I have fallen into a new (to me) rifle. A CZ 527, 1 in 8" twist, 16.5" barrel. I am looking to where you might think my best bullet weight range will be? I know the 1 in 8" is supposed to be the 'catch all' twist rate, but I do have concerns with velocity....or do I need to? Mostly I'm worried about accuracy. What weight is most likely to give me the best accuracy with this short barreled rifle? I had it in my head that I wanted some 77gr bullets, as I don't plan on shooting over 300 yards, but is 500 yards doable with these slower velocities...still being accurate?
I do reload, but would like to find some commercial ammo as well to get me started. If YOU had this rifle, where would you start your search? Please help! I'm getting old and carrying 24" barreled rifles is for the birds.
With that barrel length, I think 68 or 69 grain Hornady or federal pills would be optimal... Nosler makes a 70gr RDF boolit... Personally I think anything inside 300 yards or meters coefficient is meaningless... I too care a great deal for velocity... But at the same time we have all kind of gone velocity crazy a time or two... I kind of like how everyone is coefficient crazy now.
Sierra makes some nice 69gr pills... Federal loads with them on some selections... Target shooting or predators out to 300m would be okay with that. MAYBE even on doe days... Given good shot placement, I know a lot of people will whine about some type of moral or ethical nonsense... A good boiler room shot dead center at 300m, Norma brass, superformance powder, Federal Premium Gold medal match small rifle primer, Sierra 69 grain HPBT....in a good accurate rifle, such as a 527, a rock solid Meopta Meopro, or something of the such, and she's done for.... If it's good enough to shoot at coyotes at that distance it's good enough to shoot does... I don't understand why the moral and ethical debate extends to medium and large game but predators don't share the same.
ALSO, I think SuperVel has started selling components in addition to manufactured ammunition. Their 62gr Solid Copper Hollow Point is superb... They're loaded 223 ammo with that projectile is extremely accurate, and would do quite nicely out to 300M.
So long as you have the right ring height, you should be able to get out to 500m no problem... I guess it would depend on your tube...and how much adjustment do you have, but I really can't see even your most basic one inch tube not having enough adjustment even with low or medium rings... I don't think I would engage game at that range... But then again here I am in all my hypocrisy, I would probably engage coyotes at the distance but not those or bucks... Again, it would depend on how well that rifle was dialed in and how comfortable I was with it....
And theoretically... Your rifle/scope/cartridge combination should be just as "accurate" at 500m as it would be at 200m... consistently wise, anyway... It's just that your pattern would grow... But if you're shooting not a 1-in circle at 100 m, you probably won't see an ate it circle at 300, the idea is to see a 3-in circle at 300m... And that's typically what will happen, BUT; beyond 300, is where that coefficient really starts coming into play... And depending on the terrain/flora, that's what would really dictate your "Accuracy", is your coefficient, rather than velocity... Velocity and easily be accounted for...where as wind is much harder to account for, thus the new coefficient praise because of people wanting to mitigate every bit they can, for the most consistent rifles that they can...
But within that caliber, you're really not going to see a whole lot difference in coefficient between a 62 grain pill and a 77gr pill... NOT REALLY... I mean yes, there will be a sizable difference... But not what you would think... Hornady is now making, or was making a 90 grain a-tip... .224" .... Now that thing has some coefficient... But it's not really made for game...not really... But my thought would be if you were loading that pill into a full-size cartridge and a full length barrel, pushing around 3500 FPS with the 90gr pill... NOW that would be an extended long-range predator cartridge like no other... despite the projectiles construction.
If I were you I would look at SuperVels 62gr .223 SCHP ... But if you're loading, the possibilities are endless. Good luck to you,
Sound the Charge.
