My first .223 loads

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E Rock

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This is my first set of 223 loads. Had a heck of a time trying to find load data for the specific components I'm using.

LC brass
CCI #41 primer
IMR 8208xbr powder
ss109/m855 62gr. pulled bullets from hi-tech

In-fact I couldn't find exact data, so I looked at a LOT of specs on different components. hopefully I came up with some safe parameters. Still not sure on OAL, used 2.260. That seemed to be right foe the ss109 projos from what i could find.

I hope to shoot these very carefully, one at a time, tomorrow. Hopefully I will start to notice signs of over pressure.

will be shooting these out of ar-15 16" carbine

If you see something major wrong with whats going on, by all means say something :nono1:


ai596.photobucket.com_albums_tt49_buggs691_d9f8771b.jpg
 

Huckelberry75

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Eric, it looks like you have stayed true to the "Work Up" theory, excellent. I am curious to see how things go with this powder. Although usually extrapolating data from one set of components to another is frowned upon, sometimes you just have to "tinker around" a little and find what works. Be on the look out for flattend primers, split necks, primers backing out of the pockets, sticky extraction etc. Good Luck and let us know your results.
 

E Rock

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thanks Huck. and thanks for your help with those cans too!!

well I finally got to the range, about a week later than I thought, owell.

everything went good, thought I would be at one end of the spectrum or the other, but the lower weight loads cycled just fine and the highest weight I loaded didn't have any pressure signs at all. kind of bummed about that, I was hoping to run up on my max a little bit just so I'd know where to stop.

loaded in 8 steps as you can see in the picture, and not any problems with any of them. I loaded and shot 3 of each charge weight.

I guess this will be an on going project, probly load a little heavier for the next trip out and see what I get. the best grouping seemed to be 23 grains but it was a bit windy and non pro shooter, so who knows.

ai596.photobucket.com_albums_tt49_buggs691_d23baf5f.jpg
 

tslabaugh

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I love/hate loading new rounds and checking out the results. When the groups are awesome, its very rewarding. When the groups are 2", I wanna pull my hair out! lol

How many groups of each load did you shoot?
 

E Rock

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well thats the thing, I only shot 1 group of each round. wanted to be fairly conservative on how many loads I had. Didn't want to take 100 rounds and have to come back home and take half of them apart. the good thing is I got to shoot everything i took, but didn't really gain much info from it.

I was trying to follow the "optimal charge weight" procedure ( http://optimalchargeweight.embarqspace.com/#/ocw-instructions/4529817134 ). I think the main goal was to see the groups be low and favoring one side, as the charge weight increased the groups should have started to climb and favor the other side of the target. ideally you would chose a grouping that was closest to the middle of the target(at least from the way i understand the procedure), not the grouping that had the smallest group.

the rounds I loaded ranged 4 whole grains, and pretty much every group (8 different groups) was low and more to the right. so I got nothing really, from that test.

maybe I will see changes as I load heavier charges, only time will tell i suppose.

i could show pictures of all the groupings, but its a lot of pictures. if you wanna see them just shout and I'll post'm
 

Huckelberry75

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If the groups are all low right, was your wind coming down the range into your face from left to right?

When working up loads, I usually load in 0.5gn increments. Once I find a couple of groups that show promise, then I start to fine tune in 0.2 gn increments. Then you can tweak by 0.1gn. This helps cover a wider spectrum with fewer loads.
 

E Rock

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yea the wind seemed to be coming from left to right across the range.

I did load in .5 grain increments, well except for the last 2 i threw a .25 grain in there.

what are you thinking on the wind Huck?
 

technetium-99m

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I think you're misunderstanding the concept of OCW a bit.

You're looking for the three groups that have the closest point of impact to each other, not the closest to your aiming point or the center of the target. The theory is that the powder charge that produced the "middle" group of your closest three is your OCW. Distance from the center of the target isn't really relevant (that's a scope/sights issue), look for the three groups that have the most similar point of impact and go from there.
 

E Rock

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I don't think any of the groups were far enough apart to tell a difference. They pretty much all favored the lower/lower right side.

I was expecting to see more movement in the groups.

guess I did miss the point, I read the ocw a while back, then skimmed over it right before I went to the range, either way I'm still not seeing it

Maybe I should try it again and again till I get better results
 

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