Great stuff. I only have rimfire now but I'm thinking about a centerfire in a varmint type caliber. This is what I'd like to achieve, with a healthy dose of cold barrel accuracy thrown in. Bolt action (.222, .223, 6BR, .243, 22BR, ?). I have a ton of questions but I'll ping you on just a few: - Do you load any similar calibers other than 223 for accuracy? If so, pros/cons vs .223 - How much time do you invest loading each cartridge? - Any suggestions on equipment? Thanks, David
I am Not an expert. Feel free to ask all the questions you want. Anyone else that has anything to add, jump right in. -I do not. But have been around several. Some advantages to a 223 IMO- Very common, cheap easy to find brass and bullets. Uses very little powder compared to larger calibers. Larger/faster calibers that shoot in the 400ofps range are known to shoot the throats out of a barrel in about 4000 rounds. -I have a single stage press. They are slow but cheap. Time/round really varies with the condition of the brass. The more times a piece of brass is fired, the closer it gets to needing: cleaning, measuring, trimming, chamfering, etc. All will be needed eventually. All this takes a few more seconds per round, it all adds up especially when reloading 1000 rounds. Practice speeds the process. Developing a new load takes some time. Reloading a known load is a matter of steps. I prefer to reload in stages. I may do each stage all at once or in 2-3 settings. For example- resize all the brass. Re-prime all the brass. Measure/dump all the powder. Seat the bullets. I use fine grained powders that dump very accurately with my powder dump. Well within a 10th of a grain. This avoids hand weighing every load. Much faster. If I had to guess (I don't time myself) I'd say I vary from 30 seconds a round to 2 minutes a round. Maybe. -I have a Lee Challenger Breech Lock kit. Very inexpensive easy to use kit to get started with. Its not the best equipment on the market but works great and loads very precise rounds. Over time you'll want/need to add things to it. RCBS is another popular high quality option.
I have a turret press. It's a lee. It's accurate enough to shoot good pistol and will do rifle rounds up to shot action I beleive. I will only be accurate to a few tenths of a grain depending on powder I use but still could probably get similar results once you played with bullet depth and powder weights , as you see there. How much time per round. Assuming I am not trimming each case I can load a .233 round in 8 seconds? More or less depending on if I am going fast or something. But a normale pace might be more like 10 seconds . Now for super accuracy your going to measure each case length, trim it, segregate the cases per once fired , twice fired etc. , weigh the cases and have some predetermined weight you want to stay at and stick to one brand. Weigh the powder to an exact weight by hand each time. Segregate bullets by weight, load them and put a caliper on them to ensure same OAL. But this would be for bench rest shooters at like 1000 yards.
223 for the above reasons. Cheap, it's everywhere, tons of components to choose from, and easier on the barrel. I get sub moa accuracy with the same Lee classic turret Clemson uses. Lee stuff may be cheap but it's not junk.
Me I like the odd ball cartridges. I have a 220 Swift. It shoots one hole groups at 100 yards. As long as you don't hot rod this cartridge the barrel will last you a long time. I've put quite a few rounds through mine and the accuracy still superb! But then again I have my hand loads more on the mild side but hey that's what my gun likes.
Good info, thanks. This spring I saw Midway(?) selling their RCBS kits at 50% off. It seems if I'm patient I can save a bunch on the basic tools. Since my rimfires pretty much dance at 1moa, I expected to do some of these extra things. I know affordable is a factor, but from what I read, if I'm going to spend the time and effort, might as well use Lapua brass and quality bullets. Less sorting and good for a dozen firings in some loads. One of the 6PPC benchrest guys at the club recommended anything 6mm because the bullets are so good. I have the Lee reloading manual. The front matter is a running advert for their simple, inexpensive, and effective tools. I've heard that about 220 Swift. It's only a 4000fps barrel burner if you want it to be. Here in southcentral PA there's not much reason to set up for more than 200 yards unless you're going to tote it out west or shoot long range target. So there is no reason to go past mild.
6mm is a good one for Bali stick coefficient . If you want to buy brass buy it. That's the good thing about .223. You can pick tons up free. Buying brass is not cheap the first time. And you can get good accuracy without buying brass and sorting esp if your only shooting 200 yards. When I was testing my .30/06 loads.I had 4 rounds made up of each powder I was shooting. This was brass I shot if I remember right, I hand weighed it and made them up on my cheap Lee single stage press. 3out of 4 through the same hole at 100 yards with a very cheap basic vise which really is just a rest since u still have to hold it and aim it.
My first and best peice of advise is most Internet groupings is 90% bull. Everyone shoots lights out. No miracle groups. Chuckhawks has good info. Secondly reloading is fun. Its a world of small detail. Many different combinations and results. Get setup and try everything you have time for. One load can usually be improved or another is better. I don't know what a healthy dose of cold barrel accuracy is in metrics, but a good temp stable powder and a good heavy barrel will help. Collet die along with a full length resize. Rcbs makes decent dies. You can also order a custom die, cut from your fired brass from most manufactures. Lapua brass is nice...but imo a waste of money. It's good brass out of the box. If you don't mind spending the money great, aneal it...But i like a certian no name brass because it lasts longer and it's way cheaper. I usually sort it once to within half a grain. And it stays that way untill it's worn. Get a chronograph. Get a good Digi scale. Get a large log book/binder to record your progress and load development/targets. Lee breechlock kit with the caliber you are using is a great choice to start. Imo a good match grade replacement barrel is relatively cheap and easy with say a savage.... Even between 100-200 yards you can see how one load is better than another. Some loads don't begin to settle at 200. What you thought was a good group at 100 sucks anywhere else.
Necropost! These cold azz temps kept me inside and I'm getting caught up for next year's shooting. Just this week I filled a 30 cal ammo can full of 124gr 9mm, a few hundred rounds each of match 308 and 223, and used up all my 45 auto projectiles as it's a new caliber to me this year. I think I'm gonna explore some lighter than 230 for the 45 next. Anybody else been posted up at the press? Whatcha been loading?
I have been sorting and cleaning more brass. Getting out the small backlog. Been reloading more. Not much. Ordered a turret for the press. And am going to set it up for .30/06 and load some of that up for deer season next year and sighting in.
It was so cold on Monday that we moved a table up in my attic, put our casting pots on it, and cast a few thousand rounds. 9mms, 45s, and a ton of other esoteric stuff (my buddies into weird old-timey stuff). Normally an outdoor sport, but went very well considering. was just worried about a china syndrome if a pot went awry in my attic. been there done that. and snagged two used lyman 4 cavity handles for 37 bucks out the door online on tues. also snagged a 20mm AA can full of .223 brass for 60 bucks. gotta be 10,000 cases in there or more. bought it before we left for knob creek but just got it.
That sucks tfdchief being all loaded up and no place to shoot. I hope you are able to find another place to shoot!
That suck tfdchief nothing like being all loaded up with no place to shoot, definitely a real bummer. I hope that you find a new place to shoot soon, spring is right around the corner! Well maybe not.
Yeah, it really does. The place was a buddies, close to home, and we had a 25 yard and 100 yard range. Buddy retired a few years ago and bought this beautiful place. He loved it and had just bought a tractor and UTV. I thought I was set for life. Then his wife decided she didn’t like it in the country and had to move. I I was shooting a lot and reloading a lot. Both of which I love to do. But you can’t reload if you don’t shoot. I have every case I own loaded. Sad day. Finally have time for my hobby and no place to do it. Chief
Do you live in the city? Are there national or state forests up there? We have public ranges all over the state, no one is usually over an hour from one. I have one 15 mins or so from the house.
Clemsonfor, I live in a small community. Closest State forest is 180 Miles. Very few gun clubs around here. The one I belong to is trap and skeet only. There is an indoor range 25 Miles from me but it is too snooty for me.
