Loading .223

[outerlimits]

for a long time i've been curious why different .223 ammo shoots so different in all guns. what shoots great in some, ain't so great in others-even with the exact same load. some barrels like lighter bullets, others heavy. so, i'm curious, for reloading .223, what are the critical things? obviously bullets, but after that, then, what? i've shot lots of different powders, and don't think that matters much. so, what's next? case prep? case length? OAL? crimp? we're not shooting benchrest in 3-gun, but what might be the most critical part of reloading for .223?

[GentlemanJim]

case prep is critical

all should be identical and tp proper dimension

Jim

[Dan Sierpina]

My case prep is simple, size and trim, well and deburr the neck. I do batch size in a single stage however. Trimming and deburring is done with a Gracey trimmer with a carbide cutter from Bob Jones.

I think the light bullet thing is that someone buys 55 fmj's and gets marginal results. Then they try 69 Match Kings and lo and behold the match bullets shoot good, where the "cone of fire" bullets don't.

Another thing I've been noticing mentioned here is trimming and trying to skip the deburring/chamfering step. The bullet base is the important part. It doesn't take much distortion to make a bullet fly wrong.

You want good groups, feed the thing good bullets!

[wsimpso1]

Critical in 223 Rem?

As Dan put it, "feed the thing good bullets". Most 55 FMJ fly for crap, but Hornady's 55 FMJ's are reputed to fly fine. Match bullets from the standard makers all fly pretty darn good out of capable barrels.

After that, it is consistent case preparation:

Size the cases for consistent and small headspace clearance in your chamber (0.002" of shoulder setback relative to the case just fired in that gun is plenty, and the cases will last more reloads);

Trim to consistent length and chamfer case mouths.

One other thing. Once you find a receipe (bullet/powder/primer/case) that your barrel likes, load a lot of it.

Billski

[OpnBlstr]

Try Nosler Ballistic Tip 55gr. I shoot 'em out of my 1:8 Wilson, 1:8 DPMS, and 1:9 Armalite barrels and all my guns love the things! I can't seem to make a crappy load with the BTs.

I trim and deburr the cases and load in a 650 with either Hodgdon H335 or Vihta N135. My 3-Gun load runs about 3300 in a 20" barrel.

My practice load of Winchester 55 gr FMJ is not nearly as accurate or consistent.

I have also had awesome accuracy with the Nosler 69gr J4 Competition and the Hornady 75gr bullets. Both of these I load with Vihta 540. The 75s really ring long range steel.

[ap3]

If there is one basic thing for precision shooting in 223 it is cases of very similiar weight (after bullets). Since the outside dimension will all be in same, a heavier case will create greater pressure with the same load as compared to a lighter case due to there being less internal space. OAL is important, but with an AR you are limited by how far you can go into the lands by the magazine. Different barrels have different harmonics that is why the same ammo shoots different groups in different barrels. When the bullet exists the barrel relative to the shall we say flex of the barrel it what I understand you are trying to tune your loads for.

Powder is important, but I believe it is more important in getting you to the velocity you want to shoot while matching up your load to the harmonics of the barrel. If I am shooting 55gr bullets for targets 50 yards and under then loads are not a big deal, but if I am shooting a flasher at 300 yards I want a 69gr bullet to shoot an excellent group and smack the target, so the RO can easily see the flash, therefore higher velocity is better so I have to use the powder that will allow me to tune the load at a higher velocity.

When you are working up loads and you are using cases that have almost the identical weight you will find you can get optimal groups from one or more loads with the same type of powder. For example, if I use LC cases that weighs between 94.5-94.7(without the primer and trimmed) I can get almost the same group with a load of 25.0 TAC as I do with 25.6, however anything in between, over, or under and the groups open back up.

You probably know this but a point to consider when picking the bullet you are going to work loads up with is BC (ballistic coefficient). The higher this number then the less drop you get over distance. Once you have picked a good bullet then to me harmonics of the load is everything.

This is just me .02 cents, as I am sure there are many people on this forum that are more knowledgbel about precision reloading than I am.

[el pres]

How close do you need to keep the weight? 0.1, 0.5, What about carbon build up in the primer pocket, if it's 0.1-0.2

would things like that make a weight difference..

[kurtm]

I have found that deburring the flash hole to be a biggy in .223, and I have found powders to be rather barrel specific, BUT like James posted if it won't shoot Nozler 55/69 or Hornaday 75 ( for the fast twist guys) it probably is a bad barrel!

[ap3]

How close do you need to keep the weight? 0.1, 0.5, What about carbon build up in the primer pocket, if it's 0.1-0.2

would things like that make a weight difference..

I agree the uniformity of the primer pocket, and removing the carbon is very important. I was just trying to answer the question of the first thing that you would start with to reduce significant variation, sort of the next critical thing after bullet selection towards a precision load.

Once you know what the best loads is for your barrel by systematically reducing variation in the components, then it you could widen the range of brass weight you use within your acceptable group size for 3 gun competition.

As much 223 shooting as we all end up doing in a year the last thing I want to do is weigh all my cases within such a narrow range even for the 69gr loads.