot holes very close together.

I really like the nosler 50 grain balistic tip in my A2 with 1/9 at cmp modern military matches.
They group very nice....well I actually have not bench tested but I'm shooting 98s 100s prone and keeping my score in the 475-486 range with off hand hurting me
 
As I'm getting low and will be reordering more soon, I have started looking into the Tipped Match King (TMK). It appears that they increase the BC, does anyone have grouping accuracy reports of these compare to non TMK? I'm also considering to dropping down to 69 grain TMK's.

Anyone have any feedback on these rounds?
 
77 TMKs are great. For me 23.9 of RE-15, CCI 400 and load to 2.26 works well.. The bullets are longer than the SMKs and so sit deeper in the case. Also they taper more gradually than the SMK so if you set them any shorter than 2.26 you'd almost be able to see the inside of the neck on the case.
 
As I'm getting low and will be reordering more soon, I have started looking into the Tipped Match King (TMK). It appears that they increase the BC, does anyone have grouping accuracy reports of these compare to non TMK? I'm also considering to dropping down to 69 grain TMK's.

Anyone have any feedback on these rounds?

I saw small group shrinkage at 100 yards with 69tmk's but when loading them to the lands, they would no longer fit in an AICS magazine, whereas un-tipped would. I only bought a 50 count to try out, I saw enough of an improvement for me to buy more, I plan to see how they do off the lands. I have not tried the 77 tmks.
 
Last edited:
I saw small group shrinkage at 100 yards with 69smk's but when loading them to the lands, they would no longer fit in an AICS magazine, whereas un-tipped would. I only bought a 50 count to try out, I saw enough of an improvement for me to buy more, I plan to see how they do off the lands. I have not tried the 77 tmks.

69/77SMKs are a tangent ogive bullet - they're MEANT to be jumped. dont worry about loading them out to the lands. save that for 80SMK/80Nosler/80.5 berger and similiar hybrid/secant bullets.
 
69/77SMKs are a tangent ogive bullet - they're MEANT to be jumped. dont worry about loading them out to the lands. save that for 80SMK/80Nosler/80.5 berger and similiar hybrid/secant bullets.


I agree it shouldn't matter, tangets are known to be and supposed to be way less fussy about distance to the lands than VLDs or whatever but, at least in my bolt gun, it makes a difference. I'll be honest, I've only done the testing with the 69's(even though I do the same with the 77's). Mag length, on lands, .005 off, .010 off etc etc. and kissing the lands yielded the best grouping. It's minute, its like the difference between 1/2 moa groups and 3/4 moa, but it's there.
 
I bought some of the nosler over run 80 grain custom comps... the price was right at 13 cents each shipped.
I will run them in my "varmint/Prone " rifle at 600 yards. I'm hoping to redeem myself a little next time out to Reading.

I have a 18" CLE varmint barrel 1/8 twist with Wylde chamber.... I am hoping they do well out of this rifle.

Powders on hand are Varget, TAC, 4064, AR comp and varmint.
 
Last edited:
I've been working on some .223 77 Grain HPBT Match Kings (no cannurl) with 22.5 grains of Varget. I am reloading into headstamp sorted LC brass. I am running this with a 20" .223 Wylde chambered AR.

I have a question about velocity, specifically it seams rather low with a 10 shot average at 2580 FPS and a deviation of less than 30.

Accuracy is ok, though it could better with better glass. I'm shooting about a 1.5" group @200 yards.

If I charge more powder, the accuracy degrades significantly with random fliers.

Considering my range maxes out to 200 yards, this is all I have to get out of it and thus I see no reason to push more powder. I am asking if others with similar loads experience the relative same velocity.

Just to add to the velocity question.
Poking around the load manuals (just received a new nosler) between the nosler and Sierra data the accuracy loads are generally in the middle area of the data.....ex: in the nosler data for 80 grain custom comps not one powder listed is at the max charge listed for their most accurate. Also I found it a bit odd Nosler combines the 77/80 grain data? Listed for testing is a 20" pacnor 1/7 twist barrel.
That said I know each gun is different and some will favor one load to another but why is it "accuracy" seems to be in that mid to high mid range and not the MAX?

Now I'm running a 18" barrel at the moment. I may swap out to a 20" I have? RRA service rifle match barrel...
I'm leaning away from AR shooting as my arthritis in my hips is getting harder to ignore shooting positions. I'm slowly moving to bolt guns. I most likely will stick with 223 because of over all cost.
 
Last edited:
You are sending them to slow, I know you said when you add powder the group opens up, just keep going they will begin to close back up again. I am confident that somewhere between 24gr and 25gr will be the sweet spot, as always check for pressure signs, but I don't even think you will begin to even remotely see any.

Dean

At what seating depth on or off the lands ?
 
Last edited:
At what seating depth on or off the lands ?
I run my 77s at mag length. i really have not shot 77s or 80s in a long time since I,have only been shooting 200 yards which I juzt load what ever 52-69 match bullet thats on sale when I stock up.
 
Back
Top Bottom