[ah-ha]

I know that they are doing well with the 90 gr VLD's in 26" 223 barrels at 1000 yd matches, as outlandish as that seems to those who are ignorant of the "poodle shooter" and its potential. I am curious what loads they use, what velocity they get. I heard 2800 fps. If so, the 223 is running only about 10% behind the factory 243 Winchester. That seems weird, for such a reduction in case volume.

 

[Ole1830]

I might try a .223 @ 600 yards but you're really paddling against the current using that caliber for 1000 yard shooting, IMO.

 

[unclenick]

The Marine Corps had fellows firing 80 grain Sierra MatchKings at 1000 yards the last time I attended a Small Arms Firing School, and those were out of 20" barrels in accurized M16's. Basically, if you can hit things with a .308 from that range, you can probably do so with a .223. The bullet BC's are close enough for that to be true.

There was an article in Precision Shooting a few years back comparing different bullets in the .223 at 1000 yards. The 90 grain bullets didn't do quite as well as the 80 grainers in those tests. The 90's had higher BC's, but lost too much velocity owing to reduced powder space and its extra weight. Somewhere beyond 1000 yards it would get ahead, but 80 grain bullets seemed to be at about the optimum balance for the powders used in the test.

Quickload thinks the 90 can get ahead using Reloader 17. This presumes the bullet is seated out much longer than SAAMI max COL, so it won't fit in a magazine and will have to be loaded singly. It also presumes a compressed load in a case on the large side of capacity and fired in a generous chamber. If all those stars line up correctly, then a 26" barrel might, indeed, run at around 2,800 fps with it.

 

[Swany]

First thing is to check which brand of brass is the lightest offering the most volume for powder you can get into that little case. With the long bbl and a slow ball powder you might get what you desire but I think opening the chamber to AI configuration would help.