Hornady 123SST and W748

[LRRPF52]

[vaguru]

This upper is a 20" complete I purchased from AR15Parts.com. I was told the barrel is a Zero Delta manufactured in North Carolina. It is a 1/8 twist SS and bore scoping shows no issues, very clean looking interior.

All initial testing is done at 50 yds over a chronograph, and yes parallax is correct for distance shot, and eye focus is also set correctly. Scope is a 6-24X50 30mm side focus, mil/mil.


I have 3 test loads remaining to shoot with H335 and a reshoot of the best with W748. If I can get something close to 1/2" or less at 50 yds, and close to 1" at 100 yds consistently it would be satisfactory for deer hunting. What really is confusing is that almost every load I have tried has very solid extreme spreads, shot to shot, almost all under 30 fps, with many in the single digits. When I see ES of less than 10 fps I believe that load should shoot accurately, but that has not been the case with this bullet/upper combo, at least not yet with the 123 SST bullet.

I doubt it is a barrel issue as I have a load that shoots the Hornady 120ELDM consistently under 1/2 MOA at 100 yards using W748. Very possible this barrel just doesn't "like" this bullet. Never in 50 plus years of handloading have I not been able to get a bullet to shoot accurately in a barrel, even though it may not be at the velocity I was hoping.

I have a box of factory Hornady Custom 123 SST and a box of Hornady 123 Black on the way just for curiosity.

[603Country]

[rickt300]

Or wine needs to be provided.

[vaguru]

Finally was able to get out and shoot with better than good conditions for our range. Shot the Hornady Custom and Black ammo as well as some handloads. The Custom and Black both shot very well, impressive I should say for factory ammo, both doing .6 MOA or a bit better. Handloads with both 123 SST and123 ELDM also did the same.

It appears that our range is more tempermental than I thought. Groups were going just fine until, the cloud cover broke and the sun peeked out for a moment. This started the air movements, and switching. Left right, boils, right left, head winds. Nothing excessive, maybe 6 MPH, but switching very quickly.

Then clouds again, dark target, but light in front. Bottom line, before clouds allowed sun, groups excellent. As it warmed and wind picked up and switches, groups suffered. I was able to get things sorted out early though.

I still think the 123 SST is a finicky bullet, the 123ELDM much easier to get to perform.

Shot out of 2 identical uppers, my sons will not shoot the Custom factory load worth a crap, but the Black factory is excellent. My upper shoots both the Custom and Black factory loads .6 MOA or a tad better. My barrel has 650 rds through, his only 250 rds. Maybe his is not "broke" in yet.

At any rate, my son is satisfied with the Black factory load and is sighted for deer season. I will use both the Custom factory load and 2 of my handloads for deer season, tags permitting. Handloads are both just a bit over factory FPS in my barrel at 2590 fps, the Custom factory at 2578 fps. The Black factory load did 2540 fps. This from 20" uppers as mentioned previously.