.223 and H380

[cmillard]

anybody out there used H-380 in .223 rem with a 77 grain sierra? h380 is listed next in line after blc-2 on the burn rate and i have used blc-2 with good results.

 

[762willdo]

RE-15 is your best friend with the 77SMK

 

[SRM]

i use that in 20 ppc with 50 bergers, 29.5 grn.

 

[DukeDuke]

RE-15 is your best friend with the 77SMK

Where were you 10 years ago? I was stubborn, all it took was a friend giving me a lb of RL-15!!!

 

[cmillard]

i guess it depends on which burn rate chart you look at. on the accurate arms website, it has BLC-2 as #95, Ramshot Tac as #98, Vaget #105, 2520 #108, N540 #112, and H380 #116. Now the Hodgdon manual has BLC-2 slower than Varget and Tac faster than them all. I guess i should just buy a pound of H380 and give it a try. i have had good luck with blc-2 and 2520. Right now i am shooting Ramshot Tac, but i am not getting the velocity i would like without going overboard on the load.

 

[navyrad8r]

how much TAC are you at right now?

 

[cmillard]

23.6 grains of TAC with wolf srm primers, 77 sierra 2.255. weight sorted and uniformed winchester brass. i also loaded up some LC once fired brass with 24.0 TAC, wolf srm, weight sorted 91.0 grains (brass), uniformed, 77 sierra 2.255. 23.6 grains is about as far as i want to go in winchester brass. the winchester is about 2 grains heavier on average than the Lake City. I tried federal military brass, with BAD results. that brass weighed on average 94 grains uniformed. this brass is also short. i trim all brass to 1.750 and the federal measures about 1.745-1.740. this brass is heavy! even at a starting load of 23.0 TAC, primers were popping out of the brass. i believe that for TAC is too fast of a powder for the 77 sierra--especially when the brass has a smaller internal volume (Federal brass). i will be trying 2520 in the Federal brass to see if it will handle this slower powder without blowing primers. i have had good luck with aa2520 in the winchester brass as i have made nice groups out to 891 yards with my rifle. barrel is a Compass Lake Mk-12 barrel (Douglas) 18" HBAR 7" twist.

 

[navyrad8r]

some of the Navy match ammunition used for xtc was fueled by 24~gr of TAC. 77gr SMK (cannelure) in black hills(occasionally), but mostly winchester brass with "crimped" primers though. have you considered imr4064? meters like crud but i have used it in my 80 grain service rifle loads along with the usual suspects...Varget, and N540. I the BLC has worked well for me as well. The TAC,Varget,n540 family should get at least a glance as well especially if you dabble in the .308 family as well. i am using 24.5gr of TAC to push an 80 Amax ~2800fps in wcc crimped cases 6-8 thou in my service rifle. 2.40 chamber 1: 7.75 twist. TAC behaved well with my XTC load. i will send a PM later. gotta get my daughter to pistol prax.

 

[cmillard]

23.6 grains of TAC was as far as i wanted to go in a match chamber. the reloading manual stated 24.0 grains of TAC as max in a NATO chamber. i dont see how the military is getting 2800 + fps in a 20" barrel in their MK 262 round if TAC is being used. on my old 24" Hart tube, 23.6 grains of TAC yielded 2788 fps (avg.) with bullets seated to 2.255 i could see aa2520 getting the velocity needed without so much pressure as TAC. thats why i am a little curious if h380 would work with such a load.

 

[cmillard]

could anyone with quickload run some numbers on this load--h-380, 77 grain sierras @2.255, wolf srm. just curious as to what quickload would say.

 

[cmillard]

well, i picked up a pound of h-380 to try. i was thinking about using the start load for varget and 77 sierras as a starting point for the h-380. any thoughts?

 

[RJinTexas]

Cole, As I'm sure you are aware the P-max is listed @ 55,000 for the SAAMI 223 an @ 62,366 for the .223 Rem.
With that in mind here's what Quick Loads shows as a MAX LOAD for the .223 Rem.

23.9gr/ H380 - 77gr SMK - OAL @ 2.255 from a 24" barrel = 61,872 psi / 2900 fps which equates to 109.7% case fill and 96.6% of propellant burnt.

Hope you find this helpful
RJ

 

[cmillard]

interesting. i'll give it a try--eventually. it's been cold and windy here in iowa. thanks RJ!!

 

[manitou210]

We have tried H 380 with 90grs could get speed, other proplem with H380 is very heat sensitive when we used it in .308 hunter class quite a few years ago,but maybe newer h380 is okay??
manitou

 

[1000yardstare]

My 30 inch 8 twist Wylde chamber MacLennon barrel is most accurate with 75 AMax moly. Tried H380 to get that magic 3000 fps without primer piercing pressures. Unfortunately had to use a compressed load and AMax have such thin jackets they deform when seated over a compressed load. So have learned to live with H4895 and 2900 fps with good results.

As an aside, too bad the .222 Magnum didn`t win the M16 cartridge contest. The English speaking world has since been saddled with the 5.56 NATO or .223 or whatever you want to call it (some unprintable). And we are standing on our heads trying to make this glorified groundhog cartridge shoot to 1000 yards. 80 grain bullets in that puny case - what are we doing!

 

[wapiti25]

Keep in mind that the .223 rem and 5.56 nato are not exactly the same chamber. Long throat is part of the difference. I don't know what the navy uses as a chamber in the match guns.