Down loading the .223 Remington

[grovey]

I just made some reduced 221 Fireball loads this weekend. My gun has a 14 twist, and I chose to use 55gr fb sp's . I shot a few this spring with a similar bullet, so I knew about what to expect. I started at 5.4grs of blue dot, and ran it up to just 7.0 grs. This was worked up 2/10 ths at a time. The 5.4 gr load wouldn't stabilze the 55's , but 5.6 did. 5.8grs shot well, but I settled on 6.8grs with a .270 group at 50-55 yds.

I didn't even play with seating tests as I don't have many of the bullets on hand. Hopefully I get to shot thru a chrony to see where I am, but I suspect I'm around 22 mag speeds or a fuzz more with a 55. A 12 twist would of allowed me to go lower than 5.4grs if I wanted, but I'm about where I want to be.

Update: Shot two of these 221 loads loaded at 6.8 gr across a chrony yesterday. 1st went 1829fps and the second seated 0.0015 deeper went 1860 fps.

 

[kelbro]

Google " seafire bluedot"

He did a lot along these lines. I've tried several of his loads and they worked well.

 

[Iowa Fox]

Visit James Calhoon's website (http://www.jamescalhoon.com/) and click on the "informative articles" link.

You'll find some good information on reduced loads.

This is the article that launched me into reduced 223 loads with jacketed bullets and has been very rewarding.