Lehigh Defence 174 grn Controlled fracturing Load

[copperhead]

Does anyone have a subsonic load for the lehigh defense 174 controlled fracturing bullets useing either 1680 or h110? Im shooting it out of a 16" bolt gun.

[tallburnedmidget]

I just received 200 of the Lehigh 174gr CF and was wondering the same thing. Found the info in a different post here

viewtopic.php?f=151&t=84754&start=40#p801388

The COAL should be 2.200 with a 10.7gr charge of Accurate 1680.

[tallburnedmidget]

Warning: Long report, lots of content, and an attempt to find a substitute practice load for the 174gr Lehigh Defense CF bullet

So today I finally went and shot my 174gr Lehigh Defense CF bullets and I was pleased. I only loaded up 2 loads in my ladder as the price of the bullets is too great to be popping them off like nothing. How would I ever figure my load out then? Good question

Goal: Have a suitable substitute load for my 174gr Lehigh Defense CF round and find the best subsonic speed for the round w/out shooting up too many expensive bullets.

So in order to save money I bought 100 of the 175gr Grafs HPBT bullets for a much cheaper price $27.99 http://www.grafs.com/retail/catalog/pro ... ctId/26343
I then proceeded to load both bullets so that the same amount of bullet resided in case. Now I came to discover that the Grafs bullet is way shorter than the 174gr Lehigh Defense CF bullet so I could not load the Lehigh Defense CF bullet to the recommended COAL which is 2.200" and be able to load the 175gr Grafs while keeping approximately the same amount of bullet in case for both loads. The Grafs bullet is so much shorter that another .020 would have been so deep I was uncomfortable with if/how the crimp was going to work. I decided to get as close as I felt comfortable with and landed on 2.180" for the Lehigh round.

Now I created a 5 load ladder with the Grafs bullet and I took the lower end and higher end of the powder charge spectrum to create a 2 load ladder for my 174gr Lehigh Defense CF (LDCF). This worked out magically as the loads shot almost identically!!!!

The following image is of both my LDCF and Grafs loads/bullets with 10.7gr A1680. The speeds were going to be too fast for me to hunt with but still both managed to stay subsonic with my suppressor on out of my 16.5" 1:8twist BFG barrel 300BLK Savage Axis conversion from .223.




I settled on the following LDCF load at COAL 2.180" for further accuracy and AR15 functionality testing as the following shots were done quickly and were done with the Magnetospeed chrony attached to the barrel. I am quiet sure I can tighten up the group by just taking my time to shoot instead of rushing the shots to get through my 13 development loads and to move on to some subsonic turret adjustment practice shooting I had planned.

16.5" 1:8twist bolt gun

174gr LDCF
COAL: 2.180"
10.3gr A1680
Primer: CCI 400
Brass: LC, annealed, 1/2 turn LFC light crimp
Magnetospeed V1
MX: 1045fps
MN: 1003fps
Avg: 1021fps




I did notice that my equivalent 175gr Grafs loads shot about 70fps faster with the same powder charge but printed very close to one another as you can see from the one image I took.

For example the Grafs load at 10.3gr A1680:

175gr Grafs HPBT
COAL: 1.889"
Primer: CCI 400
Brass: LC annealed, 1/2 turn LFC light crimp
Magnetospeed V1
MX: 1124fps
MN: 1062fps
Avg: 1094fps


I didn't shoot the 10.3 gr LDFC and Grafs in my AR to see about function but the 10.7gr loads function perfectly in my AR, I just didn't record speeds. They must have both barely been subsonic as they did not go super with my suppressor on.

I hope this helps folks out

[crittergitter007]

Hey thanks for the data. That load was exactly the components I have and info I was looking for. Going to try those 174 Lehigh's on some yotes as soon as I get them loaded. Will post video of hunt and show pics of terminal performance. I am shooting them out of an ar pistol with 8in barrel with an aac cyclone.

[N2130N]

If you're shooting a boltgun, see if you can find some Unique. It'll be quieter & will burn nearly half as much powder.

[tallburnedmidget]

Hey thanks for the data. That load was exactly the components I have and info I was looking for. Going to try those 174 Lehigh's on some yotes as soon as I get them loaded. Will post video of hunt and show pics of terminal performance. I am shooting them out of an ar pistol with 8in barrel with an aac cyclone.

You may need to bump up the charge for cycling the 8" barrel, I had to for my 7.5" barrel shooting my 208gr subs with A1680 that I developed with my 16" barrel. This load should get you in the ball park but may be under 1000fps for an 8" barrel.

N2130N,

I have some subsonic Red Dot loads to finish working up for my bolt gun. I'm at the point where I just need to dial up the charge a little to get the speeds desired and then test/tune so that the accuracy is acceptable. Those fast burning pistol powder loads are craaaaaaaaaazy quiet arent they!

[crittergitter007]

Ok, good to know. I will try that! You ain't kidding man its scary quiet. Perfect for a calling rifle! Most of my shots are 100 or less so this should be perfect! Oh cool I bet that thing is sweet! Post them when you do! I have a 16 1/2 encore barrel.

[riude]

Tested these on my bolt action on weekend. Seems 6,3 grains of Vihtavuori N340 stays subsonic here (abt. 305-310m/s).
N340 is way more quiet than N110.
Too bad, accuracy ain´t so good, perhaps 1.5"/50yds.