Tavor X95 worth reloading for?

bikemutt wrote:
Tavor X95 worth reloading for?

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You're on a reloading forum, so of course I'm going to say that any gun worth shooting is worth reloading for.

Seriously, I understand the problem with the longer bullets. The Hornady Manual #8 (pg. 168) says their 68 grain bullet can be loaded to a c.o.l. of 2.250 which might make it fit in your magazine.

Is there a reason you are focusing on 68 and 69 grain bullets? The reason I ask is that my go-to load for .223 Remington uses a Hornady 60 grain Spire soft point or Hollow point bullet seated at a c.o.l. of around 2.200 (per Hornday #8) and they fit comfortably in all of my magazines; including the P-Mags.

I agree, going with a blunter profiled and/or flat base bullet might get you closer to the lands from the same coal. Ive had good luck accuracy and performance wise from the 60-65grn hornady and sierra hunting bullets. The 68grn Hornady also performed well for me, out of my Mini, at a coal for around 2.25

Those 2 bullets are very different. The Hornady 68 gr is 0.090" longer than the Sierra 69gr HPBT. So with the Hornady you will have a lot more bullet inside the case. This makes the pressures go up with a lighter charge. Don't mix the 2 loads for that reason. I've shot both using Varget. My most accurate loads are with the Sierra.

With Serria 69gr HPBT-M, Varget, 2.260" OAL, Lapula Brass, I can get a 5 shot group at 100 yrds 1/2" or less if I do my part. The Hornady's are closer to 1" with about 0.5 gr less powder. This is in 2 different AR-15 which are totally different using the same charge. 1 has the Wydle Chamber 18"1:8 twist, . the other has 24" Bull Ultra Match (min Spec 223R), 1:10 twist. Load workup showed they liked the same load.

Both are AR-15's that I built with over 4000 rounds through them. The 18" has a 4x12 Leopold FireDot scope, where the 24" has Nightforce 8x32. Both guns have good triggers set at around 3.5lb. Where the 24" is a fully adjustable match trigger set at 3.1 lbs.

bikemutt said:

Are there any angles a hand loader could explore with an ammo-hose like the X95, or should I just shoot green tip for the fun of it?

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If I just had a Tavor and no other 223/5.56 rifle, I would probably reload for cost (if I had the time), but not necessarily for accuracy. There is accuracy improvement to be had in reloading, but how much depends on the rifle and load combination. Unfortunately, there are no easy ways to figure this out except trial and error. For any semi-auto, the handloader is limited to full-length sizing brass and an overall cartridge length that fits inside the magazine. There is going to be a lot of bullet jump, no matter what bullet is selected. Reducing bullet jump does not necessarily make the rifle/ammo combo more accurate.

The first combo that I would try would be 55gr Vmax or Nosler BT with H335 / CFE223 / Benchmark / 10x, or whatever your pet powder is for 55gr. Use matching brass (military or commerical - your choice) that is sized and trimmed to the same length and the appropriate SR or SRM primer, depending on what you are comfortable with. If this workup isn't significantly better, then just buy green tip and be happy.

The other consideration is the optic used. It's best to have a scope to test out a load workup. A red dot is good, but it is difficult to shoot smaller than 2moa with a 2moa red dot. The best I could ever do with a 1 moa eotech was 1.5moa on average. Every once in a while, lightning would strike and I'd get one closer to 1moa (but not sub).

bikemutt said:

I got around to seeing how various bullets I have on hand fit in my X95 today. I was surprised to see how much bullet jump a cartridge loaded to SAAMI max COL, 2.260", would experience. The shortest is a Hornady 68 gr Match HPBT, the longest is a Hornady 69 gr ELD-M, 0.177" and 0.233" respectively. Looking at a P-Mag, bullets seated with a COL over 2.260" most likely will not fit.

I haven't found this bullpup to be terribly accurate but, it's not exactly designed to be a target rifle.

Are there any angles a hand loader could explore with an ammo-hose like the X95, or should I just shoot green tip for the fun of it?

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I have been loading for my Tavor for a few months now. I thought that 63 and 69 grain bullets would be more accurate especially in strong cross winds. I found that at 100 yards they shoot about the same as 55 grain bullets.
I did find that for 69 grain match Kings my rifle likes Varget over H335 for better groups.
I use Magpul Pmags and have only had one round fail to feed at 2.260" I have since started measuring the Ogive for a more consistent OAL.

I am using a EOTech XPS2 with a 3X multiplier and just added a Harris bipod for bench shooting.