Thread: Reloading for .223

Discretion is the better part of valour, so with the words of the wise still ringing in my ears I went and tried a few things.

In consideration of the following data, I'm using a Ballistics Advantage 16" Stainless Steel barrel (Wylde) with a suppressor fitted. Altitude is around 600m ASL.

First I put some PPU 55gr factory loads over the Chrono. These provided an average speed of 2935 fps with an ES of 52 fps.

Then I put some Belmont 55gr factory loads through the rifle and these gave me an average speed of 3001 fps with and ES of 65 fps.

Yesterday I loaded up some ADI Brass (ex-Belmont, previously fired in the rifle) using their 747 powder, CCI 400 primers and the same Hornady 55gr SP pills used by Belmont. These were the results:

Load AVG ES
25.6 gr 2874 46
25.8 gr 2913 16
26.0 gr 2918 24
26.2 gr 2924 51
26.4 gr 2981 41
26.6 gr 3006 28
26.8 gr 3005 16
27.0 gr 3048 96

The 27.0 gr load seems to me to be a little too much but I don't know how to calculate pressures from that info so I'll just avoid it. While the 28.8 gr load looks good my fear is it's also a little close to the top end for a 16" barrel and it might be too easy to accidently overcharge a case. The 26.6 gr loads all sat between 2996 and 3024 fps which were very similar to the Belmont factory rounds. If the pressures were within limits I'd be keen to load to this, but overall it seems the 26.4gr load would probably be the most acceptable load as this sat between 2958 fps and 2999 fps.

Interested to hear peoples thoughts.
@300_BLK - Interesting that Belmont indicated they use 26.3 gr of 747 in their factory loads. That doesn't seem to stack up. When I pulled one of their loads it had 27.0 grains of 747 inside and I would imagine their factory SD would be within 0.2 grains, but surely not 0.7 grains? Given their rounds averaged 3001 fps it would seem more likely they're loading to between 26.5 - 26.7 grains. Their website recommends a maximum of 26.8 gr in a 22" barrel giving 3154 fps and with 26.6 gr a speed of 3092 fps.