Anybody try out the new Hornady 208 gr. AMax yet

[abyssdncr]

Saw these bullets while poking around on Midway. Wideners has them for $24 per hundred and with the price of Sierras these days, they might be a viable alternative to the 220 gr. Matchkings...

Figure I'll at least get a box or two; anybody try them out yet?

[Ron458]

I picked up a box myself. Waiting for my SBR to be aproved befor I head out. Ron

[cav_scout_tj]

Saw these bullets while poking around on Midway. Wideners has them for $24 per hundred and with the price of Sierras these days, they might be a viable alternative to the 220 gr. Matchkings...

Figure I'll at least get a box or two; anybody try them out yet?

Hey thanks for the tip about Wideners. I been eying them for a while as well. They were out of stock at midway for a long time. Need to put together some more play money.

I had good luck with the 178's, I had some on hand. Also read reports of good luck hunting with the 155's.

[Spook]

I shot them recently out of a 300WSM 1K yd rifle.....not the best accuracy but they should work OK at short ranges.

[abyssdncr]

I was ordering some stuff from Midway anyway over the weekend, so I grabbed a couple boxes to try. The bullet is longer than the case...

Thought you all might find a photo interesting:

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y146/abyssdncr/Whisper/Hornady208grAmax.jpg

[Cornholio]

Thanks for the pic. Are you neck turning your brass? Which tool are you using?

[abyssdncr]

Are you neck turning your brass? Which tool are you using?

I'm playing around with it right now. One of the gent's in my local club donated a forster neck turning tool with a .30 cal pilot. I was a little disappointed that my sized brass wouldn't fit on the pilot, so I was fiddling with fired brass and that happened to be the one I grabbed.

It's interesting with the cases formed from .223, the neck tension in the fired cases is almost identical to a Stoney Point OAL gage case. Maybe I should be turning them all...?

[Cornholio]

Does your rifle have a tight necked chamber?

[abyssdncr]

My barrel is a standard Model 1 Sales .300/221. According to the calipers, a loaded round mics 0.329 and a fired cases mics around 0.334. So I don't think I have a tight necked throat. I think it's just that most of my other rifles with "factory" chambers are so loose that it seems tight by comparison.

I'm getting some of the 208 gr. loads together now. Hopefully, I should have some results to share on Monday evening.

[AlcoholicusMaximus]

I bought some as well.They can be had for about 10 bucks cheaper than 220 SMK's per 100. B.C.of .648, right up there with the 220 SMK., if shooting subsonic.

[abyssdncr]

Made it out to the range today to test these. Not really that impressed so far... My starting load was 9.0 grains of AA#9. 50 yd groups of five were around 1.0" and the faster I pushed them the worse they shot. Went up by .2 grains to 9.8. 9.6 & 9.8 grain groups opened up to 3-4". 3 shots went supersonic at 9.8.

Any suggestions on other powder to try? I have 150 of these left and some H110, H4227, & Blue Dot...?

[abyssdncr]

Made it out to the range today to test these. Not really that impressed so far... My starting load was 9.0 grains of AA#9. 50 yd groups of five were around 1.0" and the faster I pushed them the worse they shot. Went up by .2 grains to 9.8. 9.6 & 9.8 grain groups opened up to 3-4". 3 shots went supersonic at 9.8.

Any suggestions on other powder to try? I have 150 of these left and some H110, H4227, & Blue Dot...?

[dksd39]

my favorite powder for 220's is LilGun (8.5gr). I was hoping you would have great results so I could save some money. The SMK's are getting pricey.

[interceptor]

I loaded 100 of the 208's with 9.2g H110, and out of my Model 1 upper I was not impressed at all. The story of the afternoon was about a 6" group at 100 yards and maybe 5" at 200. After that I was too disgusted with the thing to take it to 300.

I currently have much better luck with my supersonic loads, 16g H110 with a 155g Sierra Palma Match, abut 1.5" at 100 yards, have not tried it yet beyond that.

[lemmethink]

That is pretty interesting that your groups got tighter at 200 yards. Makes me wonder what would happen at 300 yards with that load. Sometimes loads that perform really well in my .308 win at 500 yards or farther aren't really all that impressive at 100 yards (I have noticed the same thing only reversed with loads that print tight at 100 yards and open up at long range).

Hmmm, just find that really interesting....I might need to play with some at longer ranges.

[Bigfoot]

How well do they expand subsonic?

[Pitt300]

Interceptor - did you chrono any of your 9.2 g H110 loads?
What was your land length in the M1S upper?

Just loaded some 208s myself.
9.4/9.6/9.8g of VV N110 - Subsonic I hope
11.6g VV N110 Supersonic to check accuracy.
I may have figured out part of the problem w/these pills.
They are long skinny buggers & they actually land in my M1S @ 2.418" & I would normally allow 0.010" jump so I would like for them to be @ 2.408" COAL.
HOWEVER, they will NOT fit in the mag unless I push them down to around 2.262" COAL (the 11.6g won't go that short due to powder-2.268" but I can still force them into my modified MagPuls & they seem to work if I don't fully load the mag).
For me a jump of 2.408"-2.262"=0.146" seems like almost 15 times what I would like for accuracy.
I'll shoot Sunday w/chrono & report back.
Bad time to be shooting subs as it's supposed to be 103* on Sunday.
What the hell.
If we don't try, we'll never know. Just hope my spread bridges the transonic barrier.
Will advise.

[interceptor]

I've no more of the 208's left to play with. Loaded all, have about 70 left, plan to let buddies shoot them as it seems everyone wants to shoot a supressed gun.

Bought some 220 SMK's and AA1680, I'll play with that next. This M1S upper... I've got nothing good to say about it so far. Might end up being a very short play toy.

I've gotta admit, I'm not one for load development. I really need to copy what someone else has already done and fine tune for my needs.

[Pitt300]

Shot 208s today & @ 100*+ & 29% humidity @ 100 yards -
4 shot groups from 16" M1S upper w/762SD can:
These all need about +11" of elevation to hit bull @ 100 as compared to 125g Supersonic POI.
9.4G-1103.1 fps 2.296" group
9.6g-1106.3 fps 1.594"
9.8g-1118.7 fps 2.493"
None of the above sounded supersonic

I'm surprised there wasn't more Vel difference from 9.4g to 9.8g

For accuracy thought I would load some supersonics & see how they shot:
11.6g-1278 fps 1.487" & it hit 8" low of regular 125g supersonic loads
Not bad.

Definately cheaper than 220g SMKs & I'don't think a hog will know the difference.
If BC is 0.648 (I wonder if this is correct BC for this bullet @ subsonic velocities?) then energy @ 100 yards should be about 527 or close to a 357Sig @ the muzzle.

[Pitt300]

Had to rezero so shot some 208s.
These are w/9.4g of VVN110 which had clocked @ 1106 fps in past but went Supersonic last night but still a good group.
Wasn't even that hot yesterday????

[interceptor]

After all the complaining I did about mine, the last time I brought them out to shoot they settled down and grouped very well, a little over one inch/one hundred yards. Load was 9.3g H110 and clocked in the 970's that day (92 deg F).

I'm out of them, only have left the rest of that loaded batch of 100. have since moved on to 220g SMK+11.8g AA1680=1025fps. Very satisfied with this recipe.

Hope it runs well in my new SBR.

[Pitt300]

Just shot 3 sub 1" groups w/208 AMaxs last week.
Used 8.8, 9.0 & 9.2 g VV N110.
Didn't chrono just shooting for "crack" sound.
For some reason my 9.4g loads went supersonic on me & it wasn't that hot outside so I backed down a little.
All 3 of these were subsonic & w/in about 1 1/2" of POI.
Bought 200 more.
At the price they're the best deal going & not that much energy loss from 220s & a LOT cheaper than 240g SMKs.
Hope this helps.

[interceptor]

Still gonna stick with the 220 SMK's as I get them at cost. But... I will be investigating some other lower gn subsonic loads.

[Pitt300]

How cheap is cost?

[interceptor]

Man, you're gonna pin me down on it huh? IIRC, about $31/box. Honestly I don't exactly know, I've never just bought bullets alone, usually get multiple items at one time and the shop owner writes a ticket for me with a total on it.

[Pitt300]

Here's groups from last week from my M1S upper.
I'm very happy & will use the 9.2g load @ 1/2".

[AlcoholicusMaximus]

....So I loaded some 208gr Amax using 8.8gr.AA#9,which is what I use to push SMK220's & SMK200's to about 980-1050 fps from a 10.5 M1S SBR. Velocity is way up with the Amax 1209 1178 1185. Oal = 2.26". Gonna try a reduced AA#9 load.

[skurvy]

Anybody removed the tips of these so you can get them closer to the lands while still being able to fit into a AR-15 mag?

I got 100 to try out but the first few I loaded still have the tips on. Looks like a 0.1" jump when seated to 2.3" OAL.

[skurvy]

....So I loaded some 208gr Amax using 8.8gr.AA#9,which is what I use to push SMK220's & SMK200's to about 980-1050 fps from a 10.5 M1S SBR. Velocity is way up with the Amax 1209 1178 1185. Oal = 2.26". Gonna try a reduced AA#9 load.

Interesting.
Yesterday I shot some 208's with 8.5g of #9 and only got 950 fps out of a 10.5" barrel. OAL was 2.3".
I'll try your 8.8g load and see what I get.

[gotgraham]

I tried the 208's with 7.2, 7.4, 7.6, 7.8, 8.0 gr of lil' gun and couldn't get them to group well or cycle my 8" sbr ar15. They also seemed slow - don't have a chronograph though. I see some having success with around 9.3 gr h110. Any ideas for an equivilent starting load with Lil' Gun powder? I'm sitting on about 500 of the 208's and would like to be able to use them.

[larr 300]

i just received my t/c encore barrel the other day and decided to break it in with the 208's and 9.0 gr of AA#9. i went through the break in procedure my gunsmith recommended and when i was finished i had three rounds left,so i shot a three shot group at 100yds and got less then a 1/4 in group!! the average velocity was 980. this t/c barrel just loves them. gotgraham, if you decide not to use the 208's you got i will take them off your hands:grin:

[ATLRoach]

Anyone have any good loads with a W296?

I have a 16" AR with J&T 300Whisper Barrel(tight neck) gas block at Carbine w/ adjustable block.

[jinx44]

I have a 16" AR with J&T 300Whisper Barrel(tight neck) gas block at Carbine w/ adjustable block.

Good luck getting it to cycle subsonic. That is the same setup I am running. After several different powders, buffer weights, buffer springs, etc, I finally dropped back to a pistol length gas tube and it works perfectly.

EDIT: To stay on topic, I picked up a box of the 208 Amax quite a while ago. Now that I have mine cycling, I will let everyone know how the work for me.

[cav_scout_tj]

I shot 208s the other day with 9.0 and 9.5 gr of Lil-gun.

I was getting around 1125 or so with both loads, which confused me a little.

FYI, I have shot the 208 with 13.5gr of lil'gun, it was way above subsonic, but still far below any pressure limits.

9.5" barrel, Cyclone-K suppressor.