Spherical Ball powder winning long range ?
- Thread starter Hammer
- Start date
As a relative beginner (two years), I seat the bullet as soon as the case is charged. I weigh every charge.
Save $$ By Using Lake City 5.56x45mm Once-Fired GI Brass
http://bulletin.accurateshooter.com/2019/10/save-by-using-lake-city-5-56x45mm-once-fired-gi-brass/
Accuracy Potential of Mil-Surp 5.56×45 Brass
So, how accurate can previously-fired GI surplus brass be in a good National Match AR-15? Well, here’s a data point from many years ago that might be of interest. A High Power shooter who wrote for the late Precision Shooting magazine took a Bill Wylde-built AR match rifle to a registered Benchrest match. His first 5-round group ever fired in a BR match was officially measured at 0.231″ at 200 hundred yards. This was fired in front of witnesses, while using a moving target backer that confirmed all five rounds were fired.
He recounted that his ammo was loaded progressively with factory 52gr match bullets and a spherical powder using mixed years of LC brass with no special preparation whatsoever. Obviously, this was “exceptional”. However, he had no difficulty obtaining consistent 0.5-0.6 MOA accuracy at 200 yards using LC brass and a generic “practice” load that was not tuned to his rifle.
http://bulletin.accurateshooter.com/2019/10/save-by-using-lake-city-5-56x45mm-once-fired-gi-brass/
Accuracy Potential of Mil-Surp 5.56×45 Brass
So, how accurate can previously-fired GI surplus brass be in a good National Match AR-15? Well, here’s a data point from many years ago that might be of interest. A High Power shooter who wrote for the late Precision Shooting magazine took a Bill Wylde-built AR match rifle to a registered Benchrest match. His first 5-round group ever fired in a BR match was officially measured at 0.231″ at 200 hundred yards. This was fired in front of witnesses, while using a moving target backer that confirmed all five rounds were fired.
He recounted that his ammo was loaded progressively with factory 52gr match bullets and a spherical powder using mixed years of LC brass with no special preparation whatsoever. Obviously, this was “exceptional”. However, he had no difficulty obtaining consistent 0.5-0.6 MOA accuracy at 200 yards using LC brass and a generic “practice” load that was not tuned to his rifle.
There's spherical ball powder and flattened ball powder. The difference is that flattened ball powder is run through a roller press when still plastic to make it a more uniform thickness.
Nothing dangerous about it all (with the inspection step). In fact, with an extra post charging inspection step, I'd argue it's safer. If you use a loading block, and charge a batch of cases, it's very easy to use a light and inspect the powder inside the cases. It's a relative observation that's very quick to do, and it's very easy to spot an overfilled case.
The reason to do it, efficiency, in a process. Switching tasks adds to the process. You're handling the cases less
1) Charge all the cases
2) Inspect the levels of the powder in the cases as a batch (overhead light helps)
3) Drop bullets on top of cases while in the block
4) Seat bullets
IMO, it's also easier to operate a manual powder measure consistently if you charge all the cases like that, rather than switching between tasks.
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CaptainMal
Silver $$ Contributor
Yeah. Set up a large quantity of charged cases. Then bump the darn things by accident or spill powder up and into some by mistake. Stuff is everywhere and the whole batch goes into the toilet.
Been there and done that decades ago with handgun cartridges. Having blocks of charged cases sitting there is an accident waiting to happen.
Been there and done that decades ago with handgun cartridges. Having blocks of charged cases sitting there is an accident waiting to happen.
jelenko
Gold $$ Contributor
Yep. Been there, done it also.
But. It's taught me to respect my movements when reloading. Haven't had an accident since. Not to say it will never happen again.
Overall, I think it's a risk assessment of efficiency vs risk of 'oopsie'.
joshb
Gold $$ Contributor
joshb
Gold $$ Contributor
Benchmark.........Shhh! Don’t tell anyone!
Longtrain
Gold $$ Contributor
I used ball powders for short lines (200,300 yard stages) in XTC competitions for years. These were all dumped either from a Dillon 550 or a Redding 3BR measure. For the intended purpose they performed fine and the loads were accurate.
So, can you win F Class with ball powders? I recently took my 223 AI up to the range and shot a bunch of 69 SMK’s loaded with AA2460 from the 3BR measure, at 100 yards they shot groups of 3/4 MOA, and had an SD of 11. I loaded a few other batches of the same powder and components, using an A&D EJ-123 electronic scale, groups averaged under .4 MOA, the best being .319 MOA.
Now, with that being said, I normally wouldn’t use that ball powder with the 80.5 Berger’s that I use in competition, as I can’t get desired velocity without pressure issues. For those loads Norma 203B or RE-15 get me where I want to go.
So, IMO accuracy is possible with ball powders, measuring them carefully, possibly a slower powder, maybe even TAC, which can produce good velocities with the 80 grain range bullets. I have some and if this lockdown continues I may throw some together, we’ll see.
In the sense of LR success, I have never used ball powders for either the 308 or 6 Dasher and don’t plan to try, but it seems that decent accuracy is possible within limits of bullet weight and ball powder burn rates.
So, can you win F Class with ball powders? I recently took my 223 AI up to the range and shot a bunch of 69 SMK’s loaded with AA2460 from the 3BR measure, at 100 yards they shot groups of 3/4 MOA, and had an SD of 11. I loaded a few other batches of the same powder and components, using an A&D EJ-123 electronic scale, groups averaged under .4 MOA, the best being .319 MOA.
Now, with that being said, I normally wouldn’t use that ball powder with the 80.5 Berger’s that I use in competition, as I can’t get desired velocity without pressure issues. For those loads Norma 203B or RE-15 get me where I want to go.
So, IMO accuracy is possible with ball powders, measuring them carefully, possibly a slower powder, maybe even TAC, which can produce good velocities with the 80 grain range bullets. I have some and if this lockdown continues I may throw some together, we’ll see.
In the sense of LR success, I have never used ball powders for either the 308 or 6 Dasher and don’t plan to try, but it seems that decent accuracy is possible within limits of bullet weight and ball powder burn rates.
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