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Posted: 9/2/2010 5:52:29 AM EDT
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Due to being out of country for several years I had gotten out of reloading. Now that I am back stateside I am getting back to reloading for my various guns. I have several AR's varying from 16"-22" barrels. 3 of them have 1:8 twist and one is a Lilja barrel. I am requesting info of any loads you guys may have that would help me out. I am thinking mid-weight bullets might be best. These loads will be for varmit and target shooting.
So, what is the prefered bullet and powders that you guys have found. I really don't have the time and money to do the type of, "buy a bunch of different powders/bullets to try" like I did many years ago. If anyone can give me a basic idea of what bullets and powder combination works best I would be appreciative. Oh, I mainly shoot the 16" Lilja barreled rifle. Thanks, WW |
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Look in the Reloading Forum. There is a reloading database for rifles and pistols in there that should give you a good idea for what you need.
Try some RL-15, it is my favorite for .308's and .223's. |
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WW, there is a Reloading section in the Armory area of the forum. You might get more responses there.
In any case, since you've been away for a few years, I don't know how much you've been able to keep up. The trend these days has been to move to heavier bullets for better accuracy at long distances and better terminal ballistics. Although a LOT of people still shoot 55 and 62gr for plinking and still use bullets such as the 52gr BTHP for relatively close distances, the rage has been the 77gr Sierra Match King and the 75gr Hornady BTHP. There is also a lot of interest in shooting the 69gr SMK and 68gr Hornady BTHP at relatively close distances. These bullets that I have mentioned are relatively long and the practice has been to load them to an overall length of no longer than 2.260 so that they will fit into magazines. For cases, Lake City is still a good bet as far as bang for the buck goes. I've tried Winchester, Remington, Federal, Black HIlls Match, etc. None of them are any better, and are perhaps worse, than Lake City. Of course, there is still Lapua if you're really serious. For primers, I've been using Remington 7 1/2 benchrest. They work well and are relatively cheap. CCI 400 and benchrest primers also work very well. For powders, it is common to run a ball powder for volume loading, because it meters better though the powder drop used with progressive presses. For ball powder, I've like TAC that I've used a bit in the past. It's cheap, you get good velocity and at least decent accuracy. I don't use too much ball powder because it tends to be temperature sensitive and I'm in south Louisiana. Temps can run from freezing to over 100 degrees. Since I tend to stock ammo, I need something that isn't temp sensitive or isn't too temp sensitive. For the heavier bullets, it's common to see guys load using either Varget or Reloader 15. LOAD DATA FOLLOWS. I DON'T GUARANTEE ITS SAFETY IN YOUR FIREARM. AS ALWAYS, YOU SHOULD WORK UP. That having been said, To me, the combination of Sierra 69 or 77gr Match King bullets and Varget or Reloader 15 powder has a magic to it. It's a pretty common load that almost any rifle should shoot well. For 77gr Sierra Match Kings, use 24gr of either Reloader 15 or Varget with a benchrest primer and seat the bullet to mag length. The same goes for the 69gr SMK. Some guys load the 69 hotter for longer distances, but I only shoot to about 300 yards tops, so I just swap bullets at will. The 77gr loads shoot consistent sub MOA. The 69gr loads poke one hole groups, when I'm doing my part. It's been said that if your rifle won't shoot one of these loads, there's something wrong with the rifle. Good luck and welcome back. |
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Hard to improve on what TonyAngel said. BTW, you can peruse Hodgdon's load data online at www.hodgdon.com which covers the Winchester, IMR, and Hodgdon lines of powder and recipes.
The open tip match (OTMs) bullet meplat is truncated just enough to let the heavies (77smk and 75 hdy .224s) fit and feed from AR mags OK. Your 1:8 twists should spin them up good enough. |
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Hornady 75gr OTM's and 24gr's of Varget, I have but have not tried RE-15 yet to see if it's as accurate but my 1:8 twist loves the Hornady 75's and their not that expensive compared to other match bullets.
Other than that I shoot 55-60gr bullets(V-max & Nosler BT's) with Benchmark with outstanding accuracy, 25gr's on the 55's and 24gr's on the 60's all loads in LC brass with Rem 7 1/2 primers @ 2.260" COL. |
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Thank you very much everyone. Now all I need to do is dig out all my reloading stuff and dust it off. I do have some older power stored in my ammo cans. Some of it is military surplus powder and bullets. From the consensous I am going to order some Varget and Reloader -15 and give them a try.
Being gone for so long I have not kept up witht the mail order places. Who generally has the better prices when it comes to bulk bullets? Bulk being 500-1000 rounds. I remember someplaces used to have good prices but then the shipping would kill a guy and end up costing more in the long run. Thanks again, WW |
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Quoted:
... Who generally has the better prices when it comes to bulk bullets? Bulk being 500-1000 rounds. I remember someplaces used to have good prices but then the shipping would kill a guy and end up costing more in the long run. Thanks again, WW Check the Arfcom reloading reference page here for links to most of the reloading world: http://www.ar15.com/content/page.html?id=398 PowderValley, Midway, and Wideners are the ones I use the most. The more you buy, the more you save. I always try to buy powder and primers locally, to avoid the $25 hazmat fee. |
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