.223 projectiles selection.

[jjrock]

What is your projectile of choice for .223 plinking ammo? And where do you source them? I've only just started rolling my own rifle rounds and am pleased with the results (long time loader of straight walled cartridges). I bought a bag of 100 hornady 55gr pills from Georgia Arms to get my feet wet with loading rifle cartridges. Now, I want to go bulk to feed my addiction and not break the bank.

Thanks!

 

[Flashover16]

Well I picked up an over run of Remington 55 GR BT all copper projectiles at a super price.
as I ordered about 5000 projectiles I imagine those will be my PLINKER round for quite a while as I don't shoot the AR that much.
MY advice is first see what is the twist of the barrel and then start to look for good buys.
typically 55 grain or lower will be cheaper as they don't require as much material to make.

 

[Buckeye76]

I like the 62gr and 55gr projectiles that Rocky Mountain Reloading has. 62gr are lead core.

You can also find a good deal on the Hornady bulk packs of 6000 55gr plinkers.

 

[RamRoddoc]

Hornady 55 grain cannelure runs around $77-$80/1000 each. Grab a thousand to get the savings. Typically the best buy for a decent and accurate bullet.

 

[Twitch2120]

55 gr fmj will be cheapest. Beware of pulled bullets. The collets can warp the jackets and make for potentially explosive results.

 

[1006]

Hornady 55 grain soft point with cannelure is what I use.

It is cheap and accurate.

I tried some milSpec from GA Arms-- not nearly as accurate as the Hornady bullets.

My Rifle has a 1 in 9 twist, 16 inch barrel. I load the bullets for 2710fps with 26.0 BL(c)-2. This load was just something I tried as a first attempt, but the first two shots made just one hole at 100yrds. So, I have continued with the same load. I had hoped for more power, but the 16 inch barrel is almost 200 fps slower than an 18 inch barrel that I chonographed this bullet load from.

 

[RamRoddoc]

Interesting, I did several loadings (stacks) searching for the sweet spot and found that 23 grains of Hod 322 under a Hornady 55 gn. cannelure yielded the best accuracy in my 16" AR at a not awe inspiring 2,753 FPS. But I stuck with that loading.

The same load out of my heavy barreled Savage 110 FP bolt gun (one of my most accurate) yielded 2,992 FPS and stacked them.

I finally obtained some CFE 223 powder and when time allows will be working a load up using the Hornady 55 gn. cannelure bullet.

 

[jjrock]

Interesting, I did several loadings (stacks) searching for the sweet spot and found that 23 grains of Hod 322 under a Hornady 55 gn. cannelure yielded the best accuracy in my 16" AR at a not awe inspiring 2,753 FPS. But I stuck with that loading.

The same load out of my heavy barreled Savage 110 FP bolt gun (one of my most accurate) yielded 2,992 FPS and stacked them.

I finally obtained some CFE 223 powder and when time allows will be working a load up using the Hornady 55 gn. cannelure bullet.

I've got the CFE 223, look forward to seeing where you land with the charge. I started at 26.8. Seemed pretty good....I don't have w chron (yet) so I have no idea what velocity was.

 

[1006]

Hodgdon data indicates to me that 3240FPS is a fair guess for a 24 inch barrel with 26.8CFE and a 22grain bullet with a semi- flat base.

My personal guess for a 16 inch barrel would be 2950 to 3050fps, and for an 18 inch would be 3050 to 3150.

Someone on here could give you a better guesstimate based on their experience.

An older fella from the bench rest world of competition told me that single base stick type powder has a more linear retalationship between powder weight and velocity than that of a double base ball type powder.