.223 Oal

p14shooter

p14shooter

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Ok, starting to find the right load for my .223, and using the data out of the sierra reloading manual. The data says that 22.6gr of IMR 4895 would be 2400fps. I used 22.0 and got 2750, more than what it says for the max load. So I have done some looking. The data says my OAL should be 2.26, which is what I did. So I seated a bullet in my resized brass, and made it long. Then I shoved it into my rifle to finish seating it, and when I pulled it out, the measurment is 2.410. I know, I know, this is not the perfect solution to this, but is there anything wrong with now seating the bullet a few thou deeper and seeing where that leads me? I do not have access to a comparator, and the person who put the barrel on for me is not around anymore for me to ask as it was put on a few years ago. Your thoughts would be appreciated.

Paul
 
from 2.26 to 2.4 seems a little long to me.
How does it group at 2.26?
I would be concerned with creating extra pressure going to long....
how do your primers look after shooting it at 2.4?

Im still working my way through a bunch of factory ammo, but have loaded a few hundred Sierra's for the AR at exactley what the manual said, and they shot better than the factory stuff.

Is your Sierra manual the software? if so, read through the part about gas gun loading. It may be helpful to you. I recall there being a part specifically about loading for AR's.

And: if you are not loading for an AR, and are loading for a Bolt gun...IMR 4895 isnt listed.. H4895 is. This could account for the different velocity.(maybe).
 
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No. I seated the bullet at 2.6 and after I took it out, it was 2.41. I fired my first lot at the recommended length and tried this later. Sorry for the confusion. I did not fire this, I only put it in unprimed brass to see.
 
My Hodgdon book advises we take actual O.A.L. and subtract 0.015" to 0.030" to leave proper space between the bullet and rifling.
To measure your actual O.A.L. use a cleaning rod with a flat end or attach a blunt end tip to it. First #### the action so that your firing pin is not protruding. Lock the bolt closed. Slide the cleaning rod in from the muzzle (carefully) and when it stops at the bolt, mark that length by holding a sharp knife against the end of the barrel and scribe a line on your cleaning rod. (TIP - you may want to wrap a piece of masking tape around your cleaning rod first, in the same area, then scrbe a line in the tape rather than cut into the rod). Mark an arrow near line so that you can see it easily. Now remove the bolt and drop in the bullet you will be loading.
Not a full round, just the bullet. Hold the bullet in place with a rod or pen or extra cleaning rod etc... then slide the original cleaning rod in from the bore end again and slowly approach the bullet (so as not to push it back into the breach). When you touch the bullet, spin the cleaning rod again with a sharp knife against the bore and scribe another line.
Measure the distance between the first and second line and you will have the ACTUAL OVERALL LENGTH for that bullet in your rifle.

Easier than it sounds, give it a try - it works perfectly. Repeat if you change bullet types and expect a few thou difference.
 
what type of bullet and what type of rifle are we talking about?
0.6 gr less of powder with an increase of 350fps?

you are zeroing your scale right?

The powder thing has me a little concerned (puzzled) and your length seems too long.
BUt, try what JASQOR said, and also try to seat a bullet at the length your shell came out at.
If its a bolt gun it should close with no resistance. If its an auto loader.. look to see if the bullet has been marked by the grooves of your rifle. If it has any marks on it from the rifling.. you're too long. ( you may get a scratch from your feed ramp... this is ok) look for a "ring" around your bullet.

get back to us on it?
 
I load 80 gr SMK at 2.555" for my bolt gun, single loaded. This rifle has a .223 Wylde chamber and the bullets are just touching the lands. The load is 26 gr of Varget and works out to 900m.
 
OK, you used the camming action of the breech to seat a bullet against the leade of the rifling. If you were to seat a few thousandths shorter, the bullet should no be jammed into the rifling, and you could find that this works well. If the bullet is jammed, pressure can be increased; doesn't mean it isn't a method appropriate under certain circumstances, but one needs to be cautious.
Chambers vary, overall length can be adjusted to suit. If a cartridge must fit a magazine, that will introduce one absolute maximum.
JASQOR's method of determining maximum length to leade is workable.
Bullet ogives can vary lot to lot, so obtaining a measurement based on head to ogive contact with leade is useful, rather than depending on a head to tip length.
 
Here is what I have done. I have checked the OAL using the cleaning rod method that JASQOR suggested and it turns out that the length is 2.25. So I rechecked the length with the bullet I seated by pushing it into the rifling, and that is 2.41, snd there was no force required to close the bolt. So I am confused about what my real OAL should be, short of trying to find a smith who knows what they are doing in this regard. So my thoughts would be to play it safe and use the recommended OAL and perhaps extend it slowly using min loads and watch for pressure signs. Thoughts please

I am using 68gr HPBT in a single shot bolt action. In the sierra manual I have(second edition) it is listed for IMR 4895 which I am using. 22.6 gr listed as 2400FPS and max load of 24.6gr as 2700 FPS. My 22.0 gr 2750. The brass I am using is 92gr compared to some new rem brass I just got which is 95 gr. I usually recheck the zero on my powder scale 1/2 way through my loading secession as a double check for me. I will load some more up starting at 22.0 again and see what it says next time. I believe the chrono to be working OK as I shot some 22 that day and it showed close to listed velocities. Thanks for your time and any more thoughts you may have, send them along.

Paul
 
I think maybe you mean 69 grain HPBT if it's in the Sierra book?

Using my Stoney Point gauge with the 69gr SMK HPBT, I get 2.33" OAL to the lands in my Remington 700. I size my cartridges to 2.32". Shooting around 0.5 inch groups.
 
Seat your bullet long in a sized but primer less, powder less case. Colour the bullet with a black magic marker and chamber the round. The magic marker will show rub marks were it touches the rifling. Turn the seating adjustment down on the die and repete the above until marks no longer show. You should now be seated just off the lands. The ogive can change from lot to lot so alway check before with this method before loading a bunch of rounds.
Some bullets may shoot better touching the lands, some like a bit of jump. Other bullets may shoot best with a lot of jump. Your milage may vary.
My rifle shoots 80 gr SMK or 80 gr Noslers best touching the lands.
As far as the difference between published velocities and real life velocities...
difference in barrel length, bore size (.001 can make a difference), primer used, even the lot # of primers and powder will all give slightly different readings.
 
Magic marker worked great. It did give me the same results as the cleaning rod method. Time to load up some more and see where it takes me. Just another quick question. Different books and different people seem to have different ideas, go figure, some say to use magnum primers, others say to use regular primers. I chose regular primers, mainly due to the fact that I could not find magnum. What do you guys use. Thanks for all the help.
 
Fed 205M. Small rifle Match primers. I don't think you need magnum primers for such a small case. But that is just my opinion.
 
thebuckhunter said:
One thing still puzzles me. Have you checked the head spacing with a go/no-go gauge? This might account for the long OAL of the cartridge. Just a thought.

-Jason
Click to expand...

Headspace has nothing to do with OAL. The length of the leade in the chamber in relation to the ogive of the bullet used determines OAL when single loading.
 
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