Anyone handloading for the M14?

Ladder system basically.
start low and move the loads up in 0.1 or 0.2 grn increments.
Shoot- Walk down to the target and Write a # of the shot beside the hole.(also gives time for barrel to cool between walks)
Rinse & repeat until all shots are fired usually 20-24 shots total.
And find groupings where you get say - # 6,7,8 Rounds clumped together. Often their will be at-least 2 groups like this as the harmonics move up and down due to velocity differences.
Then take the Middle load so in that case #7 and load that for 5-12 shots. Check and usually that load will be very tight with little deviation in Temperature changes , or any slight variations including being a few kernels light or heavy in the load deviation.

It works and often gets you results in a short amount of time. (alot of walking lol).
I've used that ladder method for at-least 20 different load's in the past it works great and always yields results without ANY guessing.

- As far as me asking questions I would rather ask questions even if i think i know the answer and be sure as it costs me nothing to do so , Even at the Risk of looking young or inexperienced.
Rather then not ask and think i know the answer and be wrong which might cost me greatly.

Young at heart man , and i refuse to act like i know everything just for the sake of seeming wise on a internet forum.
 
The 150gr Hornady FMJ is the most accurate non-match grade FMJ bullet that I've used in a large number of .30 cal MILSURPS. It can be bought comparatively cheaply in bulk as well. It was especially good in my H&R M14 when used with IMR3031, military brass and CCI 34 primers. I shoot a lot of them in M1s in both .30-06 and 7.62 chamberings, M1903s, and M1917s. The Nosler 150gr Ballistic Tip is a very accurate bullet as well. I used it a lot until Nosler put them out in 50 piece boxes at twice the price as before.
 
that's why i bought it purple.
Bulk rounds @ basically 25 Cents per bullet
And likely i can interchange the SST interlocks for them if i wanted to change it to a hunting load.
That was my reasoning behind them anyways.
I had good luck with SST's in the past on other guns so .
 
Ballistic Tip is now twice the price? Bummer. It used to be an outstanding accurate bullet for hunting and plinking. For an accurate plinker bullet I like the 150 and 165 Hornady flat base soft points. The Sierra is probably as good, but I used to buy the Hornadys bulk in the 2,500 round box for about 6 cents each. If you buy more than 10,000 you get a good discount and at 40,000 the discount is even bigger.

Leonard, I assumed you were a youngster because of grammar and spelling. At my age, most guys look like kids to me.....

As it turns out, you are very experienced at developing a load. Ladder testing (a technique developed, I think, by Creighton Audette) works well if you have a fairly constant barrel temp, as you seem to know. But it also requires a careful aim. I would not hesitate to do a ladder test on a rifle with a 9X or better scope, but would not bother with iron sights. With irons, I would just shoot groups in 0.5 gr increments, starting very low.

Brass is an interesting subject. I have shot only military brass in my M14 and M305s. The case head is not as well supported as it is in a good bolt action, so a thicker web is a good idea.

But the main thing is to have a good quantity of the same lot of whatever you want to use, since there is huge variation in case capacity, neck tension, etc. Mixed brass is a huge variable that would negate the other variables you are testing, like powder charge. I have a quantity of DA and IVI brass I use in my milsurp semis.

If all shooting is to be at no more than 200 yards, the 125 Sierra is very accurate. My kids used to shoot these back to 500 yards in their bolt rifles when they were 10 and did not like the recoil of heavier bullets.
 
Yea i find with brass there is a few things i look for
1. Being able to consistently buy the same brass in the future meaning no one off never see it again stuff.
2. for this application a slightly firmer brass is in order i'm looking for milspec. I've had bad pockets from federal brass (primers falling out) which ruled out my first idea of getting some bulk american eagle and reusing the brass after i used up the lot.
3. not brittle either or it tends to crack at the neck after 1-2 reloads often during resizing.

I found Winchester to be actually pretty good in bolt's and leavers in the past but it might be a bit soft for this application. I actually run remington in some guns too (never had a issue)

I also refuse to pay the ridiculous prices for lapua , nosler or hornady brass esp if i'm only going to get 3-4 firings out of it.

which ever i end up with i will likely buy it 200-300 at a time and reload it in stages of 100-150 and then i can atleast have a second set while i look for more of the same.

I shoot 165Grn Nosler accubonds in my other 308's also have a barnes TSX 165 load for the bolt rifle in 308 as-well but those bullets are far to expensive to be using in a semi-auto that i intend to shoot for more than just hunting lol.
 
I have had really good luck with PRVI brass.

It has a bit heavier web than standard N.A. 308 brass.... At least in the 500 pieces I have from the same lot! It's abot half the cost of new Winchester brass, or at least it was when I bought it last.....

I got my from Jerry Teo @ Mystic Precision.
 
leonard said:
Young at heart man , and i refuse to act like i know everything just for the sake of seeming wise on a internet forum.
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I'm young at heart too and don't know it all. I generally suggest people stay very cautious regarding firearms. The "ladder system" sounds like what we've been doing for years. It was called developing or working up a load. I got tired of pulling bullets so I set my Black and Decker work mate up with a small O frame press to seat bullets at the range. My goal is to duplicate factory velocities or those that match the sighting system on the rifle where it is graduated.
 
makes sense if your using irons.

Im going to be using a scope when i do my workups.
even if i remove it after i will atleast know whats what.
 
I would like to run this by the more experienced members, I don't want to start a new thread and am not trying to hijack this one. I would also like to start reloading for my m14s and was wondering what you guys think. I have read zedikers guide and plan on doing it again and again... Lol. Here's what I'm planning for a load...

New brass (gonna look for lake city first, would prefer 7.62)
Nosler 168gr custom competition BTHPs (I was using these in a bolt but found my groups are falling apart at long range)
IMR 4064, going to start with 41.5 grs as it seems to be kind of standard.

For primers I'm not sure yet. I have lots of federal 210s and match primers but worry they may be a little sensitive for this platform?

For case prep I was going to trim at 2", and seat at 2.8". I've read some guys seat primers below the case, how do you do this without hogging out the primer pocket? Or am I missing something? Otherwise I was just going to ensure that all primers are fully seated.

Was hoping to use 4064 as it's my most used powder and I have some on hand.

Any thoughts?
 
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2stonedbirds - a primer pocket uniformer might be something to look into. It will cut pockets to SAAMI spec and allow for both seating below flush and more consistent seating. I've found much of my .223 brass to have primer pockets a bit on the shallow side. Still safe to use but could be improved upon.
 
Oh ok, thanks supernova. I have a pocket cleaning tool, I use it lightly for reloading in my bolts, but have never tried to reload for a semi. Ill use it and make sure I'm flush with the case or below, and maybe look for some of the aforementioned CCI primers. Forgot to mention I'm gonna full length resize and toss my brass after four uses.
 
2stoned birds,,,your federal primers will be ok IMO, just seat below flush,,,in fact they must ok be because the standard in accuracy for these rifles over the years has been Federal 168 and 175 gr GMM,,,and whose primers do you think Federal uses in this load,,,lol
 
My m305 does best with mv of 2450 168gr SMK. I have a crate of Nork that triples the group size and shoots at 2800fps, same chrony.
 
Back in the 80's I was using Federal primers for my M14 with Winchester brass and never had an issue. There was no internet M14 resource to draw information from and fortunately I got things right. Of course I had never heard of a slam fire either. Ignorance is bliss.

Primers are cheap and to me using a primer with a harder cup along with full length sizing and trimming cases are three things I can do that will help minimize the possibility of a bad day at the range.
 
Round to round consistency matters when preparing quality handloads. Case preparation is a very important step in the process. In addition to obvious things like using the same make of brass, segregation by firing cycles and trimming to uniform length, it pays off to buy brass in large lots and to sort it by weight after initial preparation. Initial preparation includes neck sizing, flash hole deburring, primer pocket uniforming, trimming, and case mouth chamfering and deburring. I normally sort a large lot of brass into 4 weight categories before reloading as there is a surprising degree of weight variation among cases of the same make.

Today's bullets are remarkably consistent by weight. I once bought a large lot of 172gr match bullets wnich were salvaged from military .30-06 match ammo. These were accurate bullets, but I found enough weight variation in them to make me sort them into 3 weight groupings.
 
You do not need CCI's magnum primers. Their so called "milspec" primers are nothing more than magnum primers. Regular primer work just fine. Slam fires are not caused by the rifle. They're caused by improperly loaded ammo, usually high primers.
IMR and H 4895 are very close, but not identical, so the data for 'em is not interchangeable. You'll get more consistent accuracy with IMR4064 than either too. Especially if you opt for match bullets. Wouldn't, myself, with a short barrel though.
In addition to purple's caveats, you must check case lengths every time and watch the OAL.
Otherwise loading for an M305(that is not an M-14) is no different than loading for any other semi-auto.
 
Right I agree on the primers having loaded for lever guns for years i always by instinct just check and make sure the primers are below the brass to prevent any sort of chance they might set each other off if dropped in the tube 30-30 tips can be darn close to not flat enough at times depending on batches.

One thing though
Otherwise loading for an M305(that is not an M-14) is no different than loading for any other semi-auto.
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Except that all their parts are interchangeable lol, I'd say they are the same darn thing. its like saying a JRA isnt a m14 "its a Rock-O-La M14F" (it uses tons of non USGI parts as-well).
Considering even springfield isn't the real original springfield anymore id say then there are no true M14's on the market with that type of outlook.
The only thing that you could argue is its not a true to 22" barrel length original m14 and that i would agree.
Just throwing that out there :p
 
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