Reloading .223

[tomneal]

I picked up a case of Montana Gold .223 bullets and a thousand processed sticks of brass.
Have plenty of WSR primers

I plan to reload on a Dillon 650.

Any suggestions on Powder?

What about dies?

[Houston1944]

If I were loading 223 in my 650 I would use Win748. Very accurate and meters very good. BLC2 or H380 would also be good candidates for the 223 in a Dillon measurer.

[tomneal]

That's odd.
I just checked my powder cabinet and found a pound of each.

I must have acquired it to reload .308

Thanks for the help.

[dukalmighty]

I use reloader 7 21.5 grns behind a 55 grn fmj milsurp bullet for bullet tips i buy 5000 55grn from widenrs for 345.00 with free shipping.I been trimming cases using a drill and case length gauge trimmer fer about 3 hours now theres gotta be a better way.I only shoot between 30 and 50 rounda a session but my buddy has a m16 with a 100 round beta mag and he shoots a lot.I load for him a little above my cost and i get to shoot his full autos wheever i ask nicely.He's got m16,ak47,thompson 45,uzi ful size,mac 11 ,a hkmp5,and maybe a few i haven't seen,It gets real noisy when he shows up

[Hamourkiller]

The only way to fly on trimming is with a Dillon sizer trimmer! Works like a champion on those 223's.

[tomneal]

How often do you trim brass fired from your rifle?

I have brass ready to go and I have a trimmer.
I just don't know if the brass will get longer on one firing from my rifle.

[ShootingStar]

Tom,

I have a Dillon power trimmer and really like it. You need to trim with every reloading, as measuring every case will take you more time than just running it through. Oh, the Dillon Power Trimmer resizes And Trims your cases at the same time. Be careful when you adjust it or you will chip the carbide cutter, which I did on mine. If you follow the written directions you should be fine.

I don't believe you mentioned what weight your bullets were, but I'm assuming they're 55gr. Get the Sierra Reloading manual as it has a special .223 section specifically for the AR-15 that no other manual has. It also has reloading .223 for a bolt action and TC Contender pistol too. It lists lots of powders, but H335 and Varget are pretty favored among Hi-power shooters with light bullets. I went with AA2520 because I was using a 75 or 77gr bullet and this gave me the second highest velocity of any of the powders listed in the manual. I'm still testing it, but have fired 100 reloaded rounds using this combination and so far like it. I also want a clean burning powder, but haven't fired enough rounds through it to tell how clean it burns.

If you're going to be at the match Saturday, I can bring the manual with me for you to look at. It isn't the cheapest out there, but it sure covers more than the others. It's worth having just for the AR-15 section alone. I also recommend a book called "Black magic" that is written by a Hi-power shooter and has a good section on loading ammo. He covers all of the steps to reloading as well as the extra things that you don't have to do, like uniforming the primer flash hole, and how beneficial they are. I can then decide if it's worth the extra work to do.

-ss

[tomneal]

I am planning to be at Greenwood on Saturday.

[jpierce30]

Shooting Star,
Do you have the name of the author of "Black Magic"? Sounds like a book I need to pick up.
Thanks
Jim Pierce

[WildBill]

You need to trim with every reloading, as measuring every case will take you more time than just running it through. -ss

Does this apply if you are using a bolt action rifle or only an autoloader?

[tomneal]

Black Magic
It may be this one:
http://www.6mmbr.com/bookreviews.html
Black Magic—The Ultra Accurate AR-15 by John Feamster
Price: $24.95 (Softcover)
The first book to come to market on the AR-15, Black Magic is uthored by a Distinguished Marksman, and very successful AR-15 shooter. This guide proveds some 300 pages of insider-level information on how to wring the ultimate in accuracy out of both an AR-15 and its ammunition on both the target range and the varmint hunting fields.

[jpierce30]

Thanks for the book info. I will look into it.

[The Annoyed Man]

BTW, I haven't bought any reloading equipment yet, although that is my next major firearms related purchase, but I have a related question...

Am I the only one with a .223/5.56 rifle (Bushmaster Varminter) with a 9 twist that doesn't like the lighter bullets? I can't seem to get anything lighter than the 69 gr SMK to shoot accurately in commercial ammo.

[ShootingStar]

Jim,

Tom had it right, John Feamster wrote "Black Magic, the Ultra Accurate AR-15".

If you're shooting .223 out of a Bolt gun, then you can buy buy a special die that will just resize the neck. It's called a neck resizing die. However, it must have been fired out of YOUR gun to be sure that it will fit. The benefit of this is that it will make your brass last longer and there may also be some benefit to it fitting your chamber like it was custom fit.

With a neck sizing die, you might get away without resizing them as opposed to using a full length sizing die. After full length resizing the brass can get longer. This is main reason why you need to trim your brass. At any rate, if I was reloading for a bolt gun, I'd just use a neck sizing die and measure the length of the brass. For a semi-auto, the brass has to Easily go up the feedramp and into the chamber. With a bolt gun you just push a little harder and it goes.

Tom, about powders for the AR, Varget is supposed to be Less temperature sensitive than others. There are a lot of people out there that like it pretty well. Though it's not a ball powder, some say that it meters very well for an extruded powder.

When it comes to rifling, you might consider either a 1/7 or 1/8 so you can shoot the heavier bullets. For some reason, most ARs you buy today come standard with a 1/9 and they don't stablize most bullets over 69 grains. The faster twist barrels will shoot the 55gr bullets just fine with the added advantage of shooting something lighter if you later decide to. Something to think about if you haven't already bought.

One more thing to keep in mind, .223 and 5.56 are not exactly the same. The 5.56 has a longer throat that enables it to handle higher pressures. This also means that the bullet has longer to go before it contacts the rifling. If you want accuracy, go with a .223 chamber, but if you want to safely fire military surplus ammo, then get a 5.56. Busmaster has a good article on their website about the differences. There is also a Wilde chamber which is supposed to be a compromise between the two. I decided to try the Wilde chamber with I had my ar rebarreled. The jury is still out, but so far it seems to shoot OK. I'm not into high power and don't anywhere near the experience they have, but I do like to tinker and experiment.

Sorry it took so long for me to answer this, but I've been beyond busy lately.

-ss

[ForneyRider]

I'm using AA 2230 for lighter bullets, <60gr.
I use H-Varget and Reloder 15 for heavier bullets.

AA 2230 is like sand.

Varget and RE 15 work okay in powder droppers.

Also, IMR 3031 for lighter bullets, and IMR 4064 for heavier. But no luck with IMR powders (regular length) in powder droppers.