Just bought 60 rounds of Hornady Superperformance in .223 53 grain vmax. Has anybody ran this stuff with a mini 14? If so what

[Rex99]

Just bought 60 rounds of Hornady Superperformance in .223 53 grain vmax. Has anybody ran this stuff with a mini 14? If so what where your results?

[jhjimbo]

I tried Superformance in a 30-06 when i heard all the hype about the extra velocity. I chronograph it and it did no better than my reloads. I did not even check it for accuracy, decided not to use it.
I have my own load worked up for my Mini-14(see my photo's).
Good luck in the Mini, let us know how it works out.

[Rex99]

Thank jhjimbo. I normally shoot 50 grain vmaxs through my mini and get 1 inch to 1 1/2 inch accuracy at 100 yds. I bought the hornady 53 grain because I had a cabelas gift card and it was the only varmint load for .223 in stock.

[scratchgolf72]

ive fed that stuff through my AR, and it shot fantastic...wouldnt expect as good of results running it through a mini-14, they shoot like hell regardless of what you put through it.

[jhjimbo]

Scratch,
You need to look at the photo of my Mini-14 target in my photo section.

[DakotaMan]

jhjimbo, that looks like a nice group for a mini-14. Looks like about a 1 1/4 inch group or so. I haven't used the Superperformance ammo but get great results with 25.5g of Benchmark and a 50g VMax bullet. That is the load that is listed on the one pound can of powder and it is my best. It shoots around 1/4 inch groups in my Bushmaster Varminter and it makes prairie dog hunting out to about 500 yards quite achievable.

For some reason, that rifle doesn't like the 52g (53g??) Vmax or at least I haven't found a successful load for it yet. Those bullets group about like yours. My brother's rifle likes the 40g VMax; mine likes the 50g. Good luck with your Mini-14. Shooting like that, it should be quite effective for coyotes out to about 300 yards. You might try handloading a few of these different bullet weights and powders. You might find something even more harmonic with your rifle. Its pretty tough to pull factory ammo off the shelf and get a harmonic load but that one shows promise. Hornady's VMax bullet is hard to beat for accuracy so that is the one to stick with.

If you do reload, pay special attention to case length and neck diameter... they make a big difference in the .223. I also weigh all my cases when I am going for good groups because that makes a big difference with the .223 as well.