Barrel life of a 223 Ackley Improved barrel?

[46and2]

I have 500 pc of Starline 556 brass. 250 pc have been fireformed as of today.
Should I form all 500 pc or start load development with the 250 pc formed?

If I get eight loads per piece that's only 2000 rounds on 250 pieces of brass.

I would hate to start new brass forming in the middle of a barrels life.

This is my first Starline brass. So I have no idea how long the 556 brass is going to last, it is supposed to have a harder case head than their 223 brass. I anneal every other firing so my brass is always lost from primer pocket wear.

I have formed the first 250 pc with n140 which burns very cool. When I finish the brass I plan on using h4895 or Varget, both of which is considerably hotter burning. This will effect barrel life also.

Btw n140 is kind of accurate with a mid pressure load of 25.1gr. 200 yard groups.

Pardon my ignorance, this is my first 223ai and my first experience with Starline 556 brass. Thanks for the advice.

 

[243winxb]

https://www.starlinebrass.com/556x45mm-brass

Brass life is longer, using bushing dies. Stops overworking of the necks. Helps avoid the donut.
High pressure rounds, loaded to maximum, may make primer pockets loose in 5 firings or less.

20 loadings or more is possible with a standard 223 midrange loading.

Barrel life- Heat is the enemy.

my brass is always lost from primer pocket wear.

How many loading? Brass life can be based on this.

https://www.accurateshooter.com/cartridge-guides/223rem/
Bottom of page- 223 Rem Ackley Improved

 

[Hoser]

Depends on more than a few factors, but a good guess would be 3,500-4,000.

I have an AR barrel that is still going strong after 4K.

I do most of my fireforming with a hydraulic form die.

 

[243winxb]

This is my first Starline brass. So I have no idea how long the 556 brass is going to last, it is supposed to have a harder case head than their 223 brass. I anneal every other firing

When annealing, as the heat gets closer to the case head, the case body may become stress relieved, around 485F degrees?

The stress relieved area reduces case separatoins in some machine guns, where the action may open to soon.

 

[STS]

I've burned down a couple of .223 AI barrels and they both retained acceptable accuracy for live varmint shooting, but got to be more of a challenge to clean than I was willing to put up with. 4500 rounds each.

 

[46and2]

I've burned down a couple of .223 AI barrels and they both retained acceptable accuracy for live varmint shooting, but got to be more of a challenge to clean than I was willing to put up with. 4500 rounds each.

Did you have to form more than one batch of brass per barrel?

How many pieces did you use per barrel?

 

[STS]

Did you have to form more than one batch of brass per barrel?

How many pieces did you use per barrel?

I had 1k brass, a chamber reamer and a lathe. I just chambered another barrel and used existing brass.

 

[C.E.Smith043]

Personally I would only fireform what you currently need. If something ever comes up or u need to start over for some reason you will have new brass.

New brass is always worth more than fired regardless if you are keeping it or selling it.

 

[strow]

I am only running 24.5 of N140 and and probably have 15 or more firings on the Starline 5.56 brass and the pockets are still snug.

I have another 500 pieces of new Starline 5.56 waiting and I will probably end up loosing the current brass in the field before it goes south.

 

[46and2]

I am only running 24.5 of N140 and and probably have 15 or more firings on the Starline 5.56 brass and the pockets are still snug.

I have another 500 pieces of new Starline 5.56 waiting and I will probably end up loosing the current brass in the field before it goes south.

Excellent!
This is what I was looking for.
My fireforming load is 25.1gr n140 with 69smk the velocity is only 2890 in a 26" barrel.
What is your bullet weight, velocity and barrel length?
Thanks.

 

[strow]

Excellent!
This is what I was looking for.
My fireforming load is 25.1gr n140 with 69smk the velocity is only 2890 in a 26" barrel.
What is your bullet weight, velocity and barrel length?
Thanks.

75 ELD-M. 21" Bart 1:7.5 5R. 2820fps. Usually Rem 7 1/2 or CCI 450.

I just took two coyotes this morning with this load. Excellent coyote bullet but not always fur friendly. I don't think I've had a runner over 5yds in the last 24 coyotes or so.

 

[46and2]

75 ELD-M. 21" Bart 1:7.5 5R. 2820fps. Usually Rem 7 1/2 or CCI 450.

I just took two coyotes this morning with this load. Excellent coyote bullet but not always fur friendly. I don't think I've had a runner over 5yds in the last 24 coyotes or so.

I keep hearing a lot of good things about those 75 eld. I have a heavy stash of (pre-plandemic) 70gr vld.
If they don't work out I'm gonna try the75 eld.

 

[strow]

The 75 ELD-M has been boringly consistent on coyotes. Not bad for $24/100 on sale.

The 80 ELD-X shot well too at 25.5 N140 (2935fps). I've only taken a few coyotes with the 80 ELD-X but it worked at advertised.

The 53 V-Max shot well too but I can't remember the load data. I have some 62 ELD-VT but haven't seen the need to try them.

 

[pjd]

I keep hearing a lot of good things about those 75 eld. I have a heavy stash of (pre-plandemic) 70gr vld.
If they don't work out I'm gonna try the75 eld.

My competition load out of my 1:8 223ai is a 75gr eldm going 2930ish fps (a fairly light load with adi 2206h) and it also does great on foxes from 50m to 370m.

Currently rebarreling to a 7 twist with more freebore so the plan is to keep running them until I run out of them and putting the gas pedal down a little bit and seeing where I can find accuracy at faster speeds.

Also: I've probably put well over 2k through the old barrel and it still shoots like a laser and will find another action to live on eventually.

 

[urbanrifleman]

4k easy.

 

[Longtrain]

I use Lapua brass, but have a stash of Starline that I haven’t tried yet. Lapua is up to 5 firings, primer pockets are a tad loose, but still functional.

I have a 26" 1:8 twist Hart on my AI, I have tried the 75 ELDM’s but so far they're not great. Loads that shot .2’s with 73 Bergers, are close to 1 MOA at 100 yards. Tried multiple seating depths and powder charges so far, the load is 2950 fps with an SD of 5. May try other powders and see what happens.
IMO, those bullets were initially marked for a 1:7 twist by Hornady, which was changed to a 1:8 twist recommendation. I’ll test my barrel and see what it twists, I suspect, they aren’t spinning fast enough and that 1:7 or so is needed.

 

[Webster]

I have 500 pc of Starline 556 brass. 250 pc have been fireformed as of today.
Should I form all 500 pc or start load development with the 250 pc formed?

If I get eight loads per piece that's only 2000 rounds on 250 pieces of brass.

I would hate to start new brass forming in the middle of a barrels life.

This is my first Starline brass. So I have no idea how long the 556 brass is going to last, it is supposed to have a harder case head than their 223 brass. I anneal every other firing so my brass is always lost from primer pocket wear.

I have formed the first 250 pc with n140 which burns very cool. When I finish the brass I plan on using h4895 or Varget, both of which is considerably hotter burning. This will effect barrel life also.

Btw n140 is kind of accurate with a mid pressure load of 25.1gr. 200 yard groups.View attachment 1649319

Pardon my ignorance, this is my first 223ai and my first experience with Starline 556 brass. Thanks for the advice.

If your losing primer pockets it can only be from high pressure hot loads. I have about 20 shots on my 6BR Lapua brass with no signs of expanded primer pockets. I'm shooting 58 gr bullets at 3585 fps. If I thought the primers were seating to easy I would back off 1 grain. Shooting the same 200 cases since 2009. About 4200 shoots on these 200 cases.

 

[CJ6]

Best load for me is 27.5grs. Cfe 223, 75 ELDM, Tula SRPMs in a 22 inch barrel seated .010 into the lands. This is in an 8 twist.