reloading 223 bullet question

[Biskitryder]

Have loaded pistol ammo for years but just started reloading for an AR I built. I've loaded 100 rnds or so of Hornady 50gr V max using the mfg manuals basic load data, pretty easy and basic. Now I want to move on and have run into a few questions I don't know the answers to. There seems to be a massive number of bullets available for the 223, from 36 gr up to 90 gr, all with their corresponding, varying lengths. Some don't have any mfg data available. I'm guessing that the heavier/longer bullets are more appropriate for bolt guns and not for use in the AR? Just thinking about bullet seat depth, room for powder charge, and staying within COAL. On the shorter bullet side, how do you stay up to the COAL, still keep the bullet seated in the brass, and not worrying about bullet "jump" distance that I've read about on some other forums? :-\

 

[Shynloco]

Saw your post and thought I'd throw this out to you for your consideration. I'm not much into AR's, but do load for several calibers of bolt guns that I have that I shoot paper with. My hunting days are long gone and the accuracy thing bit me a few years ago and I've been chasing that 5 shot one holer. But your question raises a couple of issue you touched on that might be of some interest.

First off, I know you are talking .223 in an AR, but you didn't tell us what you are wanting to use it for. I do load for my son's KAR 15 that he uses for general shooting pleasure and fun. In his loads, I use 55 gr SIerra's being pushes by Varget. But I shoot weekly with a group of guys who shoot all sorts of rifles and AR's in different cailbers. Something that might help you a little is this business about seating bullets to various degrees and length, is to see what other do using similar weapons and calibers.. And then there is the issue of "jump" or "jam." And I know you where wondering about all the different bullets available for an AR. As a general rule, your PARTICULAR rifle or AR is going to dictate what bullet it likes and whether that bullet needs to be seated with a full jump, partial jump or even jam. Just because it's an AR doesn't necessarily mean everybody load bullets into their magazines because jamming a bullet may exceed the length capaibility to load it into the magazine. In shoot with one such fellow who shoots a 260 AR with a Match Grade Barrel where he jams the bullet and that rifle shoots 1" groups @ 300 yds. So what I've done in the past, is to look around or ask, what guys are using for certain circumstance and purposes. You sure don't want (in most instances) to use a "target bullet" for a "hunting purpose." Likewise visa versa...hunting bullets won't cut paper nearly as accurately as a target bullet. SO perhaps you might want to tell us what rifle you are loading for and what you are chasing in terms of purpose. That might alone help narrow the field of hundreds of potential bullets you have to look at and thereby cutting your field down much narrower to test with. And yes, some bullets don't have much info available, other than what others have used or tested. Bergers for instance are amongst that category and I just had a rifle conversion completed from a 22-250 over to a 6.5 X 55. Just so happens that some of the guys I shoot with shoot the various sized casing 6.5 cartridges, but all have found ultimate accuracy using one of two bullets, either a Berger Target 140 Gr VLD or the Sierra 142 Gr VLD. BTW, Berger makes Hunting VLD;s also. So I am testing these two bullets right now because they apparently present the best accuracy not only to these guys, but to others who have posted their successes with these bullets on this blog. So give us some tighter guidelines (rifle, barrel, barrel twist and purpose) to help you out in giving you some ideas on what might work the best in your rifle. Lastly never assume what works in any other rifle will work in yours. But at least it'll narrow the field for choosing the bullet, the powder, even the primers and casings that other have found to work the best in their rifles. Good luck and have fun with that .223 AR.

 

[Turbulent Turtle]

Have loaded pistol ammo for years but just started reloading for an AR I built. I've loaded 100 rnds or so of Hornady 50gr V max using the mfg manuals basic load data, pretty easy and basic. Now I want to move on and have run into a few questions I don't know the answers to. There seems to be a massive number of bullets available for the 223, from 36 gr up to 90 gr, all with their corresponding, varying lengths. Some don't have any mfg data available. I'm guessing that the heavier/longer bullets are more appropriate for bolt guns and not for use in the AR? Just thinking about bullet seat depth, room for powder charge, and staying within COAL. On the shorter bullet side, how do you stay up to the COAL, still keep the bullet seated in the brass, and not worrying about bullet "jump" distance that I've read about on some other forums? :-\

I really all depends on what you want to do with your AR. The first consideration for COAL is that the cartridges fit in your magazine, so bullet jump is not an issue; all mag-length cartridges will have their bullets jump.

The second consideration is the rifling twist of your barrel. This will dictate the maximumm length of the bullet that can be stabilized by your barrel. If the twist is 1:7 or 1:8 you can shoot any bullet up to and including the 80 grainers. If your twist is 1:9, anything up to 69grains will work fine and there may be several 75 grain bullets that can also work well, provided they are not the VLD types. You would need to experiment with them to verify.

The longer bullets usually have better BC values and are used for longer distances. I have sent downrange a large number of 80gr bullets from my ARs up to 1000 yards. These bullets force you to single load because they will not fit in the magazine. For distances under 600 yards the 75 and 77 grains are great and they do fit in the magazine. For under 300 yards the 69 and the various 50s are excellent. I am talking about target bullets here.

I do not crimp my .223 ammo, I have sufficient neck tension and the case is full of powder to hold the bullet in place. Good luck

 

[K22]

Bullet selection should be based on the twist of your rifle. See the forum's data on the 223 for recommendations.

I've had tremendous success with the 50 and 55 grain bullets in the 223 but all my rifles have 12" twists and are bolt guns. Personally, I don't care for any of the bullets under 50 grains regardless of the twist because of their susceptibility to the wind.

You question about COL depends on how deep your rifle is throated. I never seat bullets into the lands but I'm loading for hunting applications. Frankfort Arsenal makes an easy to use inexpensive tool to measure maximum COL of your rifle. (Available at Midway).

I'd measure the max COL of your rifle, back off .020" and start there working back. I have two rifles that prefer a relatively short COL as compared to my other rifles. I was suprised by that discovery but the folks at Sierra once wrote a paper on COL explaining this very fact that some rifles prefer shorter COL's. The only way to know is to experiment.

Many of the 223's in AR are being manufactured with fast twists to accomodate the heavier bullets for long range target shooting. It's best to contact the bullet supplier and get their load recommendations. I don't own any of these so I can't speak from experience.

 

[th82457]

The twist rate of the gun you are loading for will have a direct impact on what weight bullet will shoot the best. My AR has a 1-9 twist. It will shoot the 50 V-Max well on the light side, but will also handle bullets up to about 70 grains well. If your gun has a 1:12 twist, then it will run 40's to 55's at the heavy end. AR's now days have a wide range of twist rates from 1 in 7 to 1 in 14 for different shooting requirements, so once you indentify the twist rate, it should lead you to a recommended twist rate. Some loading manuals have loads for AR's based on twist rate of barrel. Good Luck, most of the new AR's are extremely accurate with the correct loads.

 

[Biskitryder]

Thanks guys.

18" heavy barrel - 5.56 w/caudle, 3 land rifling. Intended use, coyotes @ 100 - 400 yards. Twist rate was determined by their techs based on my use (1 - 9 or 1 - 10 seems to stick in my mind) but I can't find the numbers so I'm checking with them now.

Thanks to all for the advice and suggestions as to which way to go. There's more to it than I realized. Will post again when I get it all sorted out.

Next up will be starting reloads for my .204 and then throw in the shotshell reloader the wife got me for xmas. Thanks be to the internet and forums like these!