Point me to some decent factory "match" .223 ammo...

[Bimmer]

That why I said -IF YOU LET IT meaning you could try every combination one could think of to chase the golden egg. Some do, the point is to go with "safe bets" and be done with it.

Amen to this...

Years ago I figured out a decent recipe for .40S&W that's cheap and runs well in my Glocks. Now I just crank out the same stuff, over and over again, and go shoot it. Suffice to say that the issues with my pistol-shooting are NOT ammo-related!

I assume that loading rifle rounds will involve much more fiddling, but I'm determined NOT to go down the rabbit hole...

[Pappabear]

Get some Black Hills 69 gr TMK in 5.56mm. You'll be blown away. The TMK bullet itself isn't quite as accurate as the Matchking, but it's still good. And if you want to shoot a load out to 600 that is amazingly flat, try a box of those.

The 77's dont suck either.

[Bimmer]

Actually, I started looking at TMKs, and the 60s look good for inside 500yds, and they're waaaay cheaper than the 69s or 77s.

Because I expect that 97% of my shooting is going to be inside 300yds, I'll probably just get regular SMKs. I have an idea, too, that the pointy TMKs don't get their ogive as close to the rifling, and I absolutely need whatever I load to fit in standard AR mags...

[mark5pt56]

I would save some money and go with the Hornady 75 BTHP. If you have H4895, use that. My Tikka 24" Varmint load is 24 grains of it with the 75 H. 2900 fps and 1/2" Start at 22.5 and work up--DO NOT START WITH THAT IN A SEMI

[Bimmer]

I would save some money and go with the Hornady 75 BTHP.

To start I'm looking at bullets in the 50-69gr range... The ballistic calculators I'm using don't give any advantage to heavier bullets until 450yds or so.

I don't want to make myself nuts, but once I figure out a good light load, then maybe I'll work up a heavy load to shoot at 500-600yds. The chances are slim/none that I'll ever get to shoot beyond 600yds, just because there's no place around here to do it.

[Hop]

Aside from what's already mentioned here, I've had very good luck with Australian Outback / ADI ammo. It's sub MOA in a few of my rifles. It wasn't available in the US for a while but it's back. Too bad it's nearly a $1/rnd now. It was ~$.70 when Cabela's stocked it.

https://australianoutbackammo.com/22...pbt-matchking/

[Bimmer]

... Australian Outback / ADI ammo. Too bad it's nearly a $1/rnd now. It was ~$.70 when Cabela's stocked it.

Yes, this is what I found...

FGMM is not only the "gold standard," but it's also inexpensive enough that some of the "copycats" actually cost more. Several years ago I stocked up on .308 and 7.62 FGMM at 75¢/round to use as a reference...

Even at 70¢/round, I can't see buying Outback (or MagTech @ 60¢/round) when I can buy FGMM for 80¢/round.

[mark5pt56]

While I have never tried them, my understanding is the flat base 52/53 grain bullets do really well at closer ranges. I was just pointing out that the Hornady 75 BTHP match bullets are priced very well and you will have a good longer range bullet.

[Bimmer]

While I have never tried them, my understanding is the flat base 52/53 grain bullets do really well at closer ranges.

Yep, this is my understanding, too... And "closer ranges" is ≤400yds, as I understand it.

[jmk]

"69gr FGMM, which I can get for 85¢/round, shipped"

has generally worked the best for me. 77gr is good, too, but anecdotally seems a little *less* accurate.

depending on what you're trying to do, and with what, I've found the 50gr & 53gr Hornady loads to be surprisingly accurate as well.
*and noticeably cheaper than the traditional match loads.