Lake city 55 fmj vs hornady 55 bulk soft point?

[snod85]

Loading up a bunch of 5.56 for nephews, and family members for their ARs. Many different brands and barrel lengths among them so not going to be able to dial anything in.

I’ll be using new Starline brass, CCI 41s, Varget or n135 and either of the two above bullets. I have several of the bulk boxes of each purchased in the 90s. Have other powders but more than I need of varget and n135 and it looks like both will work fine.

Main thing is they go bang, are completely reliable, and safe. I’ll obviously work up loads in my AR but mainly looking for safe pressures and hope to get lucky and find a decent SDs.

Have never loaded a rifle bullet with a Cannelure before. If I load to Cannelure my coals will be below 2.26 on each bullet. Still think I would rather take advantage of the groove and crimp it for reliability. Ordered a Lee factory crimp die.

Need advice on whether I should maintain 2.26 and put .0035” neck tension on it or load to Cannelure and crimp. I’ll put in the work and see for myself but wondering if anyone who has been down this road has thoughts.

I’ve got an AR but it’s not my thing. Bought the components for trade bait and prepping back in the day so no harm in running a bunch of rounds and passing them out now.

Also curious on thoughts on these two bullets from those that have used them. Uses are plinking, hopefully training, and hopefully not defense.

Thanks

 

[brokeasajoke]

I use the bulk Hornady soft points with cannelure for general 55gr AR ammo.

 

[JB10]

In one of my ARs with hornady 55gr sp loaded at 2.260 it was way too long. When racking the bolt it did not completely go into the barrel. When i extracted it i could see bullet was jammed into the lands. Id have to look but in think my coal had to be somewhere around 2.223 and that made it not a hard jam. Might wanna check before loading up a bunch of rounds.

 

[jelenko]

As JB10 mentioned, check load data first. Powder mfg's/suppliers post them on the internet.

 

[Kracken McGraw]

I use the bulk Hornady soft points with cannelure for general 55gr AR ammo.

I do too, #2266b. I also use the Lyman M expanding die and the Lee factory crimp die.

 

[snod85]

spent the evening on the web and it seems loading to the Cannelure and a light crimp is normal and does reduce the COAL, but that jives with the shorter COAL listed in Horaneys manual. Maybe the shorter COAL will make it more universal to use. I did discover today that COAL is not so much a measurement as a rough range with these soft points. Just seating them changed the “point” on them.

If I’m crimping, is increased neck tension needed, does it hurt? Will be fun to see and I might learn something.

Also kept seeing H335 as being widely used with the 50-55s. Have several jugs so will try that first. In my youth I had A 223 bolt gun with a Hart barrel that really liked the 52s with H335, so that tracks. Just have to watch developing loads in 20 degree weather with it because I recall it is old school temperature sensitive. Probably set max at 25gr and find something down from there.

The goal is to load all these rounds from little used components I have on hand.

As soon as it gets above freezing I will start testing loads.

 

[RabbitSlayer]

Hornady sells 55 gr sp in 50 rd boxes. I assume its the same bullet. I have not loaded it, but I have shot hundreds. They group decent and put down coyotes and jacks hard. Tiny entrance and quarter to 50 cent piece size exits. It always exits. They do sometimes skip compared to a vmax, but better than FMJ. In my mind, a bulk bullet that is also decent for hunting is the way to go. I almost bought a bunch for fire forming the AI, but vmax blems were about the same price.

 

[mic2377]

Crimping is unnecessary with adequate neck tension. Seating to the cannelure is also unnecessary. If you want a bit of a crimp, the Hornady 55 SP's will still shoot fine if seated a bit deeper so the cannelure is at the case mouth.

I would use N133 or N135 before Varget. Varget is a bit too slow for the 50-55 gr bullets, but it will still likely shoot fine if you absolutely want to use it.

H335 is an outstanding 223 powder though, and you would be hard pressed to find a bolt or AR that doesn't shoot a 55 gr bullet over 24.3-24.8 gr (depending on burn rate of specific jug of powder) reasonably well. I consider the standard of 24.5 gr of H335 very hard to beat for blasting ammo. I have personally fired several thousand of this load through my AR's, and it has been more accurate and just as reliable as any factory ammo.

 

[troupe]

Hornady SP are very good bullets for everything, from hunting to self defense. I have seen the aftermath of them used for factory loaded duty ammo, bad outcome for the bad guy. Load to the cannelure and you will be fine.

 

[Highpower-FClass]

When I started loading 223/5.56, my first loads were with Hornady 55gr FMJ and 55gr SP.

These loads worked well for me. They were shot out of a bolt gun, not a gas gun.

55gr Hornady SP, LC Brass, Wolf Small Rifle Magnum primer, 24.0gr Varget, 2.22 COAL
55gr Hornady FMJ, LC Brass, Wolf Small Rifle Magnum primer, 24.0gr Varget, 2.22 COAL

The SP always did better than the FMJ in terms of accuracy.

I have since loaded some 30,000 rounds of 223, a vast majority being 77gr SMK, 80gr SMK and 80gr Berger VLDs. A large majority of these shot out of AR-15s. I never crimp.

 

[kwarw123]

H335 and H332 are hard to beat! Varget is better for heavier.

 

[jpjulian]

One of my .223 sizing dies has a 243 bushing size. I also use a standard sizing die without a bushing. I don't recall how much neck tension that gives but it is substantial with either die. There is no need to crimp. If you're loading what is essentially blasting ammo for several AR's seat those soft points or fmj's to their cannelure grooves and be done with it. Pick a less than max load from the Hornady manual for either bullet and load away. I prefer H335 and my load works very well in my four AR's and two bolt guns. I don't load a specific recipe for each rifle. I just grab a box of ammo and go shoot. TAC, the 4895's, 8208, 4064, RL15, 748, 2520, Varget, VV133-135....... the list goes on of suitable powder. Winchester, Remington, Starline and (EGADS!) Hornady cases work just fine too... Have fun!

 

[C.E.Smith043]

Loading up a bunch of 5.56 for nephews, and family members for their ARs. Many different brands and barrel lengths among them so not going to be able to dial anything in.

I’ll be using new Starline brass, CCI 41s, Varget or n135 and either of the two above bullets. I have several of the bulk boxes of each purchased in the 90s. Have other powders but more than I need of varget and n135 and it looks like both will work fine.

Main thing is they go bang, are completely reliable, and safe. I’ll obviously work up loads in my AR but mainly looking for safe pressures and hope to get lucky and find a decent SDs.

Have never loaded a rifle bullet with a Cannelure before. If I load to Cannelure my coals will be below 2.26 on each bullet. Still think I would rather take advantage of the groove and crimp it for reliability. Ordered a Lee factory crimp die.

Need advice on whether I should maintain 2.26 and put .0035” neck tension on it or load to Cannelure and crimp. I’ll put in the work and see for myself but wondering if anyone who has been down this road has thoughts.

I’ve got an AR but it’s not my thing. Bought the components for trade bait and prepping back in the day so no harm in running a bunch of rounds and passing them out now.

Also curious on thoughts on these two bullets from those that have used them. Uses are plinking, hopefully training, and hopefully not defense.

Thanks

With Varget I believe you will not have a problem with too much powder. That case just will not easily hold a max charge without spilling over.

Personally if I were in your shoes I would load to about a middle charge of Varget, should put it at about the bottom of the neck. Seat to the crimp ring and put a slight crimp on it using a Lee factory crimp die. If you wanted to take it a step further you could also put a small dab of primer sealant on the primers but definitely not necessary .

 

[snod85]

thanks all.

Update:

Hornady bulk soft points behaved a bit better than the FMJs but didn’t learn much. I suspect it was my first attempt at crimping. Only tried H335 and ran rough powder ladders at 0.5gr steps. Used an old scope at 10x. groups on all really meh at 1.5” at 100yds. Armalite 18” pencil chrome barrel.

What concerned me was 1 out of 7-10 rounds had an unacceptable velocity deviation. Like 60-70 fps. Delete those and everything else was closer to 15 than 20fps on five shot SDs. Bet it is my crimping technique.

Will try again ignoring the cannelure and crimp, and putting .0035” of neck tension on the bullet.

H335 should be fine and although hard to tell from first run bet I land around 24.5 to 24.8gr

Appreciate the comments.

 

[searcher]

I think you will probably see a good improvement in SD's after you stop the crimping. The deviation could also indicate combustion issue where another powder might work a bit better. I don't know if you have any Reloader 7, Varmint, Accurate LT32, H322, Tac - or even Varget laying around. If you do, maybe do a ladder comparison. especially with the LT32 or Reloader 7, as both shoot really well in a lot of rifles with those bullet weights. I think your neck tension is right on, a good compromise between not too much tension and having enough to make the round reliable. All said - might be interesting to see if your current best load shoots better out of a longer barrel of one of the kids, etc. You may already have the golden load for them. Has your Armalite 18" ever shot anything better than 1.5"? More than a few won't. Good luck!

 

[Fuj]

A bud of mine and his wife plinks alot with their AR's. I give em' all my
spent IMI brass. He loads Berry's 55gr.FMJ's and buy's bulk. I think it's
around $40 for 500. She can hit the 10" gong at 300 yards and he has no
problem with the 6" gong at same distance. Their AR's are budget PSA's
She just needs a better scope.....LOL

 

[searcher]

A bud of mine and his wife plinks alot with their AR's. I give em' all my
spent IMI brass. He loads Berry's 55gr.FMJ's and buy's bulk. I think it's
around $40 for 500. She can hit the 10" gong at 300 yards and he has no
problem with the 6" gong at same distance. Their AR's are budget PSA's
She just needs a better scope.....LOL

For plinking, I long ago used to use bulk 55 FMJ's till I realized how inaccurate they typically are compared to inexpensive lines of varmint bullets - especially the likes of the V-Max line, Ballistic Tips, Blitz Kings, etc. Teamed with Accurate LT32, Rel 7, IMR8208XBR, etc., those varmint bullets will usually change one's mind about what can make a good plinking bullet.