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
