Lokichoki
Member
- Joined
- Nov 2, 2016
- Messages
- 297
Hello THR,
I wanted to re visit a post I made on a cheap 223 round I developed and posted details. First off what I was looking for was to make a round as cheap as I could and yet still have decent accuracy to be able to hunt small game etc. This post I will show the data and the cost involved since it really shocked me when I did the math.
Here is a excerpt from the load data I wrote then I will do the math on cost
"I chose to use my Lee double cavity C225-55-RF and use trail boss for this test. Using Federal brass that has been fire formed I tumbled them all night as usual and trimmed to 1.75 and flash hole uniformed and neck sized. I did not bother to weigh every case or check there capacity. I sorted my cast little 22's they ranged from 56.4 to 56.8 the majority being 56.7-.8 and had little to cull due to me removing most that were off before knocking them into the ice water bucket to quench, I will say that it takes awhile with lee's mold to get a good bullet since the bullets are so small the mold heats slowly and if for any reason you have to stop for even a minute reheating isnecessary also you have to let the sprue cool so the bullets base get cut cleanly so there is definitely a learning curve but nonetheless doable. Anyways I did not gas check these bullets due to not having a ready supply locally and keeping the round as cheap as possible was the theme. The lead is kinda softer I feel then I'd like I have no WW and just range scrap and Magnum buckshot I repurposed but leading hasn't been an issue at these speeds. Without further adu here is what happened and load data
223 REM (FC brass) Load #1
Fire formed and neck sized
TTL:1.75
56.7gr .225 LFN-gc (no check sized .224)
CCI #400 3.5gr Trail Boss (1072816 5573)
Lightly Crimped , C.O.L 2.085
Description: 223 55gr lfn #1
Distance to Chrono (FT): 4.00
Ballistic Coefficient: NA
Bullet Weight (gr): .56.7
Altitude (FT): 0.0
Temp: 74
BP: N/A
Shots
# FPS FT-LBS PF
5 1126 0.00 0.00
4 1135 0.00 0.00
3 1143 0.00 0.00
2 1151 0.00 0.00
1 1147 0.00 0.00
Average: 1140.40
StdDev: 9.99
Min: 1126
Max: 1151
Spread: 25
True MV: 1140.40
Shots/sec: 0.07
Group Size (IN): 0.95 (AVG)@50YDS"
Now to the math,
The lead is mostly range scrap with whatever else I could find to try and harden it so
Lead=free
The powder is Trail Boss which this load uses 3gr. The bottle contains 255.4 grams for a total of 3,941.42 grains so a bottle makes 1,313.8081 rounds
Powder per round=0.01597
The primers I use are CCI #400 they cost me 34.99 per 1,000
Primer per round=0.03499
The brass is free and I have enough for a lifetime.
So my price per round is $0.05096 pretty thrifty I say and when I had the opportunity to shoot this through some doctor coats ballistic gel it went clean through a 18" gel block with even sizedbpermanent damage throughout (not massive but consistent)
So there it is I will probably in the future use wheel weights and use gas checks and see if I can tighten groups although no leading has been observed with this softer lead. I'll name it the "THE CROW SMASHER"
I wanted to re visit a post I made on a cheap 223 round I developed and posted details. First off what I was looking for was to make a round as cheap as I could and yet still have decent accuracy to be able to hunt small game etc. This post I will show the data and the cost involved since it really shocked me when I did the math.
Here is a excerpt from the load data I wrote then I will do the math on cost
"I chose to use my Lee double cavity C225-55-RF and use trail boss for this test. Using Federal brass that has been fire formed I tumbled them all night as usual and trimmed to 1.75 and flash hole uniformed and neck sized. I did not bother to weigh every case or check there capacity. I sorted my cast little 22's they ranged from 56.4 to 56.8 the majority being 56.7-.8 and had little to cull due to me removing most that were off before knocking them into the ice water bucket to quench, I will say that it takes awhile with lee's mold to get a good bullet since the bullets are so small the mold heats slowly and if for any reason you have to stop for even a minute reheating isnecessary also you have to let the sprue cool so the bullets base get cut cleanly so there is definitely a learning curve but nonetheless doable. Anyways I did not gas check these bullets due to not having a ready supply locally and keeping the round as cheap as possible was the theme. The lead is kinda softer I feel then I'd like I have no WW and just range scrap and Magnum buckshot I repurposed but leading hasn't been an issue at these speeds. Without further adu here is what happened and load data
223 REM (FC brass) Load #1
Fire formed and neck sized
TTL:1.75
56.7gr .225 LFN-gc (no check sized .224)
CCI #400 3.5gr Trail Boss (1072816 5573)
Lightly Crimped , C.O.L 2.085
Description: 223 55gr lfn #1
Distance to Chrono (FT): 4.00
Ballistic Coefficient: NA
Bullet Weight (gr): .56.7
Altitude (FT): 0.0
Temp: 74
BP: N/A
Shots
# FPS FT-LBS PF
5 1126 0.00 0.00
4 1135 0.00 0.00
3 1143 0.00 0.00
2 1151 0.00 0.00
1 1147 0.00 0.00
Average: 1140.40
StdDev: 9.99
Min: 1126
Max: 1151
Spread: 25
True MV: 1140.40
Shots/sec: 0.07
Group Size (IN): 0.95 (AVG)@50YDS"
Now to the math,
The lead is mostly range scrap with whatever else I could find to try and harden it so
Lead=free
The powder is Trail Boss which this load uses 3gr. The bottle contains 255.4 grams for a total of 3,941.42 grains so a bottle makes 1,313.8081 rounds
Powder per round=0.01597
The primers I use are CCI #400 they cost me 34.99 per 1,000
Primer per round=0.03499
The brass is free and I have enough for a lifetime.
So my price per round is $0.05096 pretty thrifty I say and when I had the opportunity to shoot this through some doctor coats ballistic gel it went clean through a 18" gel block with even sizedbpermanent damage throughout (not massive but consistent)
So there it is I will probably in the future use wheel weights and use gas checks and see if I can tighten groups although no leading has been observed with this softer lead. I'll name it the "THE CROW SMASHER"