223 reloading

tdhanses

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I’m planning to shoot my bolt gun in 223 more just to save some money and increase trigger time. In the past I’ve just bought ammo for 223 but now I want to reload for it but I’m torn, doubt I reload for my AR but never know.

Is a crimp die needed? I see for semi auto it is recommended but does that effect accuracy? Is it worth going for a three die set vs two die without crimp?

I won’t be shooting competition but want to develop a good load, are middle of the road dies just fine for 223?

What powders do you guys recommend?

I plan to make a trip to the Sierra factory to pick up some seconds for bullets, not sure what options they’ll have but will probably be around a 55gr option.

I’ll be using Norma brass since I got a ton of their tac ammo for cheap a few years ago.
 
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I only load 223 for ARs and don’t crimp, so no you don’t need to and I wouldn’t mess with it.

I use 8028 xbr or benchmark with 55 grain bullets and varget with 69s and 77s.
 

Sodbuster

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Jan 9, 2016
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I load 223 for bolt guns and ARs as well.
I don't use a crimp either.
i have lots of Lake City brass that when treated right have done pretty well.
Hornady bulk 55 grain spire point bullets, 5k at a time last a while.

If you call before showing up at Sierra they will give you the days inventory for seconds.It changes
regularly.
They are also locked up for an hour every day at lunch time.
 

MHWASH

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Bulk 55s from Hornady (Midway sells same bullet as Dogtowns) and Ramshot TAC. Used in ARs and bolts. Great coyote load too.
 

Justin Crossley

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I load for coyote hunting with my AR and don't crimp. Standard dies of your choice will work just fine.

My load is Benchmark powder with 40 grain Nosler ballistic tips at 3580 fps with a 22 inch barrel.
 
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tdhanses

tdhanses

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Well was able to find 1lb of Varget and picked up some 55gr Hornady fmj-bt’s with cci small rifle primers. What is the diff between the small rifle and br primers?

I also picked up the Hornady oal case for this. So should be close to playing with loads. Still have a few hundred Norma Tac223 factory rounds to shoot up before I start loading.
 
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CCI 450 and BR4's are about the same thing. I bought a pile of BR4s for 223 and 6.5x47 but they don't perform any better than 450s for me.

Both of these cci primers are a little harder than say fed 205m's and are preferred to avoid piercing primers in ARs.
 

LaHunter

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I’m planning to shoot my bolt gun in 223 more just to save some money and increase trigger time. In the past I’ve just bought ammo for 223 but now I want to reload for it but I’m torn, doubt I reload for my AR but never know.

Is a crimp die needed? I see for semi auto it is recommended but does that effect accuracy? Is it worth going for a three die set vs two die without crimp?

I won’t be shooting competition but want to develop a good load, are middle of the road dies just fine for 223?

What powders do you guys recommend?

I plan to make a trip to the Sierra factory to pick up some seconds for bullets, not sure what options they’ll have but will probably be around a 55gr option.

I’ll be using Norma brass since I got a ton of their tac ammo for cheap a few years ago.


You may want to check out the Federal Gold Medal Match .223 ammo with 69 grain SMK bullets, if your barrel has the correct twist. I recently got a bolt .223 built, and this factory ammo is extremely accurate from my rifle (my barrel is a 1:8 twist). At 300 yards, with a 5 shot group, I had less than 1" of vertical spread. I had about 3" of horizontal spread, but I had a 10ish mph wind that was changing direction from about 1:00 to 3:00 and changing speed. 3 of the 5 could be covered with a quarter. I was impressed with this ammo.
 
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tdhanses

tdhanses

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You may want to check out the Federal Gold Medal Match .223 ammo with 69 grain SMK bullets, if your barrel has the correct twist. I recently got a bolt .223 built, and this factory ammo is extremely accurate from my rifle (my barrel is a 1:8 twist). At 300 yards, with a 5 shot group, I had less than 1" of vertical spread. I had about 3" of horizontal spread, but I had a 10ish mph wind that was changing direction from about 1:00 to 3:00 and changing speed. 3 of the 5 could be covered with a quarter. I was impressed with this ammo.

I need to measure it but I have a feeling it either has a 1:12 or 1:9 based on what I see on the google box. It is an older stainless model they stoped making awhile ago.
 

Terrapin

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Jan 14, 2014
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223 is a very forgiving cartridge to reload. A wide variety of components will give excellent results, plus the components are cheap and readily available. One thing to note is the Remington bolt guns have a fairly long freebore, and the two I have shoot best .010”-.015” off the lands. No big deal, they still fit in the bolt gun magazine, but that ammo will not fit in an AR magazine. So you’ll have to keep it segregated. I personally just shoot factory ammo in my AR and reloads in my bolt gun. I use 52 gr BTHP bullets for everything.


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Sodbuster

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Just got back from the coyote practice fields. These were cheap to put together,
Lake City,CCI 450, Hornady bulk Spires.
AR practice and shoots in both bolt guns fairly well.


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eae93ef2fdc0e71a6e3de1f03721444c.jpg



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Sodbuster

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Picked up a five pound bag of Sierra 69 grain SMK seconds from the outlet on the way by.
Those will go in the Lapua brass.


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tdhanses

tdhanses

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Picked up a five pound bag of Sierra 69 grain SMK seconds from the outlet on the way by.
Those will go in the Lapua brass.


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What did they charge? I’m not sure it’s worth the added fuel expense to go down there for how cheap bullets can be.
 

Sodbuster

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I will have to find my receipt. Stocked up on 204,6.5 and .30 as well.

I just got a free shipping on 49$or more code from Midway and they are selling them too. OFFER80422
good till tomorrow but there are some restrictions.
 

5MilesBack

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The only reason I started loading for my 5.56/.223's was to load up 77gr SMK's and 75gr BTHP's. But I don't shoot them enough, so I sold my loading dies and stuff. I think I still have some of the SMK's though if anyone is interested in them.
 

Sodbuster

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Sierra .22 cal 69 grain HPBT
Are $16.36 per pound. Around 100 to an Lb.



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cornfed

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Apr 26, 2015
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I’m planning to shoot my bolt gun in 223 more just to save some money and increase trigger time. In the past I’ve just bought ammo for 223 but now I want to reload for it but I’m torn, doubt I reload for my AR but never know.

Is a crimp die needed? I see for semi auto it is recommended but does that effect accuracy? Is it worth going for a three die set vs two die without crimp?

I won’t be shooting competition but want to develop a good load, are middle of the road dies just fine for 223?

What powders do you guys recommend?

I plan to make a trip to the Sierra factory to pick up some seconds for bullets, not sure what options they’ll have but will probably be around a 55gr option.

I’ll be using Norma brass since I got a ton of their tac ammo for cheap a few years ago.

What rifle are you shooting? Those bulk 55 gr Hornadys aren't very accurate. In my 8 twist guns they shoot like a shotgun, and these are true 1/4" guns. My 12 twist shoots them around 3/4" with alot of development. It's shot near 1/4" in the past as well.
Varget is hard to beat in a 223 no matter what weight bullet you shoot, and it's temp stable. Use cci 450's or br4's as they have a harder cup than the cci 400 allowing you to push it a bit harder. 205's are one step up from the 400's, and then the br4's, 450's and the Rem 7 1/2 have the hardest cups out of the big three.
 
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tdhanses

tdhanses

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It’s a stainless Howa 1500 SA in a McMillan Game Scout stock. I think it might be a 1:12 and it’s possible the barrel is on its last leg but I got it cheap a few years ago. For now I’m just going to play with it and see if I can get it to shoot well with a cheap load till I can rebarrel it.
 
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Sodbuster

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What rifle are you shooting? Those bulk 55 gr Hornadys aren't very accurate. In my 8 twist guns they shoot like a shotgun, and these are true 1/4" guns. My 12 twist shoots them around 3/4" with alot of development. It's shot near 1/4" in the past as well.
Varget is hard to beat in a 223 no matter what weight bullet you shoot, and it's temp stable. Use cci 450's or br4's as they have a harder cup than the cci 400 allowing you to push it a bit harder. 205's are one step up from the 400's, and then the br4's, 450's and the Rem 7 1/2 have the hardest cups out of the big three.

i have seen that. Both bolt guns are 8 twist. A Ruger and a Tikka. I put together a mild load with BLC(2) to get them to shoot. I use CCI 450's and BR4's with no difference in that load.i usually have to shoot coyotes twice before they quit twitching.Cheap practice rounds that I can hit steel at 400 yards with.

For everything else 223 and better bullets I use Varget as well.
 
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