What is your current m14 ammo choice?

Grizzlypeg

Grizzlypeg

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Seems surplus has gotten more and more scarce over the years, and factory ammo is crazy expensive. Hirtenberger seems about the most reasonable choice right now. Anyone have some favorites that are currently available in Canada?

If you are reloading your own, what primers are both recommended and available commercially in Canada?
 
Barnaul is the most affordable for current commercial ammo I believe. I haven't had a problem with it.
 
I only shoot reloaded ammo in my M305, for accuracy rather than cost savings but the reloads are a lot cheaper than match ammo. CCI LR primers.
 
Springfield Super Match, only shooting reloaded ammo so far, LC M852 brass, Win WLR primers and some combo of 4895 and a 175 SMK.

For slow fire, single load ammo I headspace a little closer for the sake of brass life, vs rapid fire ammo that will be magazine fed.
 
njohnson said:
Springfield Super Match, only shooting reloaded ammo so far, LC M852 brass, Win WLR primers and some combo of 4895 and a 175 SMK.

For slow fire, single load ammo I headspace a little closer for the sake of brass life, vs rapid fire ammo that will be magazine fed.
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you aren't loading that single slow fire round into the chamber and dropping the bolt on it are you?
Not to butt into your business.... and I know I swore off giving M14 advice recently...… but that practice is a "major do not do" for this platform.
 
45ACPKING said:
you aren't loading that single slow fire round into the chamber and dropping the bolt on it are you?
Not to butt into your business.... and I know I swore off giving M14 advice recently...… but that practice is a "major do not do" for this platform.
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No most definitely not, I start the bullet nose in the feed ramp/chamber and snap the case into the magazine lips. Most def not letting the bolt fly on a fully chambered round, just enough that the bullet nose isn’t banging off the feed ramps. And helps when using VLD profiles loaded out to 2.910”
 
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45ACPKING said:
you aren't loading that single slow fire round into the chamber and dropping the bolt on it are you?
Not to butt into your business.... and I know I swore off giving M14 advice recently...… but that practice is a "major do not do" for this platform.
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I've seen you mention a few times now how you've swore off advice then followed up with advice. It'll never leave you. Accept it. Embrace it. Teach us!!! :p I like reading your posts.
 
I shoot Hirt and Norinco steel case, both are reliable. Mine doesn't like American Eagle, might have been a one-off but it ripped the head off a case so that was enough for me.
 
I haven't started loading my components yet. Can't seem to find the time. However, when I finally get to it it will be Starline brass, CCl military primer, H4895, and 165 grain Hornady SST. I have Varget, but I have read that this is not a good powder for the M305. As I understand it, the pressure curve of the this slow burning powder, tends to do damage to this rifle. The same goes for reloader 15.
As someone else posted, I reload because I want to get as much accuracy out of my rifles, as possible. Considering, I've invested quite a bit of money to get the rifles how I want them.
 
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I’ve been making Mexican match with hirtenberger.... I wind up culling 10-15% of the projectiles, and just weighing the charges has shrunk the average group with Hirt to about 1/3 to a half of what can be expected out of the ammunition “un-MM’d”.... funny story, I started making this stuff by pulling down 240 rounds and weighing every charge and projectile. The average charge was 44.1 grains of powder (on my scale), and the average projectile weight was 146.8 gr.

I culled all projectiles over or under 1.5 grains from the average. I then did a ladder test in .2gr increments (2 levels up and 2 levels down) from the average powder charge, for a ladder test of 5 levels. The best powder charge.... was exactly the average charge. So now, when i crack a case to make the MM I just weigh and go off the average. So far so good!

For factory ammo, purchased by the box, Federal Blue box 150’s. The cheapest hunting ammo on the shelf.

When handloading accurate ammo for the platform, it’s very important to stay with-in the burn rate and pressure that the platform was designed for. My personal rifles see a steady diet of H-4895. CCI Standard LR primers. 168 SMKs. Commercial or mil-surp cases. The load changes depending on if the case are commercial cases or milspec.

@45ACPking- you are wise to stay away from Varget. It will increase port pressure by 2000 psi from what I’ve read on the inter-webs and I know that you know what 2000 psi more at the gas port means in this platform. Now if a fella wanted to fiddle with the gas system or buy a schuster adjustable plug then the increase pressure can be dealt with.

John
 
Anyone using a case gauge to ensure their reloads are accurately sized? My M14s has a chamber .002 over saami go (not using a norinco bolt), and I want to make sure I size them all correctly.

Anyone having success with Federal XM80 ammo? I wonder if its better or worse than hirtenberger? Cost wise, its around .80 a round.
 
How are you pulling the bullets?

m14medic.ca said:
I’ve been making Mexican match with hirtenberger.... I wind up culling 10-15% of the projectiles, and just weighing the charges has shrunk the average group with Hirt to about 1/3 to a half of what can be expected out of the ammunition “un-MM’d”.... funny story, I started making this stuff by pulling down 240 rounds and weighing every charge and projectile. The average charge was 44.1 grains of powder (on my scale), and the average projectile weight was 146.8 gr.

I culled all projectiles over or under 1.5 grains from the average. I then did a ladder test in .2gr increments (2 levels up and 2 levels down) from the average powder charge, for a ladder test of 5 levels. The best powder charge.... was exactly the average charge. So now, when i crack a case to make the MM I just weigh and go off the average. So far so good!

For factory ammo, purchased by the box, Federal Blue box 150’s. The cheapest hunting ammo on the shelf.

When handloading accurate ammo for the platform, it’s very important to stay with-in the burn rate and pressure that the platform was designed for. My personal rifles see a steady diet of H-4895. CCI Standard LR primers. 168 SMKs. Commercial or mil-surp cases. The load changes depending on if the case are commercial cases or milspec.

@45ACPking- you are wise to stay away from Varget. It will increase port pressure by 2000 psi from what I’ve read on the inter-webs and I know that you know what 2000 psi more at the gas port means in this platform. Now if a fella wanted to fiddle with the gas system or buy a schuster adjustable plug then the increase pressure can be dealt with.

John
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Grizzlypeg said:
Anyone using a case gauge to ensure their reloads are accurately sized? My M14s has a chamber .002 over saami go (not using a norinco bolt), and I want to make sure I size them all correctly.
Click to expand...

I use a MCS case gauge for measuring both sized cases and fired cases, and go through a bit of a process checking each in my M1A using a stripped bolt to further gauge the feel of sized rounds into the chamber and ease of bolt closing. My old double lug gun had the USMC style gas cylinder so I also disabled the gas system and measured fired cases with no extraction. I noted that fired cases out of my gun with a functioning gas system tended to be a few thou longer than those fired with the gas system disabled and the actual chamber dimension.

I have either MCS or RCBS case gauges for all my calibers to measure and set headspace on sized rounds, I find they really help getting cases that function safely but are not unnecessarily over worked with resultant case head separation.
 
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driller212 said:
Don't use American eagle. It blew mine up.
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That frightening. What was left of the gun?

Any idea of the cause? Assuming it wasn't a malfunction of the rifle, such as the hammer dropping early, it could be improperly sized case, soft primers, high primers.

I know lots of Americans shoot the Federal Xm80 ammo in their M1A's
 
Grizzlypeg said:
How are you pulling the bullets?
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I’m using a Hornady Cam-lock bullet puller. Hornady item #050095 you will need caliber specific collets as well.

I grip the projectile with the cam-lock tool in the press. Then push the round up into the collet to break the sealant then pull it down to extract the projectile from the case. Works pretty slick. I have heard of guys using a seating due to push the projectile into the case 1/4” then use a kinetic puller.... but that is waaaay too labour intensive to suit me!

An electronic scale is used to measure the weight of the projectile and the powder charge.

John
 
Grizzlypeg said:
That frightening. What was left of the gun?

Any idea of the cause? Assuming it wasn't a malfunction of the rifle, such as the hammer dropping early, it could be improperly sized case, soft primers, high primers.

I know lots of Americans shoot the Federal Xm80 ammo in their M1A's
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Just totalled the bolt. AE uses really thin brass to I assume save $$. I had a case head separation and then the next round slam fired and kaboom.

The rifle was headspaced by an M14 guru so I know that wasn't the issue.
 
I like Winchester LRP with 44gr of 748 and 150gr Hornady match FMJ projectiles seated to the cannelure and I also drilled out my gas plug and threaded for 4 mm Allen bolts and made my own gas bushings with various sized holes drilled in them. This allows me to tune my loads so the shell ejects just enough to grab the next round and hold bolt open on the last shot. Really takes the recoil as well and is Avery accurate load for me
 
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