Excited!

[dukeboy_318]

Extremely excited, I've been reloading for a tad over a month, finally had the chance to take some out and try them out, out of 150 rounds I took with me, every single one fired, all the primers look good, I was just shooting steel plates, next I'll try paper to see how the accuracy compares. I'm just happy as a kid in a candy store that every round cycled in my AR flawlessly.

Recipe

Lake City 5.56 once fired brass
Remington 55 gr bullets
23.0 gr Hodgens Vargent powder.

 

[Dwight D]

You might think about picking up a chronograph to check velocities and see how your loads compare with the mil spec stuff. I found that using a chronograph really helps.

 

[Cerberus]

I too, just recently settled on my AR reload. My recipe is from M4Carbine.net, and it shoots exactly like the factory Federal XM193 I've been using. Liked the follwing load better than any other I tried.

Brass: mixed Commercial and MilSpec.
Primer: CCI #41
Powder: Ramshot TAC, 24.5 gr.
Bullet: Hornady FMJBT 55 gr.

 

[Broom_jm]

I too, just recently settled on my AR reload. My recipe is from M4Carbine.net, and it shoots exactly like the factory Federal XM193 I've been using. Liked the follwing load better than any other I tried.

Brass: mixed Commercial and MilSpec.
Primer: CCI #41
Powder: Ramshot TAC, 24.5 gr.
Bullet: Hornady FMJBT 55 gr.

NOTE - DISCLAIMER:

The load mentioned above is not at or near maximum pressure. Use caution when mixing commercial and mil-surp brass as some of the military cases are much thicker-walled, resulting in less internal capacity and greater pressures.

It is best to separate your commercial and mil-surp brass and create different loads for them. Barring this standard industry practice, what some folks do is actually measure capacity for their various cases, to ensure they are not engaging in unsafe practices. This is exactly why I am hesitant to post any loads on the Internet and why I NEVER use load data found in forums like this.

YMMV -- yada, yada, yada

 

[Cerberus]

NOTE - DISCLAIMER:

The load mentioned above is not at or near maximum pressure. Use caution when mixing commercial and mil-surp brass as some of the military cases are much thicker-walled, resulting in less internal capacity and greater pressures.

It is best to separate your commercial and mil-surp brass and create different loads for them. Barring this standard industry practice, what some folks do is actually measure capacity for their various cases, to ensure they are not engaging in unsafe practices. This is exactly why I am hesitant to post any loads on the Internet and why I NEVER use load data found in forums like this.

YMMV -- yada, yada, yada

How long is this myth going to go on regarding .223/5.56 brass? I think this horse has been beat to death so many times over the years. And FYI, I never use internet load recipes if they meet or exceed published data.

 

[Broom_jm]

How long is this myth going to go on regarding .223/5.56 brass? I think this horse has been beat to death so many times over the years. And FYI, I never use internet load recipes if they meet or exceed published data.

Actually, if you had access to pressure trace equipment and called a professional ballistician a personal friend, you would be pretty well convinced that swapping back and forth between various case manufacturers, military or otherwise, is simply unsound reloading practice. I guess for guys who just want to burn through a few hundred rounds of ammo, quantity is all that matters.

For those of you who prefer consistency and safety in your reloading practice, segregate your brass and follow standard industry practices.

The OP was smart enough to use all one kind of brass for his reloading. Kudos to him for listening to sound advice and keeping reloading safe AND fun!

 

[dukeboy_318]

I'm mainly looking to see how consistent I can get the loads, that's why I separated by head stamp, as for mixed, brass, there's a good study in one of the books I have on reloading, let me find it and I'll post it later

 

[Cerberus]

Actually, if you had access to pressure trace equipment and called a professional ballistician a personal friend, you would be pretty well convinced that swapping back and forth between various case manufacturers, military or otherwise, is simply unsound reloading practice. I guess for guys who just want to burn through a few hundred rounds of ammo, quantity is all that matters.

For those of you who prefer consistency and safety in your reloading practice, segregate your brass and follow standard industry practices.

The OP was smart enough to use all one kind of brass for his reloading. Kudos to him for listening to sound advice and keeping reloading safe AND fun!

So I suppose all those profession minded and learned folks that have gone and done all sorts of testing on the various types of .223/5.56 brass around don't know squat? Maybe all those various brands that seem to be within a grain weight of each other would indicate that the case walls are thinker? What about when the heavier stuff was commercial .223? Maybe I'll even take in a few samples, cut them in half and mike the casewalls to within a half thousand and see what I get.

And I always work up loads with segrgated brass.

Let's keep floggin the Equus.

Check out the image in the 5th post
http://www.ar15.com/forums/t_6_42/360522_5_56_vs__223_Rem__Brass.html

 

[Broom_jm]

"Profession minded".."case walls are thinker"..."segrgated brass" ???

The image in the 5th post is from a member of AR15.com who goes by the name of "Molon". Are you suggesting that we ignore the admonition of paid ballisticians and every reloading manual ever made, and accept this contrived "data" from an internet poster as gospel?

This isn't anything personal, it's reloading 101. When you change ANY component of a load, you back off your charge and work up again. If you have a problem with that, take it up with the good folks at Lyman, Lee, RCBS, Hornady, Speer, Sierra, Nosler, etc, etc.

All I can say is you must be one of these guys who doesn't care all that much about precision shooting because if you did, you would KNOW that changing internal case capacity by even 1 grain of H20 will often impact your group sizes. If all you care about is loading and burning through a few hundred rounds at a time, stick with middling charges and you'll be fine. Just don't presume to give reloading advice w/o also supplying a disclaimer.

 

[Cerberus]

This isn't anything personal, it's reloading 101. When you change ANY component of a load, you back off your charge and work up again. If you have a problem with that, take it up with the good folks at Lyman, Lee, RCBS, Hornady, Speer, Sierra, Nosler, etc, etc.

Did I say I didn't do any of this? No I was rebuking your assertion that commercial and military .223/5.56 brass is different. It appearently isn't.

All I can say is you must be one of these guys who doesn't care all that much about precision shooting because if you did, you would KNOW that changing internal case capacity by even 1 grain of H20 will often impact your group sizes. If all you care about is loading and burning through a few hundred rounds at a time, stick with middling charges and you'll be fine. Just don't presume to give reloading advice w/o also supplying a disclaimer.

No I don't do precision shooting. If so I would not have been working up a load to match common XM193 in target performance.

 

[Broom_jm]

Well, glad we got all of that cleared up and I apologize to the OP for helping derail this thread.

Talking about reloading sure is different in a state where long-range, high-power rifle shooting is relatively scarce. It seems like 90% of the reloading done here in Indiana is for semi-auto pistol or AR's in 223. High-volume shooting, with a greater emphasis on numbers and economy than the finer points of accurate reloading. It seems that my experience with match-grade reloading not only falls on deaf ears, at times, but also irritates some of those ears.

I apologize for that as well, but there are certain truths in reloading that I will stick to, even if some folks don't take kindly to them.

 

[dukeboy_318]

It's all good guys, healthy debate is a good way to bring out facts, you just have to be able to sort through the personal spins on things to get to the facts.

 

[Cerberus]

It seems that my experience with match-grade reloading not only falls on deaf ears, at times, but also irritates some of those ears.

Oh, not at all really. Just posting a loading I found that works the same with all the types of .223 brass I got laying around.

Now when I go to work up my 77gr longer range load, I'll be splitting hairs like you do.