Load data for Barnes 85 gr Match Burner

[markm]

Check out these RDFs Ogive. I'd start their own thread, but this one is already low interest as it gets.

[markm]

Factory load at 200 yards from 23.75" Tikka bolt gun. Over 2700 fps, and nearly half MOA.

[markm]

Sealed and stake crimped Primer on the Factory Barnes:

[markm]

Nosler 85 RDF next to a 77 SMK:

[vicious_cb]

Sealed and stake crimped Primer on the Factory Barnes:

https://i.imgur.com/X6pjkQV.jpg

Very nice ammo, I thought they discontinued this because the uninformed thought this was too long for magazine loading in ARs. Other than the novelty of throwing a really heavy bullet out of an AR-15 it seems this actually loses to the 77gr TMK by a small margin. Maybe as a heavy hog hammer OTM? I struggle to find a place for this ammo.

[markm]

Very nice ammo, I thought they discontinued this because the uninformed thought this was too long for magazine loading in ARs. Other than the novelty of throwing a really heavy bullet out of an AR-15 it seems this actually loses to the 77gr TMK by a small margin. Maybe as a heavy hog hammer OTM? I struggle to find a place for this ammo.

Oh I have no doubt that the TMK smokes it past 700 yards or so. But for 0-600 yards you are delivering some serious payload as Sinister says. Competition guys DO use this bullet for 600 yard stuff, I've read.

These and the 87 gr Black Hills ammo were mediocre at best a 1000 yards. I shot some work up 85gr RDFs right after shooting the Factory Match Burners, and my relatively mild load of RDF absolutely smoked the Match Burner. I mean it was the most impressive lesson in B.C. I've ever experienced. Slower bullet of the same weight and I had to pull dope out of the scope to bring it on target. Absolutely eye opening.

I love the Match Burner for medium range and now home defense. But long range will be the high BC bullets.

[MarshallDodge]

I've had some impressive results with the 85 RDF, but that experience was with seating them close to the lands in a bolt gun. What kind of accuracy are you seeing with seating at mag length?

[Molon]

bfoosh,
Respectfully - I looked that Barnes load data and honestly something is not quite right. They are saying that they shot 85gr MB's out of a 24" Wiseman (those are test barrels) with a 1/12 twist?? Sounds a bit suspicious to me. I haven't run a stabilty calculation on this bullet, but 35+ yrs of experience tells me no way will that stabilize.
Thanks

There's nothing at all suspicious about it. The SAAMI specification calls for a 24" barrel with a 1:12" twist for pressure and velocity testing, so that's what most manufacturers use for their baseline testing. They're not concerned about gyroscopic stability when doing the pressure and velocity testing.

bfoosh,

Their published velocities are also specific to a 24" bbl. The max velocity shown was in the upper 2500 range. Out of a 20" bbl - velocities should be on the order of 80-100fps slower - which moves the velocity down to high 2400's.
Bottom line - that is SLOW from a .223 performance standpoint.

The muzzle velocity for the 10-shot string of the Barnes Precision Match 5.56mm 85 grain OTM ammunition fired from the 20” Colt barrel was 2583 FPS with a standard deviation of 10 FPS and a coefficient of variation of 0.39%.

...

[Molon]

The Barnes 85 grain Match Burner is capable of outstanding precision when hand-load and fired from a match-grade AR-15. The 10-shot group pictured below fired from a distance of 100 yards has an extreme spread of 0.56”.





The factory loaded 5.56 Barnes 85 grain Match Burner ammunition is one of the most accurate 5.56 loads that I’ve tested. Three 10-shot groups fired in a row at 100 yards had an average extreme spread of 0.81”. The smallest 10-shot group had an extreme spread of 0.76”. The thirty-shot composite group had a mean radius of 0.22”.













….

[markm]

I've had some impressive results with the 85 RDF, but that experience was with seating them close to the lands in a bolt gun. What kind of accuracy are you seeing with seating at mag length?

Really good. I'm still working on a load, but we're at 2604 FPS out of a 23.75 Bolt gun. We're seeing MOA accuracy. I'm leaning towards stopping there. Chasing Barnes's 2700 fps velocity is a fools errand. That ammo is just outstanding.

I'd like some pressure cushion for the summer months.

I did load 5 RDFs to 2.335" with 23.5 gr of Varget. Those shot 2705 fps and shot MOA too. I'm more interested in a mag length load with VV N135 though since I have 900 of the bullets remaining. We already have a single feed load of 88 gr ELDMs that can't be beat by anything.