108 v 123...what's the deal?

[DJL2]

I use the 123 eld-m for its "do-all-ness".

For every area individually there is a better bullet, but for one that is affordable to stockpile, is effective at long range, explosive enough to stop varmint in their tracks, and also bring down medium game at very respectable ranges, the 123 amax/eld-m holds its own.

Indeed, running the numbers shows very similar performance between the 123/107...again, that's all calcs, not actual data...but, that's all I have atm. Mostly, I just want to play the field a bit... I don't like the idea of shooting one weight, one brand of ammo and calling it good w/o experimenting at least a little.

In a perfect world, where I shoot rested from a unicorn over rainbows, the 107 SMK and 123 ELD would shoot to the same zero...since they have nearly the same come ups and windage...I could just about use them interchangeably....ah....it is nice to dream.

Assuming the 123 gn ELD-M performs like its older 140 gn A-Max brother (info I have not yet come across, but autopsy results are likely out there somewhere), I would expect it be a solid performer to around 400 meters/1800 fps w/o any concerns at closer ranges because of the 6.5 G's more modest starting velocities.

[Kilco]

What powders are you guys using with these? I tried 107 smks with 8208 xbr and got terrible results (1.3" groups) Pretty much gave up on the bullet. St The same powder with 123 elds yields consistent sub 3/4 moa groups in my rifle.

I've read on this forum that AR Comp is not a good match for the 107 but I'm tempted to give it a go anyway.

I do have some cfe223 but honestly, I hate working with fine ball powders. I also prefer to stick with temp stable powders.

Like you, I've never gotten overly excited about ball powders, and in my Grendel tend to stick with 8208 for obvious reasons.

ARCOMP is definitely worth a try. The 107 is so long with a lot of bearing surface, so it loads more like a 120gr bullet than the 100gr bullets (in my experience)

That being said, we had oddly amazing results in my father's rifle using AA2200 under the 107 SMK. Velocity was about 50 fps slower than competitive powders, but the accuracy was very impressive.

[ricsmall]

What powders are you guys using with these? I tried 107 smks with 8208 xbr and got terrible results (1.3" groups) Pretty much gave up on the bullet. St The same powder with 123 elds yields consistent sub 3/4 moa groups in my rifle.

I've read on this forum that AR Comp is not a good match for the 107 but I'm tempted to give it a go anyway.

I do have some cfe223 but honestly, I hate working with fine ball powders. I also prefer to stick with temp stable powders.

Try benchmark and h335. I did extensive testing with the 108's back in 2013 and tried 8208,335,and benchmark. 8208 showed best velocity and accuracy at 300 yds. Little under moa at 2783 mv.

[LRRPF52]

What powders are you guys using with these? I tried 107 smks with 8208 xbr and got terrible results (1.3" groups) Pretty much gave up on the bullet. St The same powder with 123 elds yields consistent sub 3/4 moa groups in my rifle.

I've read on this forum that AR Comp is not a good match for the 107 but I'm tempted to give it a go anyway.

I do have some cfe223 but honestly, I hate working with fine ball powders. I also prefer to stick with temp stable powders.

107gr SMK and 8208XBR have been an extremely accurate combo out of SAAMI chambers. Bwaites has a 20" that shoots them into the .2s for 8rd groups.

I would play with seating depth if you haven't already, and double-seat your bullets for concentricity with a turn in between strokes in the seating process.