.223 80GR SMK OAL

[Thang]

Hello all,

I recently loaded 100 .223 ammo. and have a question about OAL.

load is as follows.

80 Gr Sierra match king

23 Grains of AR2208

Lapua brass

The question is my sierra manual states to load the 80Gr SMK at 2.550" but like a moron I forgot to adjust my redding comp seater from loading from loading 75Gr Amax. so my OAL for the sierras is 2.385"

Is this safe? I am paranoid about just shooting it and seeing what happens.

I should add that the 75Gr Amax is longer than the 80 Gr SMK which is confusing me.

any help would be appreciated

cheers

[Amerflyer48]

When my Dad taught me to reload the Mantra was:

When in doubt, pull them out

Think of it this way 50-60,000 PSI say 8" away from your face normally and we know short seated pistol rounds go up in pressure so it makes sense the same thing for rifle cartridges (smaller combustion chamber)

Every reloading press should come with a bullet puller be glad you didn't setup to run 500

Learn the Lesson, recover the components and err on the side of safety always

John

[Cotys]

I do lots of Hornady 75 gr BTHP, but not the AMAX or 80 gr Sierras. I saw a guy at the range blowing the bases off of brass with 75 gr AMAX loaded to mag length (2.250). Don't remember what his load was. You are quite a bit longer than that.

I ran your load in QuickLOAD - 80 Grain SMK, 23 gr AR2208, to a length of 2.385. Is shows 56897 psi, which is below the max of 62366. That puts you about 8% below max pressure. I do not know the case capacity in H2O of the Lapua. QuickLOAD is showing 28.49 grains H2O to do the calcs. Quickload is showing 2661 fps at this configuration.

Just curious, you loading them one at a time in an AR or a bolt gun?

EDIT: I re-ran with commercial brass SAAMI specs. The max for .223 SAAMI is 55000 psi. This would be in the red and over pressure by 323 psi. I would expect Lapua to be milspec brass for 5.56, but I do not know.

Edited October 19, 2012 by Cotys

[Cotys]

I do lots of Hornady 75 gr BTHP, but not the AMAX or 80 gr Sierras. I saw a guy at the range blowing the bases off of brass with 75 gr AMAX loaded to mag length (2.250). Don't remember what his load was. You are quite a bit longer than that.

I ran your load in QuickLOAD - 80 Grain SMK, 23 gr AR2208, to a length of 2.385. Is shows 56897 psi, which is below the max of 62366. That puts you about 8% below max pressure. I do not know the case capacity in H2O of the Lapua. QuickLOAD is showing 28.49 grains H2O to do the calcs. Quickload is showing 2661 fps at this configuration.

Just curious, you loading them one at a time in an AR or a bolt gun?

EDIT: I re-ran with commercial brass SAAMI specs. The max for .223 SAAMI is 55000 psi. This would be in the red and over pressure by 323 psi. I would expect Lapua to be milspec brass for 5.56, but I do not know.

Looks like Lapua markets this brass as .223 Match. 223 has a weaker web (internal base) than military brass. At this OAL you are just over the pressure line (with QuickLOAD calcs). At least it is only 100. I prefer a die type bullet puller, but also have a kinetic bullet puller (I call the suicide hammer).

[redial]

Whether it's safe depends entirely on your chamber and leade. That said, your load seems quite normal for most common Service Rifle barrels. In a NATO chamber 2.550, I load the Sierra 30 thou off the lands, as do most. Your load may not exhibit the best accuracy but since Sierras are very jump - tolerant, it may shoot well! If you're uneasy about it, pull the bullets like others have suggested.

Mark

[Thang]

Thanks all for your input it is much appreciated.

If it helps at all I shoot Fullbore (Palma) so my face is pretty close to the bolt. AR's are highly illegal in Australia since 1997 when some guy went nuts and decided to go on a massacre.

we also can't own pistol with caliber over .38 without a separate permit and magazine over 10 rounds.

i shot a few rounds into my Snail System and you are all right it does show signs of overpressure on the base.

I have decided to pull the bullets just in case.

Lesson learnt.

I kind of like my face where it is