Developing a .223 load

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ReapersGhost

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Ok heres the back ground
I have been reloading for just over a year. So Im still pretty green. I can make ammunition go bang safely (at least so far lol). I have come to realize that I can make a custom load for my rifle and really lock it down. With this in mind Im working with my .223 as I have the most components for it. The twist of my barrel is 1 : 9. I did some reading online and found that the Sierra 69 gr match king works well with this rifle, and I have two powders for .223 on hand. I so put together these loads...

h4lfte


Not sure if the link works... but heres the stats. Bullet 69 gn Sierra Match King, BLC(2), Power weight 24.5, 24.7, 24.9, 25.1, 25.3, 25.5, 25.7, 25.9, and 26.1

Power 2: Same bullet IMR 4895, Weights 23.3, 23.5, 23.7, 23.9, 24.1, 24.3, and 24.5 gn.

Now I loaded five rounds at each powder weight so I will have some fun shooting these off. lol.

But my questions to you all is
1). How long should I wait between each batch of five. I assume barrel temp will affect the accuracy
2). Should I do the accuracy tests at 50 m or 100 m. Looking for the best results
3) Any other tips you guys can give will be great.
 
I've found it handy to load up half a dozen or so extra of your lightest load to use as sighting in and getting on paper properly since with new loads you might not really know where it's shooting and you don't want to waste your test loads on sighting in.

If the rifle is a heavy target barrel you can probably shoot a couple 5 shot groups before the heat opens up your group. For a light barrel i'd shoot 5 shots & wait 5 minutes or so. I usually take a second rifle to putz around with while the other is cooling. Doesn't have to get "cold" just no hot.

I have found for a 1:9 twist I get better groups with a lighter bullet ..... 50 to 55 grn ..... but maybe that's just me?

I usually develop loads at 100 yards.

Good luck!
 
I usually do 5 warm up shot and then shoot my group about a minute between shots.

I found that 75gr bthp for hornady to work very well in my 1-9 twist cz527. I had great groups with 52 bthp and nothing else from 30 40 50 55 60 69 gr bullets at 100. Everything really opened up at 200 after grouping great at 100.

my load is 23.5 gr or varget with the 75gr seated really close to the lands, works very good in my cz and savage. just over an inch at 200.
 
You don't mention what you're developing the load to do... paper punching? Coyote? Other varmints? Precision rifle? Service rifle? Is it a bolt or gas gun?

Varget, N140 or H4895 will almost surely produce the best accuracy with high velocity. BLC2s advantage is that it meters well through a powder measure but that's about it, unless you're loading for a gas gun then I'd lean towards it, for the lower cost, metering quality as well as the higher velocity at lower pressure quality.

I prefer to follow the OCW method of load development. I don't really care if the low charge weights shoot well, I generally want my loads to perform at the high end of the velocity range unless I want a reduced recoil load for some reason. It also only takes 15 rounds or so to work up this way. For IMR4895 the charges would be 23.3, 23.8, 24.3, 24.5 x 3, 24.7 x 3, 24.9 x 3 and 25.1 x 3 based off the Hodgdon data. Yes, the last one - technically two - is over max but that's why you work up. Stop if you hit pressure signs. Don't do it if you're not 1000% sure about reading pressure signs. Given the small charge weight spread you could also do 24.3 x 3, omit the 25.1 and reduce 24.9 to 24.8 if you aren't totally confident. That's at most 15 rounds total. 45 rounds on load development is a lot, but really no harm in it other than the time and cost. I just worked up a .270 and 7mm-08 load using that method and both shoot half minute out of light barrel sporting rifles.

+1 on the 75 grain Hornady bullets. Both the HPBT and A max produced top accuracy in my 1:8 .223. The A max won't fit a standard mag though.

Buy a chrono. Worth every penny. Groups at 100 are great but you want to see small ES and SD to know you'll have a load that will perform out at longer ranges, and to evaluate the quality of your loads.

As said, if the barrel is too hot to hold it's too hot.

Your top IMR 4895 load is .3 under max and BLC2 is .4 under max. Why did you decide to stop below max published data?
 
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Thanks for all the quick replys
The rifle that Im developing this load is a Keltec SUF 16. Semi Auto Gas Gun. These are basically paper punchers as they are not known for high accuracy. But its a fun rifle to play around with. And I am viewing this project as a learning project

I have never heard of the OCW method, Thanks for that. I will do some research on this method.

I decided to stay away from the max load simply because I have never loaded up to max loads. I guess I error-ed on the side of caution.
 
The warm up rounds for sighting in is a great Idea. I never even thought of that. Thanks for the tip. Im sure that will help out alot.
 
ReapersGhost said:
Thanks for all the quick replys
The rifle that Im developing this load is a Keltec SUF 16. Semi Auto Gas Gun. These are basically paper punchers as they are not known for high accuracy. But its a fun rifle to play around with. And I am viewing this project as a learning project

I have never heard of the OCW method, Thanks for that. I will do some research on this method.

I decided to stay away from the max load simply because I have never loaded up to max loads. I guess I error-ed on the side of caution.
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A smart decision. Erring on the side of caution is the sound thing to do until you get a lot of experience. That said, even under max loads can generate over pressure in some guns, and over max loads can be totally safe. There's a lot of fudge factor in max charges but you need to be sure of identifying pressure signs. Which you really should be anyway at any charge level.

For the keltec I'd lean to BLC2. Significantly cheaper than the powders I mentioned, and basically made for semi auto gas guns (It's the original 7.62x51 powder.) Win 748 would be a good choice too if you're loading for plinking as it would seem.

Honestly if it was me I'd bulk buy the cheapest 55gr bullets at less than half the price of the SMKs, and an 8 lb jug of blc2 or 748 and go blast away. Little point loading .5 MOA ammo for a 2 - 3 MOA rifle. More trigger time with cheaper ammo is what I'd lean to. Not to pooh pooh the suf 16, I'd love to have one to play with, and despite a fetish for accurate rifles the most fun ones I have are an M1 carbine and mini 30... hardly paragons of accuracy. But working up that load to maximize it's potential will teach you a bunch for sure.

http://optimalchargeweight.embarqspace.com/ocw-instructions/4529817134
 
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I'll second the BLC-2. Meters really well. My load for my AR (Colt 6920 with Elcan OS3x) is 25.5 gr BLC-2 in Fed cases with a bulk 62 gr fmjbt. Shoots 2moa super reliably with occasional tighter groups.
 
Shoot round robin at 100m. Cool between each string of charges.

People report excellent accuracy with Varget and heavy bullets in .223. You're using quality components so as long as you're consistent I don't see why you wouldn't find a load that shoots.
 
I shot my first-ever 100yd sub-MOA .223, with 25gr Varget and 55gr no-name FMJBT's.

Only thing about Varget, it does NOT meter very well. It's a rod powder, it catches in the mouth of a charge thrower, this is super irritating if you use a charge thrower. Electronic metering thrower or scale / trickler.
 
gwesson said:
I shot my first-ever 100yd sub-MOA .223, with 25gr Varget and 55gr no-name FMJBT's.

Only thing about Varget, it does NOT meter very well. It's a rod powder, it catches in the mouth of a charge thrower, this is super irritating if you use a charge thrower. Electronic metering thrower or scale / trickler.
Click to expand...

Sort of. I find it meters well through the cheap old Lee powder thrower I bought in the early 90s. Set it to throw light and trickle up is the fastest most accurate way I've found to do it.
 
ReapersGhost said:
Ok heres the back ground
I have been reloading for just over a year. So Im still pretty green. I can make ammunition go bang safely (at least so far lol). I have come to realize that I can make a custom load for my rifle and really lock it down. With this in mind Im working with my .223 as I have the most components for it. The twist of my barrel is 1 : 9. I did some reading online and found that the Sierra 69 gr match king works well with this rifle, and I have two powders for .223 on hand. I so put together these loads...

h4lfte


Not sure if the link works... but heres the stats. Bullet 69 gn Sierra Match King, BLC(2), Power weight 24.5, 24.7, 24.9, 25.1, 25.3, 25.5, 25.7, 25.9, and 26.1

Power 2: Same bullet IMR 4895, Weights 23.3, 23.5, 23.7, 23.9, 24.1, 24.3, and 24.5 gn.

Now I loaded five rounds at each powder weight so I will have some fun shooting these off. lol.

But my questions to you all is
1). How long should I wait between each batch of five. I assume barrel temp will affect the accuracy
2). Should I do the accuracy tests at 50 m or 100 m. Looking for the best results
3) Any other tips you guys can give will be great.
Click to expand...

BLC(2) is great for fast bulk loads using a volumetric powder dispenser, but is not ideal for precision loads. While you can lroduce excellent, consistent loads with it, as a double base ball powder, it is fairly sensitive to temperature, so the MOA load you developed during the summer will shoot like crap in the winter (been there, done that). I now use either Varget or H4895. With either 69gr SMK's or 68gr Hornady HPBT's, I get MOA service rifle loads. The BLC(2) is relegated to 55gr FMJ loads.
 
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