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Posted: 2/8/2009 8:30:51 AM EDT
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Hi all,
I just loaded up a batch of cartridges and am wondering if they might be too hot. Case - Once-fired 5.56 (LC 94) Powder - 24.8 - 24.9 gr. Hodgdon H335 Primers - Rem 7 1/2 SR Bullets - Hornady 55 gr. FMJ-BT w/c (crimped) This is the first time reloading and I'm about to head out to the range but am a little worried. My main concern comes from having used military brass which I hear can increase pressure due to smaller inside capacity. Anyone have experience with this load (or close to it)? |
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The load you have choosen is not going to be too hot, according to many loading manuals which have as high as 27.5 grains as maximum. Which I believe would be for bolt action rifles, not AR15's. The "fact" that .mil cases or LC 5.56 may have a differing capacity is also a MYTH! Please read and research before repeating bogus information. That little bit of trivia is predominately geared to the 7.62 x 51 (.308 Win) crowd. Inspite of it all you may have choosen an excellent load, good luck and good shooting. |
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Your very welcome, and don't feel bad about the Case thing.. It might be safe to say that the ONLY round this is not an issue with is the .223..
Loading books and data have said for 100 years to ALWAYS reduce loads when using military cases.. It's not much of a stretch to understand WHY new reloaders would think this when it's printed in almost every book you will read.. Enjoy the range and take some notes about your ammo's performance IE: Both Function, and Accuracy as you may find tweaking the load makes a better round? Look for consistant extraction & ejection and really crank down on a couple groups to see how they shoot.. No 3 shot groups either, I like 5 & 10 shot groups to really see what's going on.. |
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Case capacity with .223 military brass myth debunked check out the .223 Rem Case Weight vs. Capacity table at http://www.6mmbr.com/223rem.html |
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Quoted: Hi all, I just loaded up a batch of cartridges and am wondering if they might be too hot. Case - Once-fired 5.56 (LC 94) Powder - 24.8 - 24.9 gr. Hodgdon H335 Primers - Rem 7 1/2 SR Bullets - Hornady 55 gr. FMJ-BT w/c (crimped) Good reloading practice is to work up a set of test loads, go to range, test fire them, then decide what's the best load for your rifle. The procedure is outline here http://www.ar15.com/content/page.html?id=469. Then you'll never in a position to question whether the load you made is too hot, not too hot, etc, because you'll know first hand. Working up loads Working up loads must be done for each powder and bullet weight combination you plan to load. Just remember to work up loads and not pull one from a reloading manual and start making hundreds or even thousands of rounds of that load then to find out it won't cycle your gun or the load is too hot. Example of working up loads: - take the min load, it should be given or should be 10% under max if not given, and the max load - divide the difference by 4, round down to nearest 1/10th of a grain. This is your increment amount - make 5 batches of test loads, either 5 or 10 each - batch 1 = min load - batch 2 = min load + 1 increment - batch 3 = min load + 2 increments - batch 4 = min load + 3 increments - batch 5 = min load + 4 increments For AA2460 powder and 55 gr projectiles the starting load is listed as 22.9 grains and the max load is given at 25.4 grains. So: increment is (25.4 - 22.9)/4 = (2.5 gr / 4) = .625 gr, round off to .6 grains So I would make loads with this amount of powder: 22.9 grains 23.5 grains 24.1 grains 24.7 grains 25.3 grains You could go back later and make loads to fill in the gaps, e.g. say 24.1 and 24.7 gr loads were good, then next time make 23.8, 24.1, 24.4, 24.7, 25.0 gr loads If all the loads were good feel free to pick one in between. My test loads of 24.4 gr and 24.7 grains were good, so I settled on 24.5 because it's an half grain increment. |
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