Reloading For The AR-15:  Hornady 75 Grain BTHP







Hornady produces three different versions of their 75 grain open-tip-match bullet in 22 caliber (0.224”). For this article, we’ll be looking at the projectile that is colloquially referred to as the “T1”.







The T1 is available as a reloading component, with a product number of #2279 for the 100 count boxes. It’s also available in 600 and 4000 count boxes.







I use the Hornady 75 grain BTHP bullet to load match-grade hand-loads for my semi-automatic AR-15s chambered in 5.56mm/223 Remington. According to Ballistic Performance of Rifle Bullets by Bryan Litz, the Hornady 75 grain BTHP has an average G1 ballistic coefficient of 0.356 and an average G7 ballistic coefficient of 0.183.

The lot of T1 projectiles used for this article have a nominal length of 0.988” and I load them to a nominal COAL of 2.245”. When fired from a Colt SOCOM barrel with a 5.56mm NATO chamber, this COAL will create a jump to the lands of 178 thousandths of an inch. When fired from a Larue Stealth barrel with a 223 Wylde chamber, this COAL will create a jump to the lands of 115 thousandths of an inch and when fired from a Krieger barrel with a 223 Remington chamber, this COAL will create a jump to the lands of 78 thousandths of an inch.

The jump to the lands figures stated above where obtained using a Sinclair bullet seating depth gauge and a Forster 223 Remington 1.4636” head-space gauge. These figures are contingent upon a variety of variables, such as the particular chamber reamer that was used for your barrel, the number of rounds that have been fired through your barrel when the measurement is obtained, the particular lot of bullets used and whether you use a virgin case, a fired case, a resized case or a head-space gauge to obtain this measurement.







WARNING!

Reloading is an inherently dangerous activity. The information provided here is for educational purposes only. It is not intended to be used for the actual loading of ammunition by the reader. No warranty, guarantee or assurance that these loads are safe is stated, suggested or implied nor should any be inferred. Usage of this information for the actual loading of ammunition may result in malfunctions, damage and destruction of property and grave injury or death to beings human in nature or otherwise. Don't even view this information in the presence of children or small animals.



For this hand-load of the Hornady 75 grain BTHP bullet, I use virgin Lake City brass that has been weight-sorted, match-prepped and neck-sized. The cases are primed with Federal GM205M primers and charged with VihtaVuori N140 powder and as mentioned above, the T1 projectile is seated to a COAL of 2.245”. This process is conducted in a semi-progressive manner on a Dillon XL-650 press using a digital electronic powder dispenser and scale to dispense a powder charge of 24.1 grains of the VihtaVuori N140.















When chronographed from a 20” Colt A2 barrel, a 10-shot string of this hand-load fired over an Oehler 35P produced a muzzle velocity of 2638 FPS with a standard deviation of 4 FPS and a coefficient of variation of 0.15%. (The muzzle velocity was calculated from the instrumental velocity using Oehler Ballistic Explorer.) A 10-shot group fired from one of my Krieger barreled AR-15s, at distance of 100 yards using my bench-rest set-up, had an extreme spread of 0.526 MOA.







No canines were harmed during the testing of this ammunition.











….

thanks for the info.  my load is very similar but 25 grains of varget, very accurate load and great bullet for AR 15

What twist rate was the test barrel? Do you need faster than a 1:9 to stabilize these well?

Thank you for yet another excellent post sir!   Particularly appreciate you explaining the 3 different flavors of the 75s Hornady has.  

In my experience, I find the Hornady 75 gr bullet to be under appreciated. It can be quite accurate, and technically has a better BC than most 77 gr bullets.  Better BC combined with potential for slightly faster muzzle velocity, with a bullet that typically costs notably less than the 77 SMK; that's a pretty picture.  

I do know most High Power Service Rifle shooters do like to push the speed a bit, and will crowd up to 2800 FPS out of a 20"; often pushing a little past published max-loads to do it.  Obviously your goal was to test the bullet first and the maximizing of speed was not the test objective.  But all the same, if you do some future tests, it would be neat to see your test methodology evaluate what it does when pushed a little harder.

As always, appreciate your posts tremendously, and pleased to see you still doing so (for some reason I thought you stopped).

Also, to answer @Shootindave (if I may - apologies for butting into the thread); in general - yes, you need faster than 1/9.  I don't think Colt makes a 1/9, and pretty sure that barrel was noted as 1/7 in another thread; so I'm guessing it's a 1/7 in these tests.  Also, beware - as I've experienced an event where a 1/9 seemed to stabilize this very bullet at 100 and 200 yards, and then completely fall apart on me at farther distances.  I personally wouldn't recommend combining this bullet with a 1/9 twist; though others have been able to do so - so who knows, it might work in yours.

Thanks Molon

Thanks!

They are very effective with 24.5 Varget, and crunch just a bit when at magazine OAL.  I measured 2690 to 2700fps muzzle velocity in a 20" Shilen.  I just used my last pound of Varget, and giving up finding more.  I'm going to have to work up an IMR4895 or H4895 load.  I do appreciate the discount compared to 77 Sierras.

Colt does/did make a 1/9" barrel..... usually it was in the HBAR version.....  
So Molon (THANK YOU for the post) may have to clarify but I too thought in his testing he used a 1/7"......  

What's the difference between T1C and T2? Match vs. not considered match? I've got 2k of the Powder Valley 75gr that come in a 500 piece bulk bag. Curious which they are.

T2 has a blunter ogive.

https://www.hornadyle.com/rifle-ammunition/75-gr-bthp-t2-tap#

I shot a lot of Hornady 75s from 1999 through 2001/2 because they were typically $2 cheaper per hundred than Sierras.  Loaded on top of 24.5 grains of Varget they shot to the same elevation and group zeros as Sierra 77s in a 20-inch Krieger-barreled service rifle.

I bought them in 500-round sleeves (five 100-round boxes shrink-wrapped together) from Fin-Feather-and-Fur on Commercial Row at Camp Perry during the National Matches.  

I went away from them when I found that every time I opened a new sleeve my base-to-ogive distance changed significantly, affecting elevation -- not good when shooting no-sighter come-as-you-are matches.

Thanks! From what I am seeing then, they only sell the T1 and T1C as projectiles. The T2 is in their defense ammunition.

This is what I shoot CMP with and I love it.  24.6gr (I think) of TAC

Everglades sells these as well. I'd like to find a good combo with Tac as I have 300 or so on hand I need to use up.

Everglades 75 BTHP

In this particular example, the accuracy testing was done with a Krieger barrel with a 1:7.7" twist.  (The load was chronographed from a Colt barrel with a 1:7" twist.)

..

Usually . . .






. . . but not always.






....

I found the Hornady 75’s to be less accurate/less forgiving in my rifles than the 77 SMK back when I was doing lots of load work ups. Then again, I may have just had a few bad sessions at the range.

What are your thoughts on the LaRue Stealth barrel?

Thank for the excellent (as always) post!

ZA

Thanks for the excellent write up?

Thanks for the write up

they are the best in my Noveske 1/8 poly bore. tight.

Back when I shot high power most were recommending loading 24gr RL15 for both the hornady 75 and 77gr sierras as it was well proven. That's what l used too.

Thanks Molon.  Informative post as usual.

Ran some 75gr bthp’s at 600 yards today
I’ve been having accuracy issues with it and was told to set them at 2.235 oal.
Well shit, I was he right. LC brass, 24gr RL15, #400 primers, 2.235 oal. Fricken lasers

Tag for future info relevant to me

When I shot hi-power, my practice load was 25.2gr of RL15 in LC brass with the 75gr BTHP.   My match loads used Winchester brass, 26 - 27gr of N540 (depending on the projectile), and 75 gr BTHP, A-Max, or Berger VLD (all molly coated).  I was using a RRA DCM upper chambered in .223 Wylde and the velocities were 2950 to 3000 fps.  My loads were at, or slightly over the max listed loads published by Norma for N540, but each one was tallored for accuracy.   My best accuracy just happened to be at the max loads which came in really handy at 600 yds, especially when shooting at Perry.

Just 100fps over Mk262. From a 20" barrel, that's nuts even with moly.

I try to not be a safety sally, but I think these deserve a BIG WARNING.

Yeah, agreed.

I used to push my service rifle loads pretty hard, but in the 77-80 gr class of bullets, 2800-2850 is the highest I ever went in one particular barrel. Even then I scrapped the brass after one firing.

2900+ out of a 20" AR is nuts.

Many years ago, I asked Dave Emary (Chief Ballistician for Hornady) about the redesigned ogive on the T2 bullet.  Here was his reply:

“We made the ogive radius shorter, makes the ogive a little fatter, on the TAP load because testing showed it fed better in the M16/AR. The sharper pointed match bullet would occasionally hang up between the feed ramp cuts in the barrel sleeve on some guns.”


...

Totally agree.   Approach with extreme caution.   Back then the VV reloading information had the max load for a mag length 75gr Hdy producing over 2900 fps in a 20" barrel.  Otherwise I would have never have pushed it that far.

I couldn't get them to shoot worth a damn. I was loading to mag length though (2.26")

I'll try a shorter COAL, maybe that's the ticket

Anyone have a load that works well with CFE 223?

I've been working with the T1C and got fairly decent results just over 1MOA with TAC and W760. However CFE223 seems to be hovering around 2MOA when loaded with 24.0 and 24.2gr of CFE. I did have them seated a bit deaper at around 2.24" OAL, so maybe that's a factor. I loaded up some more at 2.26" with the same pounder charges to see if there is a difference.

4 10rd groups out of 2 different barrels both did poorly, so I'm hoping to have some luck here by changing up the recipe.

RCC1's load is 25.5gr.

I've only tried up to 25.5gr with 73gr ELD at 2.25", which was on a good track, but needed further development.

Great post Molon.
I too have found 2.245" OAL good for the 75gr T1.
It took me a while to get my load down.
Using IMR XBR 8208
If memory serves me, I was getting around 2700fps out of my 18" barrel. I'll have to look that up.
I transposed the loading over to most bullets in the 75gr range.
It's great with the 75gr Gold Dot as well. Same OAL.

With just a bare minimum work-up, the 73 grain A-MAX (ELD) turned in some sub-MOA groups.






...

Their data was using a 24" barrel.

Is the T2 bullet what Hornady uses in the Frontier/Hornady labeled 75gr BTHP ammunition?

I shot it through several quality barrels:
Proof 20” 1:7
Shilen 16” 1:8
Rainier Ultramatch Mod 2 16” 1:7.5
FN CHF 10.5” 1:7

and found that 1) the ammo was extremely hot.  Bad pressure signs on all the primers and 2) It didn’t shoot worth a darn in anything I tried.

Unfortunate considering I got it for only about 3 cents more per round than what I could load a 75gr round for. I was hoping I’d found a semi accurate/decent time saver for <600yd match days buuuuut not so much

Yes.  I haven't tested the Frontier load, but the Hornady 5.56 TAP T2 load shoots quite well for a 5.56 load.  The 10-shot group p[ictured below was fired from a distance of 100 yards using one of my Lothar Walther barreled AR-15s.  The group has an extreme spread of 0.977".






....

What Norma reloading manual has data for VihtaVuori powder?

0.7 minute MR with 24gr Varget in a Wylde/NATO chamber just ain't right.

thank you for sharing your detailed and informative load development and range testing results

From my limited time testing them, the 73 eld’s tend to prefer less jump and to be loaded long. I modified a few Pmag20’s to allow for loading longer than 2.265.