need help on a load

S

stinkeye

Guest
I am having DPMS Panther Arms build me a custom AR-15 chambered in 223. It is the 24" bull barrel model with a 1 in 9" twist rate. I was talking to a good friend that has 4 AR's in 223. He uses Winchester 748 27.5 grains, a55 grain bthp with magnum primers and swears by that load. I have not been able to find Winchester 748 and was cosidering using Hodgdon's H322 which seems to be more readily available. I have already primed 1,000 rounds of Lake City brass with Wolf Magnum primers and have purchased 1,000 50 grain Hollow Point bullets by Dogtown. I already have several pounds of H322 as I use it to load for my 204 Ruger. My manuals do not have any data on that powder, however on the powder cans it has information for loading for the 223 as follows: Charge 23.0 gr.,bullet 55gr. Spr SP, case Win., Primer Win SR, C.O.L. 2.200 with vel. of 3106 fps. I am looking for accuracy in a load. Does anyone have any experience with this powder in 223 loads. Any info you have would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, StinkEye
 
H322

stinkeye said:
I have already primed 1,000 rounds of Lake City brass with Wolf Magnum primers and have purchased 1,000 50 grain Hollow Point bullets by Dogtown.
Click to expand...

I'm assuming that is what you are going to load(?). The Sierra manual lists 23.1-25.2 grs for a 50 gr bullet in a 20" 1:7 Colt AR with the top velocity at 3100 fps. I've used H322 in a 16" 1:9 AR and it worked very well. Maybe start at 24 grs and increase by .3 grs increment. I'm assuming you'll load to magazine length and crimp.

W748 would work really well if you are only shooting in warm (70+) weather, otherwise the H322 would be better.

Next time I'd order 55 gr bullets for your 1:9 twist. nhk
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Thanks for the info

Thank you both for the reply. It does look like Powder Valley does have Win 748 in stock but it looks like that may not be the best choice now. Looks like I will probably try loads with both powders and see what the gun likes the best. And by the way yes I will probably load to within a few thousand of kissing the lands if the magazine allows, otherwise I guess I'll have to seat them to fit the magazine Then I will crimp them.
Which brings up another point. I purchased Hornady dies which has a crimping feature withe the bullet seating die. Should this be sufficient or should I purchase another die. I am new to loading for Automatic rifles as most of my firearms are bolt action, so crimping is new to me other than hand gun loads I have done.
 
Crimp in its own station.

I can't speak for rifle rounds because I shoot bolt action single shot.

However, I shoot bullseye pistol and I ALWAYS crimp my loads for pistol in a separate step and do see a big difference in my groups at 25 yards and in the concentricity of the ammo. I think it is counter-intuitive to seat a bullet and squeeze it at the same time with opposing forces.

I would seat some with the standard die and see how concentric the ammo is. If the brass is straight prior to seating and after its less than .001" of rounout I wouldn't worry about it. However, if the brass is straight and after seating its out by more than .001", I would get a Redding competition bullet seater, then crimp after in a separate step.
 
Crimping rifle loads

I use a Lee Factory Crimp di instead of roll crimping with a seater di. I only crimp the diameter around 0.004" less than the loaded neck diameter. nhk
 
stinkeye

I really like W-748 in the 204R. Did real well in the one 223 tube I've tried.
Not so sure it would go well with the Wolf primers though.
The Wolfs IMO are just too mild to properly ignite ball powders.
I could be wrong but my testing in a 204 says they just cant cut it.
 
H322 works well in 223s and ARs. I have used it with 50 - 55 grain bullets and the results are good. I use H322 in my 24" DPMS AR when loading 52 grain bullets for shooting paper.

Adrian
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I hope I can trust my memory on this -- but I believe Dogtown brand bullets are economy bullets. I purchased a box of them about two years ago.

You get a good price on them, but aren't they a "make do" bullet for high-volume shooters?

If you want top accuracy, try a premium bullet.

Best--
 
I have loaded .223 for Colt AR's for about 25 years, I never crimp the bullet in. I have never had any trouble except, with Colt factory magazines you have to file the front lip down or the square edge of the uncrimped case will catch and not feed. The new DPMS magazines have a lower front and are not a problem.
I shoot Hornady 60 gr. HP and the accuracy is good if I do my part.
 
H322 should be good for small bullets up to the ones you single feed for .223. Varget, R15 and N560 will offer more velocity with the bigger bullets.

I use Benchmark, AA2230, Varget and R15. AA2230 is ball, and easy to measure. Benchmark has been very easy to work with. It is short cut, and has wide accuracy plateau in wide range of bullets. Benchmark is cleaner and fired brass temperatures are not as bad as AA.

I have the same DPMS rifle but with 20in chromoly barrel. The little 50-55gr bullets have shot tighter than the bigger 69-75gr bullets at 100 yards, but the 75gr BTHP are about 1/10in larger group, so not bad.
 
Montana Pete said:
I hope I can trust my memory on this -- but I believe Dogtown brand bullets are economy bullets. I purchased a box of them about two years ago.

You get a good price on them, but aren't they a "make do" bullet for high-volume shooters?

If you want top accuracy, try a premium bullet.

Best--
Click to expand...

Good point Pete

Never tried a 22 cal Dogtown. The 34gn 20 cal dogtowns are not the pill to choose for accuracy tho;) Close range P-dog poppin for cheap is their forte
 
With my Bushmaster it took me 16 rounds with a ladder test to find its best powder / bullet combo for less than 1/2" 100 yd. groups. Rifle was used in High Power Competition. Twist was 1 in 8" and bullets were 69 & 80gr. Bergers with Varget. 69gr. held less than 1/2" and the 80gr. held 3/4" at 100 and then at 200 would hold 5/8" groups. The 80s would stabilize past 100 yards.

"Aim small miss small", :D

gt40
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top