Hey folks, got a question for some of you who are experienced with the "small, fast" stuff... I've been reloading for a long time and with a lot of different calibres, but I only got into .223 recently. I have a Remington 700 SPS SS that I cut the barrel down to 19 inches on, with plans of using it for hunting smaller critters. Bullet of choice is a 50 grain Barnes TTSX, and some tests showed Varget to be a great powder... Here's where it got strange.
With most of the larger cartridges I'm used to loading, typically the rule seems to be that case brand isn't a huge deal, as long as any given batch is all the same. For instance, in my 7mm-08, I use FC, Hornady, and R-P brass, all giving me reasonably similar results, at least for hunting accuracy; I just don't "mix'n'match". A batch of R-P is all R-P and a batch of FC is all FC. Doing this yields 1 inch groups all day long... Not spectacular, but good enough for whacking deer.
NOW...
I have gotten some fairly satisfactory results from my .223 so far with PMC (surprisingly) and Hornady brass, having gotten 5-shot groups of 3/4 moa. I decided to make another batch for some final testing, this time using Barnes brass... The results were terrible. Best group of the day was 2 inches, worst was over 3. Upon getting home, I weighed some cases, a Hornady weighed in at 96 grains, a PMC at 95.3, but a Barnes was lighter... 93 grains. Is that enough of a difference to throw the accuracy for such a serious loop? Dealing with smaller powder capacities in a case this size, I know smaller variances will mean a larger percentage of difference, but I've never seen anything this drastic before.
With most of the larger cartridges I'm used to loading, typically the rule seems to be that case brand isn't a huge deal, as long as any given batch is all the same. For instance, in my 7mm-08, I use FC, Hornady, and R-P brass, all giving me reasonably similar results, at least for hunting accuracy; I just don't "mix'n'match". A batch of R-P is all R-P and a batch of FC is all FC. Doing this yields 1 inch groups all day long... Not spectacular, but good enough for whacking deer.
NOW...
I have gotten some fairly satisfactory results from my .223 so far with PMC (surprisingly) and Hornady brass, having gotten 5-shot groups of 3/4 moa. I decided to make another batch for some final testing, this time using Barnes brass... The results were terrible. Best group of the day was 2 inches, worst was over 3. Upon getting home, I weighed some cases, a Hornady weighed in at 96 grains, a PMC at 95.3, but a Barnes was lighter... 93 grains. Is that enough of a difference to throw the accuracy for such a serious loop? Dealing with smaller powder capacities in a case this size, I know smaller variances will mean a larger percentage of difference, but I've never seen anything this drastic before.
