223 case volumes

[usmc1974]

WOW! It is amazing how much 223 case volumes vary. I took all cases tried to 1.750 cases like LC and Federal held 27 grains varget, and came just to the bottom of the neck. Cases GFL an S&B would not even hold 27 grains. 

Edited August 8, 2018 by usmc1974

[M1A4ME]

I've never used Varget in .223.  I use IMR4198, BLC2 and H335.  Near max loads with IMR4198 and BLC2.  I charge 50 cases with powder, angle the loading block towards me and use a bright flashlight to check for powder and do a side by side powder level comparison.  If I see any that look odd (high/low) I weigh the charge on the scale.

 

I sometimes notice (or think I do) a slight variation in powder level and pick out 10 from every 50 to check on the scale.  But I've not paid attention to the case head stamps. to see if there's a trend to those that look "high" to me.  Honestly, with H335 I've never found one off target and with BLC2 10% of the ones I check might be off by 0.1 grains.  They looked high/low to me (some of them), but I just didn't check the head stamps.

 

I remember weighing a variety of .223 cases a few years back when I started shooting AR15's and loading for them, but there wasn't enough difference to worry about in the weight differences between resized, trimmed cases.  Again, I can't say what the headstamps were, at that time, it was over 10 years ago.

 

In the future, when I'm loading the plinking ammo with mixed brass, I'll pay more attention to case weight when I see one that appears to have more powder than the next one - especially when the charge weights are on target.

[rustybayonet]

14 hours ago, usmc1974 said:

WOW! It is amazing how much 223 case volumes vary. I took all cases tried to 1.750 cases like LC and Federal held 27 grains varget, and came just to the bottom of the neck. Cases GFL an S&B would not even hold 27 grains. 

You may want to make sure of your cases. I have never seen an LC .223, they are normally 5.56mm.

You need to load 5.56 and 223 as 2 different rounds.

[usmc1974]

2 hours ago, rustybayonet said:

You may want to make sure of your cases. I have never seen an LC .223, they are normally 5.56mm.

You need to load 5.56 and 223 as 2 different rounds.

Not really, PMC 223 holds. 30.4 volume h2o..Remington 223 holds 30.4 and lc04 holds 30.4 lc 06 is 30.6 even softer to shoot. I am pretty careful about not blowing myselfself up.

Edited August 9, 2018 by usmc1974