Yesterday's Weapons Forums

Moved from old YW site:

txpete
223

I almost forgot how small 223 is .

gschwertley
Pete, I've loaded thousands of those over the years, but those days are over. I sold off my .223 autoloaders; all I have left in that caliber is a very nice Ruger M77 Mark II. It is a lightweight version with a very slim barrel, so you don't burn through the rounds with it very fast.
I see the AA 2460 container in the background; that's a good propellant for .223 in autoloaders. Of course you must take into account the barrel twist with this caliber now, but with the bolt guns they seem to have stuck with the earlier twist. Strangely enough, one of my favorite accuracy loads in the bolt guns uses IMR 4320.

txpete
the colt has a 1-9 twist so the 55 gr should shoot well I hope. I used 24.0 grs AA2460 that should be right at 3000 fps. lc brass and rem SR bench rest primers. range report to follow.

txpete
well got to shoot this morning at ft hood. the AA2460 with the 55 fmjbt's the best I could get was 1 1/4 groups at 50 meters.I also tried some AA2520 which were running at 1 1/2 using 5 shots groups.the new A-2 sights are a bit different than the A-1's but I like them. still got more work to do on the handloads.for the first time out and 20 mph winds I am pretty happy with the colt.

M14man
Pete, not trying to sound like "been there done that", but trying to save you all the steps I went thru, trial,error and lots of ammo.. I experienced the same thing. Groups of about 1 1/2 to 2 inches at 50 yds with a Match gun. Try a heavier bullet and seat them out to about 2.32. You will have to single load, but see if that doesn't shrink the groups to about a third of what they are now. Two bullets with ogives well up front is the Sierra 63g semi-spitzer, and the 70g Speer round nose. These allowed me to seat at magazine depth and still retain accuracy. I've been told the chambers are being cut with these generous throats (leads)to keep pressures down.

txpete
thanks for the info.I had 60 rd's of some south american surplus and at 50 meters they were key holing .I saved the brass as it was boxer primed but real junk ammo.
I'll see about picking up some 63 gr bullets.

The manufacturers using the 1 in 9 twist have the heavier .224 bullets in mind for it. The older design, 1-12 is better for the lighter bullets, 50 to 55 grain.