AR .223 Questions

Boomer454

Boomer454

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I have just purchased an AR 15 and have some questions...

It has a 1-9" twist. I have a $hit load of 50 and 55 grain bullets on the shelf in my loading room.
Are these going to give decent accuracy? I am not looking for 1/4" groups at 100 yards with them, but are they going to be worth the trouble to load?

I have a good supply on hand of IMR 3031. Is this a good powder for use in the AR? Or are there better powders out there for use in a gas system like that?

I am sure these questions have been asked and answered a number of times on here, but AR is too short to work in the search function...

Thanks in advance...
 
Yes and Yes. The 50 and 55 grain bullets will do fine and 3031 is a pretty good powder for the AR. There are other powders but 3031 will do just fine.

Scott
 
What about brass life?
I have heard that ARs reall knock the $hit of of the brass and some guns make it unusable after the first firing?

I am sure that is not the case, but am trying to learn as much as I can before the gun gets here. Like I said this is my first AR...
 
I do not have an AR but I use 24.5 gr.3031 powder for my 55gr bullets. They are quite accurate out of my Savage .223. Much more or less powder lets them wander a bit at 300.
 
Boomer454 said:
What about brass life?
I have heard that ARs reall knock the $hit of of the brass and some guns make it unusable after the first firing?

I am sure that is not the case, but am trying to learn as much as I can before the gun gets here. Like I said this is my first AR...
Click to expand...

ARs definitely beat the crap out of the cartridge when they jam :-/ but other than that you can probably reliably get 2-4 reloads (never tried more).

I was once told by a more experienced shooter watching me bang the butt down to remove yet another jammed reload these guns were originally designed for automatic operation--the issue is ammo consistency (weight, shape, size, crimp). It will pay to inspect every piece carefully. I'd advise FMJ bullets in the AR since the fancier polymer tipped jobs don't take any abuse.

BTW I have been using 60 gr and H335.
 
I have never used a crimp die on any of the thousands of rounds of rifle ammo I have loaded over the years. From .22-250 up through .338 Winchester. But then it has all been for bolt guns.
Is a crimp die kind of a necessity for loading for and AR?

I also plan to load on my Dillon 550. Should I be doing to rounds for the AR on the old RCBS single stage?
 
I use the crimp die in the final stage of my Dillon 550B. It "guarantees" each bullet is uniformly tight in the casing (if it doesn't want to crimp I recover the bullet and powder and toss the casing). There is not a whole lot of recoil in an AR but loading from the mag is a pretty rough process and the bullet can move if too loose--especially backward into the casing if it doesn't feed just right (danger of over pressure).
 
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