About to try the 123grn Hornady A-Max

[griff]

Just got in 100 of these so I will load them up and try them out later this week.  Will attach speed and results as I do not think Hornady loads these in the factory yet..  My rifle REALLY likes the 140grn so this is just to see how the others do in comparison.

Will also be posing up some results from the 139 Lapua I have loaded already.

[Rob01]

My team mate Tony has a bunch on order to play with as well. He is pretty sure he can get them up to 3000fps with some H4350. With the better BC than the 120 AMAX and the speed if it shoots good that will be a flat shooting load to 1000.

[g7spring]

The 123s are shooting great for me.  I think I'm the man.  I got over 4,000 fps with no signs of pressure.  Could be my chrony is dirty.  Obviously I don't have good velocity data but used Varget and 5 shot goups at 100 were .4 to .6.  120 MKs are shooting a little better for me.

[griff]

So the rife really liked the 123s.  Better grouping than the 140 a-max.  Still want to try the 139grn Lapua though as I did not have enough time.  I was not very agressive with the loads as I have heard of some having pressure issues in the AR format rifles.  Even at my max load there were no signs of pressure issues and the brass measured normal when I got home. Here are my results and I plan to run a hotter batch next time as I am sure I can get them to 3000:

Temp=97
BP=30.2
ALT=49.6

Round= 6.5 Creedmoor
Rifle= DPMS AR 10
Barrel= 24" Kraiger 8.5 twist
Primers= Winchester LR
Brass= Hornady
Bullet= 123grn Hornady A-Max (BC=.520) (SD=.252)
Powder= H4350
COL= 2.79

Charge=39.0
AVG v=2541


Charge=40.0
AVG v=2638


Charge=41.0
AVG v=2689

Charge=42.0
AVG v=2749


Charge=43
AVG v=2781

Charge=44.0
AVG v=2859

[KJDrake]

I have some 123's loaded up and will try today.  Will post the results.

--KJ

[odintoomey]

Hey guys just thought I'd share what I found with the 123 Amax's I tried. I have a Creedmoor and a Grendel and wanted something I could use in both and got lucky, both rifles loved these bullets. I have a ASI custom upper reciever with a 26" barrel and 1 in 8 twist. The Creedmoor liked the 140 grainers with this load I was able to get .5" group out to 100 yrds I was realy impressed. I tried the 123gr and got .25" group at 100 yds. I couldn't help but smile.  At a thousand yrds the velocity is almost identical to the 140 gr load I was using at about 2660 FPS. Its impressive at least on paper. Here's the recipe. I could have got a little more Vel out of it but realy like the accuracy of this load.

123 gr Amax
Fed 210M primer
43.7 gr of H4350
@ 2880
no pressure signs

I'm a fan of these bullets and for what they cost I dont think you can go wrong. I hope this helps

[griff]

I think I will be sticking to these bullets myself.  I tried the 139grn Lapua and they shot rather odd.  Shot great groups as well but compared to the 123grn a-max they shot exactly 3/4" high and 3/4" right.  Do not mind the 3/4" high part but not a big fan of the 3/4" right.  I can easily get .25 from the 123s and here is a rough drop on them at my range:

Range Velocity Impact
0         2859        -1
100     2683         0
200     2519        -3.86
300     2361      -13.21
400     2210      -28.84
500     2063      -51.62
600     1923      -82.6
700     1789    -122.99
800     1663    -174.25
900     1544    -238.07
1000   1434    -316.45