have a laugh on me. 223 loading, personal faux pas.

[anothernewb]

Been working up to loading 223. Don't know how I did this to myself, lol.

Last night, I finally got a wild hair to get everything organized and start a workup. I've been buying components here and there for about a year as I heard or read things, thinking I didn't want to "limit" myself" while waiting to purchase a 223 bolt rifle. However, I never paid real close attention to what I was adding up till now.

I laid out all the "stuff" I've acquired, and now have literally no clue where to start. Here's what I did to myself.

Powders: 1-2# of each. Varget, Blc-2, H335, W748, IMR 4064, RL15, 8028xbr
Bullets: 100-1000 of each. 40g varmageddon, 52g sierra hp match, 53g hornady hp match , 55g hornady spire point, 55 hornady fmjbt, 69g hornady hp match.

gah. From nothing to overload. I laid it all out, sorted a bunch of brass by head stamp, and the lake city by year. Looked at the pile, and walked away from the bench.

 

[eldon519]

I don't know what you are planning to use it for, but for accuracy and paper punching, especially at longer ranges, I'd start with the 69gr Hornadys and Varget.

The 55gr FMJs and Blc-2 or H335 would make good blasting fodder.

 

[Tony k]

I'd start with the 55g fmjbt and w748. Then look at which powders commonly work best with the lighter bullets, and which powders typically yield good results with the heavier bullets.

Maybe the faster powders with the 40-55g, and slower powders with the 69g.

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[lightman]

I prefer ball powders in the 223, mostly because I shoot more of them than anything else. As to bullets, decide what purpose you are loading for and pick the approiate bullet. Everything you listed has the potential to work very well. Take a deep breath and jump in!

 

[BigBore45]

just take the H335 and the 55Gr. FMJ and load a few up.

take to the range and enjoy.

simple way to get the feet wet, and probably one of the most used 223 combos out there.

 

[119er]

I started with .223 myself. Sierra lists accuracy loads at the bottom of the load charts in their book. Start with that and ladder around it to see how it performs. Lyman 49 does the same but the Sierra loads have worked better for me.

 

[anothernewb]

This is going to be a 99% paper puncher with the minor chance that I'll get to take out the odd prairie dog with it. I'm intending the rifle to teach myself some rifle target shooting before I move up to playing with the 308. Figure 223 will be a cheaper learning platform. Not to mention my local range tops out slightly over 200 yards

loading for 2 rifles. 1:7 AR, and a 1:9 bolt The AR is nothing spectacular, it'll do MOA with good factory ammo, so just going to load bulk blasting for it. the bolt is what I'll use for the accuracy shooting

 

[snuffy]

I've been buying components here and there for about a year as I heard or read things, thinking I didn't want to "limit" myself" while waiting to purchase a 223 bolt rifle. However, I never paid real close attention to what I was adding up till now.

What is the twist rate of your rifle? It doesn't matter who made it, just be sure you have at LEAST a 1-9 rifling twist. Otherwise your heavier bullets will not be stable, will keyhole. Even 55 grain bullets are too heavy for a 1-12 twist.

Those 55 Hornady fmjbt are NOT renowned for precision/tight groups. Much better to start off with the 52g sierra hp match. As for powder, the Varget is better for heavier bullets. while it will go bang with lighter bullets, it works best with those above 55 grains. Blc-2 and WW-748 are darn near the same powder. Both will work for any of the bullets listed.

 

[mdi]

Really depends on yer gun. Bullet size vs. barrel twist is one consideration. My 1-12" barrel won't stabiize a 60+ grain bullet so I'm "limited" to 55 gr. and under. For powders, a reloading manual is your best bet. I recommend to all new reloaders or one reloading a new-to-me cartridge is to start with a tried and true load, like mebbe a 50-52 gr bullet driven to about 2800-3000 fps with any one of a bunch of powders (Varget, and I've used a lot of W748)...

 

[anothernewb]

anyone else notice the Hornady manual is pretty anemic compared to sierra and lyman? I have a speer book in a box I'll dig out tonight.

 

[eldon519]

This is the first time I've ever heard that 55gr is too heavy for a 1-12" twist.

 

[savagemann]

Make it easy on yourself and start with the 68gr Hornady and 8208.
Start low and work up.
Don't be surprised if you hit a sweet spot around 23.1gr.
2.245-2.250 oal.

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[SARuger]

I use BLC2/75g AMAX in my 1/8 twist Ruger American. Its very accurate in the mid range of the load data.

I have Varget and plan on working it up soon.

 

[hdwhit]

Really depends on yer gun. Bullet size vs. barrel twist is one consideration. My 1-12" barrel won't stabiize a 60+ grain bullet so I'm "limited" to 55 gr. and under. For powders, a reloading manual is your best bet. I recommend to all new reloaders or one reloading a new-to-me cartridge is to start with a tried and true load, like mebbe a 50-52 gr bullet driven to about 2800-3000 fps with any one of a bunch of powders (Varget, and I've used a lot of W748)...

I'm surprised to hear that you are getting such bad service out of a gun with a 1 in 12 twist and 60 grain bullets My Mini-14 (very old) has a 1 in 12 twist and 60 grain bullets are about the only thing I put through it and I haven't had any problems with accuracy.

Well, okay, it depends what you mean by "accuracy". I doubt it would deliver sub-MOA results, but before I became disabled, I could routinely put ten rounds inside the indentation in the side of a milk jug at 225 meters (which happens to be how far it is across the top of the dam at my father's farm) shooting offhand.

Have you considered that the cause of the inaccuracy might be something other than the twist rate?

 

[Reloadron]

anyone else notice the Hornady manual is pretty anemic compared to sierra and lyman? I have a speer book in a box I'll dig out tonight.

The Hornady 9th starting on page 147 for the 223 Remington seems to cover a wide range of bullets and loads. Moving right along into 223 Remington Service Rifle Data on page 154 and finally 5.56 NATO load data on page 157. I don't know that I would say anemic. The Sierra 50th anniversary edition and the Lyman 49th edition do offer up some good material also.

With the exception of my bolt gun which I built with a 1:12 twist my AR guns are all 1:7 twist. The bolt gun fares the best with 55 grain and lighter as to really tight and tiny sub 1/2 MOA groups. Start getting above 55 grain and at 100 yards I get softball size groups.

loading for 2 rifles. 1:7 AR, and a 1:9 bolt The AR is nothing spectacular, it'll do MOA with good factory ammo, so just going to load bulk blasting for it. the bolt is what I'll use for the accuracy shooting

I would likely start with something along the lines of 69 grain bullets, they should fare well in 1 in 7" to 10" twist barrels. You have to start somewhere.

Ron

 

[ArchAngelCD]

My bolt action rifle just loves 25.0gr Varget under a 55gr match bullet, mostly LC brass and CCI-400 primers.

My AR w/1:9 twist does well with either a 55gr or 62gr bullet and H335 set off with a CCI#41 primer.

Chucks are anchored buy a 60gr Nosler Partition from the Howa 1500 bolt action rifle w/1:12 twist. I use either Varget or H4895 depending on what I have at the time.

Just a note, those 40gr bullets you have are probably better suited for use in a 204 Ruger than for .223 ammo.

 

[Hardtarget]

Kind of did that too. Picked out too many bullets, powders, three primers, and almost every case made. Had myself going so many directions I could not keep it all straight in my head.
I suggest that you pick a component combo and get "happy" with that ONE set. Then branch out. Don't try to test every possible load at one time. Your brain might explode.

You won't have as much fun either.

Mark

 

[illinoisburt]

I'm surprised to hear that you are getting such bad service out of a gun with a 1 in 12 twist and 60 grain bullets My Mini-14 (very old) has a 1 in 12 twist and 60 grain bullets are about the only thing I put through it and I haven't had any problems with accuracy.

Well, okay, it depends what you mean by "accuracy". I doubt it would deliver sub-MOA results, but before I became disabled, I could routinely put ten rounds inside the indentation in the side of a milk jug at 225 meters (which happens to be how far it is across the top of the dam at my father's farm) shooting offhand.

Have you considered that the cause of the inaccuracy might be something other than the twist rate?

I believe all the factory barrels on mini-14's were originally 1-10, then went to 1-7, before settling back to 1-9 so your experience with 60 grain bullets is about right.

There are some bolt guns that come with faster twists, but as many have pointed out most hunting rifle models have 1-12 or slower for light weight varmint bullets. You can put together some standard book loads, but until you have the particular rifle in hand its all just educated guessing.

By the way, don't count out the varmint guns. I have seen extraordinary accuracy from those small pills. Wind deflection isn't that much different until the range stretches out past 250-300 yards.

 

[rskent]

I laid out all the "stuff" I've acquired, and now have literally no clue where to start.

I would start with the H335 and the 52 Match-kings. Work up to somewhere in the 26gr. range.
I shot that load in a bunch of matches over the years.

 

[anothernewb]

God I'm incorrigible. Stopped by the local fleet store last night. They had cfe223 and H335, so now I have a pound of cfe223, and 3# of H335 to play with. and they had components on sale 10% off. so I picked up another hundred 52match and 55 soft point.

reloading is an addiction.


but... its raining today, so going to create a ladder with the 52 and H335. And the blc2 and 55 grainers for the AR. somewhere online I saw a blc2 that duplicated military ball. off to google.

At least I am "smart" enough to only use one set of brass, and one kind of primer. got a couple thousand rem 7 1/2.