AR-15 Reloading questions

[LVJ76]

I have an AR in 223/5.56, it has a 16" barrel with a 1:7 twist and I want to start reloading to hunt Javelinas and Coyotes.l with it.

I was recommended to use the 223 Small Base Die so I got one and I have some fireformed Hornady brass for it.

I see the reloading manuals have options to reload for the 223 of course, but also saw for the 5.56 and I read somewhere the 5.56 will handle more pressure/muzzle velocity, is this correct? If so can I load a 223 case at 5.56 pressures?

Also, how can I tell pressure signs on a AR besides maybe a flat primer?

With a 60gr or 62gr bullet for Javelinas, what muzzle velocity can I expect with the 16" barrell?

TIA

 

[just country]

morning, some barrels will shoot long bullets, others
shoot short ogive bullets. some shoot flat base, some
shoot BT bullets. now in my bolt gun I shoot barnes
50gr-53gr. TSX-50gr-55gr TTSX. in my ar's
I shoot the 55gr WW new technologies and
nosler 55gr red tip. with the
twist u refer to the 60gr-77gr. bullets SHOULD
work. powders RL15-TAC-W748-4320-heavier
bullets. 4064-4831-mag. justme gbot tum

 

[LVJ76]

morning, some barrels will shoot long bullets, others
shoot short ogive bullets. some shoot flat base, some
shoot BT bullets. now in my bolt gun I shoot barnes
50gr-53gr. TSX-50gr-55gr TTSX. in my ar's
I shoot the 55gr WW new technologies and
nosler 55gr red tip. with the
twist u refer to the 60gr-77gr. bullets SHOULD
work. powders RL15-TAC-W748-4320-heavier
bullets. 4064-4831-mag. justme gbot tum

Thanks Just country

I have some Hornady 60gr HP's I'll use for coyotes and some 62gr TSX for Javelinas. But I have lots of 50gr Ballistic Tips and also Ballistic Silvertips that I'll provably have to reduce the loads a bit so they stabilize.

I'll be getting a bolt 223 with a 1:9 in the future to shoot some Hornady and Sierra 40gr and 45gr's I have and also be able to shoot heavier bullets.

Thanks again

 

[lancetkenyon]

5.56 Nato cases are usually thicker brass, meaning less case volume, but tougher and run at higher pressures than .223 Rem brass. Check your headstamp. You should be using the same headstamp brass anyway if you want the best accuracy. A load that is safe in .223 Rem might be over pressure in 5.56Nato brass.

I use LC brass for my precision 69 SMK hand loads @ 3033fps. They have put a hurting on many a javalina and coyote, and a lot of jackrabbits too. 1/2MOA loads work well on steel out to 800-900 too. Even had friend's kids shoot mule deer doe with them with good results.

For my varmint loads, I do run mixed headstamped brass with a moderate charge under a 50 VMAX @ 3300fps for coyotes/fox/bobcat/jacks. But those are usually 300 and in, so 1 MOA is plenty acceptable.

 

[just country]

morning, I use WW brass, black hills is extremely good, accurate
ammo. reload Black Hills brass u will like the results. short barrels
create lots of muzzle blast. reducing loads can hamper accuracy.
I have 2 AR's. 1 DPMS upper and rock river lower. 24" very heavy
barrel--1 complete rock river national match. both shoot bugholes.
both shoot the 55gr. new technologies bullet. 24.5grs tac.
205 primer. justme gbot tum

 

[LVJ76]

5.56 Nato cases are usually thicker brass, meaning less case volume, but tougher and run at higher pressures than .223 Rem brass. Check your headstamp. You should be using the same headstamp brass anyway if you want the best accuracy. A load that is safe in .223 Rem might be over pressure in 5.56Nato brass.

I use LC brass for my precision 69 SMK hand loads @ 3033fps. They have put a hurting on many a javalina and coyote, and a lot of jackrabbits too. 1/2MOA loads work well on steel out to 800-900 too. Even had friend's kids shoot mule deer doe with them with good results.

For my varmint loads, I do run mixed headstamped brass with a moderate charge under a 50 VMAX @ 3300fps for coyotes/fox/bobcat/jacks. But those are usually 300 and in, so 1 MOA is plenty acceptable.

Thanks Lancetkenyon

All my brass is headstamped 223 Rem, they are fire formed Hornady, I also have new Winchester and also new Remington nickel plated.

I'll start load development in a couple weeks once the weather cools down a bit, I just want good accuracy with as much velocity as possible since its only a 16" barrell.

Looking at various Reloading books I see that TAC would be good with light bullets and CFE223 with the heavier ones.

I do load development with one brand of brass and once I find the sweet load I just try it in other brand brass and found most times it shoots the same, I've tried this in my 7mm-08 and 7mm Rem Mag.

Again I want to get the most velocity possible with the short barrell while having good aaccuracy as well

 

[lancetkenyon]

I use Benchmark w. 50 VMax and Varget w. 69 SMKs. I don't mind losing 50fps for better accuracy.

 

[LVJ76]

I use Benchmark w. 50 VMax and Varget w. 69 SMKs. I don't mind losing 50fps for better accuracy.

Thanks and that makes sense. I also saw those two powders on the reloading data up there with the two I mentioned. I'll provably go with the least temp sensitive ones. Thanks again

 

[RT2506]

I know that this is about two weeks old post but I would like to add something. It is kind of a miss information to make a blanket statement that military 5.56 is thicker and has less case volume than 223 other brands cases. I know this comes from the old 30-06 and 7.62x51 military cases that are thicker and have less capacity. If you do a water capacity test of all makes 5.56 & 223 you will find that some of the military LC actually has more case capacity or about the same as other brands. Star cases have about the least capacity of them all in my experience and are very good cases. Check out Jonny's reloading on YouTube and see his case capacity water weight check. I found about the same results.

Varget and Sierra 69s sure do put a hurting on ground hogs out of my ARs.

 

[LVJ76]

Thanks RT2506.

I noticed reviewing the Sierra, Nosler and Hornady reloading manuals that the max powder charges for the 5.56 and the 223 are about the same and show about a 50 fps differnece in muzzle velocity at the most, so not much difference.

 

[jbs2014]

Thanks Lancetkenyon

All my brass is headstamped 223 Rem, they are fire formed Hornady, I also have new Winchester and also new Remington nickel plated.

I'll start load development in a couple weeks once the weather cools down a bit, I just want good accuracy with as much velocity as possible since its only a 16" barrell.

Looking at various Reloading books I see that TAC would be good with light bullets and CFE223 with the heavier ones.

I do load development with one brand of brass and once I find the sweet load I just try it in other brand brass and found most times it shoots the same, I've tried this in my 7mm-08 and 7mm Rem Mag.

Again I want to get the most velocity possible with the short barrell while having good aaccuracy as well

I have decent results with Ramshot TAC, Federal Match AR primers, Lake City 5.56 brass, and 77 grain Sierra TMKs. I have a 24" barrel on my AR and get 2910 FPS with an ES of less than 20 FPS.

I ran some Hornady 73 grain ELDM box ammo over the Magnetospeed and they were clocking 3050 FPS. With your 16" barrel you may get 2800 FPS from them.

 

[LVJ76]

I have decent results with Ramshot TAC, Federal Match AR primers, Lake City 5.56 brass, and 77 grain Sierra TMKs. I have a 24" barrel on my AR and get 2910 FPS with an ES of less than 20 FPS.

I ran some Hornady 73 grain ELDM box ammo over the Magnetospeed and they were clocking 3050 FPS. With your 16" barrel you may get 2800 FPS from them.

Thanks jbs. We have our coues deer hunt coming up in 3 weeks and after that I'll start trying out loads and will find out how it goes.

Thanks again

 

[jbs2014]

Thanks jbs. We have our coues deer hunt coming up in 3 weeks and after that I'll start trying out loads and will find out how it goes.

Thanks again

How did it work out? Did you get a coues deer?

 

[LVJ76]

Nope, but even better, my godson got his first deer, so it was a great hunt. Thanks for asking.