Loads for M14

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tucker05

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I'm sure this has been posted 1000 times but here goes again.
Anyone have a pet load for thier M14?
I will be using Hornady 150 FMJ, Winchester primers, Military or Norma brass and would perfer either 748 or Varget powder
Your help would be greatly appreciated as it is rather cold out to sit down and develope a load from scratch.
 
To be on the safe side, you should really be using CCI military primers. The potential for slam fires in this rifle with soft commercial primers is not TOO high (unless you're using Federal), but if they happen, they'll sure ruin your day.

168gr Sierra Matchking (#2200) HPBT bullets are a popular choice, though far from the only option. They're what I use, but I haven't done any serious testing., so YMMV.

4895 type powders, such as IMR 4895 or Hodgdon's H4895 are generally considered the standard for this rifle, due to the pickiness of the gas system with regards to burn rate. I couldn't tell you off the top of my head whether 748 or Varget are in the safe range, but I'm sure someone else will chime in.

I usually use Winchester brass, simply because military brass can be hard to find.

I'm not going to quote numbers for my load because A ) I don't want to be responsible for someone having an accident, B ) it's straight out of the reloading manual I use anyway, and C ) I don't remember off the top of my head. :)

Edit: As Hitzy reminded me, excessive headspace is NORMAL with M14 type rifles. The safest solution is to swap out the bolt and set the headspacing of your rifle to SAAMI specs. There's also a couple of other methods involving sizing the brass closer to your chamber dimensions, but I'm not going to quote them because I'm just going to get flamed. :)

If you DON'T pick one of these methods, your brass life will be very short due to the case being overworked, and could lead to case failures if you hang on to them a little too long.

If you contact either Hungry or Skullboy here on the board, I believe they are still offering to mic spent brass that you mail to them, and tell you your headspace that way. I would definitely recommend you take advantage of this opportunity.
 
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take a look under m14 match loads- 44.5 of 748 to 48.5 for a 150- drop down a couple of grains and work back up when you graduate to 165-168's
 
Rifle is properly headspaced with lapped in TRW bolt.
Thanks for the heads up on the CCI Military primers.
I will be using Sierra 155 palmas in competition as this is all we are allowed. For these I will have time to work up loads.
For now I have a bunch of Hor 150 FMJ kicking around with a couple thousand Military and Norma brass and 20 lbs of 748 and Varget. Figured I would try the rifle out on coyotes to calm my itchy trigger finger.
Any help that could be offered regaurding the above components would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
 
I used both the 147gr Hornady FMJ and 155gr Amax. The Amax was much more accurate. Fed 210M primer in Win cases. H335 and Benchmark. H4895 is another good choice.

Strongly suggest against anything slower like Varget. This generates too much gas volume at the gas cylinder and can cause damage.

Visit my website. I have a long article on loading for this rifle.

Jerry
 
Regular primers have worked just fine in my semi'd M-14 for eons. And in my M-1, M-1 Carbine and every other rifle I load for. "Military primers" is a marketing term just like the word 'tactical'.
Since you just want a load to shoot, pick a 150 grain load out of your manual and work up a proper load later.
 
sunray said:
Regular primers have worked just fine in my semi'd M-14 for eons. And in my M-1, M-1 Carbine and every other rifle I load for. "Military primers" is a marketing term just like the word 'tactical'.
Since you just want a load to shoot, pick a 150 grain load out of your manual and work up a proper load later.
Click to expand...

Ah, yes, the old "it works for me, so it must work for everyone else" argument.

Look, *most* commercial primers will PROBABLY not result in slam fires in MOST M14s.

To say flat out that it is safe to use any primer in loads for the M14 is extremely irresponsible.

Federal primers, specifically, have a very poor track record in M14 rifles. They're too sensitive for this application. It is a fault of the rifle, not of the primers, as by all accounts Federal primers work quite well in loads for commercial firearms.

I'm not saying that you definitely can't use commercial primers (except Federal) in loads for your M14, but you DO need to be aware that this is a possibility. Disregarding it out of hand is a recipe for disaster.
 
Khalnath, maybe its not the Fed primer but the brass that was used????

As we know, the M305/M1A/M14 has a floating firing pin which moves slightly under inertia when the bolt closes. The design of components and spring rates necessitates that a mag be used when the bolt is closed or else the bolt speed is high enough to cause the firing pin to ignite a chambered rd.

Now this works with just about any primer. Just put a primed but empty case in the chamber, let the bolt slam close but don't have a mag in there. I bet no matter what primer you use, you will pop that primer in short order.

Also, we know that the firing pin even when closing with a mag in place will protrude a bit. Some firing pins are longer then others, lighter then others, thinner then others, etc. Sometimes that firing pin will ever so slightly dimple the primer if the case is extracted without firing.

Now put in a primer into a case with a shallow primer pocket (as can happen with commercial brass) and voila, you create an opportunity for failure. So is the case the real culprit???? Is that why surplus ammo has the primers seated so low???

I have not experienced a failure with Federal primers and use a bunch of them, albeit in bolt rifles. My shooting of the M305 is certainly less then most but never had a problem except when single feeding without a mag.

Simple test. Take a pistol primer (which should be much softer then a rifle primer) and put it into a case that has the primer pocket lowered to max SAAMI depth (primer will sit well below the case head). Chamber this empty case and let the bolt slam close (with a mag in place of course) and see what happens.

If the primer doesn't slamfire, then the issue is not the primer but the relationship of firing pin protrusion and pocket depth. The primer just happens to get in the way.

As with all handloading, care is necessary and barrels pointed in safe directions just in case.

Jerry
 
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