Hey y'all,
Sharing some experiences with One Shot and 223AI.
I am loading for PRS. Shooting 80ELD-M with 2208 (Varget).
I have been trying Hornady One Shot. Now I am good at removing stuck cases! Having said that, I have it working for my 223AI and 308 (hunting rifle), and once I got the hang of it, and "seasoned" the dies, it works really well.
- I am using the plastic bag method of applying One Shot
- It seems to take a few cases to "season" the dies. Of course that is after following the instructions on the can: clean the die with IPA or similar, then spray with One Shot and let it dry for a minute or two before using. - The primers go in real easy like, because I am guessing the primer pocket gets One Shot in it.
- I found that the case holder would rip the rim off the case, leaving the case stuck in the die. It did not take much force to do this. The 223 is much worse at this than the 308. I have two case holders - the one I was using was a loose fit, so it was holding on to less rim, meaning it would rip the rim off more easily. Switching to the tighter case holder helped a lot. When removing stuck cases, I found a mild steel bolt was having its thread stripped by the brass (I know right!), so I switched to an Unbrako capscrew. I was also using a cheap, crappy 6mm tap. I bought an HSS tap and it is sooo much better. Sharper and produces a much better thread.
- I changed to a larger neck bushing (247), so the brass is being worked less. This reduces the force required to size the brass. Although having said that, I think most of the friction that causes case to stick is from the body of the case, not the neck.
My next challenge is to reduce my ES/SD. I have ES of up to 50 fps (5 shots) and SD of 15-20. I notice that Mr Freedom Seed recommends sorting out SD by focusing on combustion - things like powder, primer, neck tension and case volume. I am using ADI and Starline brass. He says don't even worry about grouping until you have combustion sorted out. I am planning to try another primer or two (currently using Federal 200), Benchmark 2 and testing whether the change to the 247 bushing has helped by giving a more consistent neck tension.
I am getting 2730fps with 88ELD-M using 25.1gn 2208 and Federal 200 primers. That is around 260fps faster than the recommended max for standard 223. I have yet to test velocities with 80ELD-M. Initial OCW testing has the rifle producing 0.3" 3 shot groups at 100m.
I welcome suggestions on how to approach reducing ES/SD.
Sharing some experiences with One Shot and 223AI.
I am loading for PRS. Shooting 80ELD-M with 2208 (Varget).
I have been trying Hornady One Shot. Now I am good at removing stuck cases! Having said that, I have it working for my 223AI and 308 (hunting rifle), and once I got the hang of it, and "seasoned" the dies, it works really well.
- I am using the plastic bag method of applying One Shot
- It seems to take a few cases to "season" the dies. Of course that is after following the instructions on the can: clean the die with IPA or similar, then spray with One Shot and let it dry for a minute or two before using. - The primers go in real easy like, because I am guessing the primer pocket gets One Shot in it.
- I found that the case holder would rip the rim off the case, leaving the case stuck in the die. It did not take much force to do this. The 223 is much worse at this than the 308. I have two case holders - the one I was using was a loose fit, so it was holding on to less rim, meaning it would rip the rim off more easily. Switching to the tighter case holder helped a lot. When removing stuck cases, I found a mild steel bolt was having its thread stripped by the brass (I know right!), so I switched to an Unbrako capscrew. I was also using a cheap, crappy 6mm tap. I bought an HSS tap and it is sooo much better. Sharper and produces a much better thread.
- I changed to a larger neck bushing (247), so the brass is being worked less. This reduces the force required to size the brass. Although having said that, I think most of the friction that causes case to stick is from the body of the case, not the neck.
My next challenge is to reduce my ES/SD. I have ES of up to 50 fps (5 shots) and SD of 15-20. I notice that Mr Freedom Seed recommends sorting out SD by focusing on combustion - things like powder, primer, neck tension and case volume. I am using ADI and Starline brass. He says don't even worry about grouping until you have combustion sorted out. I am planning to try another primer or two (currently using Federal 200), Benchmark 2 and testing whether the change to the 247 bushing has helped by giving a more consistent neck tension.
I am getting 2730fps with 88ELD-M using 25.1gn 2208 and Federal 200 primers. That is around 260fps faster than the recommended max for standard 223. I have yet to test velocities with 80ELD-M. Initial OCW testing has the rifle producing 0.3" 3 shot groups at 100m.
I welcome suggestions on how to approach reducing ES/SD.
