superduty

My loads with CFE223 generally eject at 1 or 2 o'clock, and chrono in the range of factory rounds.

Thanks for the replies guys.  My thinking is pretty much in line with your suggestions-  I appreciate your responses.

So I've been working up my handloads in .223 Rem, and have reached a point where I'm not sure what I'd gain if I continue.  Maybe some of you folks can lend some thoughts.   First of all, my main reason for starting to handload is to a) have a fun new hobby, and b) make me less reliant on what ammo any area retailers or online vendors happen to have in stock (or not). If it saves me any cash in the long run, great. If not, then reasons a and b above still apply.  I do not pretend to be a sniper, and getting a tiny MOA of accuracy at 600 meters is not of any concern to me.   So, my working up of my load is mainly to just have more ammo available, and if I can make it more accurate, consistent, etc. that what factory ammo is, then so much the better.   As I have worked up my current load, I also chronographed 3 different brands of factory ammo as a point of reference.   Remington UMC 55gr 223 =          Avg. velocity = 2807 fps Fed/American Eagle 55 gr 223 =   Avg. Velocity = 2740 fps PMC 55 gr 223= Avg. Velocity =    Avg. Velocity = 2716 fps   All this is through my 'test' AR, 1x9 twist, carbine length barrel.    The load I've worked up to is 26.2gr  CFE223, Hornady 55gr FMJ-BT bullets, and Wolf Small Rifle Primers ( I also have CCI 400 primers, and find that my velocity decreases with those, FWIW). As of yesterday. that combo gives me an avg velocity of 2767fps, which is just slightly faster than the Federal/American Eagle.   This charge weight, according to the Hornady manual, puts me about 2/3 the way up the scale before the max charge/danger zone.   According to the Hornady manual, I still have 1/2 to 1 grain more leeway to load if I care to, but everything is working well and I'm basically right in the middle of factory ammo velocities as is-   I know that one should load for accuracy and not velocity-  but accuracy has as much to do with me as shooter as my load, without the means to mount my rifle to something to keep it motionless while I fire off groups of different charge weights...but anyway-   I'm also developing the load to work reliably across different rifles, with different twist rates and barrel lengths- not just the one I'm using for load development and testing.   So, short of testing my load in any different rifle I may use it in and making sure they all function and cycle properly, is there any reason for me to continue working my charge weights up the scale?  Heck, theoretically, I could decrease my load to mimick the PMC load- it runs fine in all my rifles-     I have also been confused about published .223 velocities of, say, 3100fps, and that's not what I'm seeing, but it may well just be that I'm using my rifle and not the one that manufacturers use to come up with that number-   A little long and rambling post, but thanks for any thoughts you may have-

Molon labe :)

Yep, I wont buy Levi's. They are anti gunners. I go with wrangler.

Spring Hill , thompsons station are great bets, and meet your criteria.

Dude, a year ago I was as burned out as you sound like. The only thing that kept me going was to go to the VP of the section I work in and ask to be reassigned. I had a solid (10 year) history with recognition, so that helped. It worked out.. if it hadn't, I told my wife I was ready to go back to bagging groceries (not like that's a bad thing, just well below what I was making). I just couldn't take my new ogre 'look how powerful I am since I hit promoted' boss anymore. Try to work it out without losing any of your time/benefits if you can.

I think I posted earlier in this thread about this book, but I think Day of Wrath should be required reading for just about every American. IMO, probably a much more likely scenario than One Second After, and every bit as unsettling.   It will make you  :mad:

I definitely plan on it, but I may only be there on Sunday.

I have felt your loss with both dogs and cats that I've had. Tough to get through- they become part of you. Stay strong OP.

Remember- leftists are not against guns. They are against anyone but leftists having access to a gun.

I grow weary of all the "French just roll over" talk. Does no one remember what they did for us in the Revolution? How many of them died in WWI? In WWII, who was it that held off the Germans outside of Dunquerque (sp) so that over 200,000 Brits and Canadians could escape, against near suicidal odds? The French did. Who was it that saved untold numbers of downed allied airmen from the Germans, under threat of torture and death? The French Resistance. C'mon folks. They've been with us from the beginning, generally willing to go into hell with us, knowing we'd back them up if sh** went sideways. Their political leaders be d@mned, they are some brave folks, unafraid of getting into the fray.

I know this is a zombie thread, but I'd searched it earlier before going the Schermerhorn this evening.  If it's posted, I could not find a sign, verbiage, or any sticker anywhere.   So, I proceeded as if the premises was not posted.   Just FYI-  By the time someone else digs this thread up, it may be.

Thanks for the replies folks! This has been very helpful, and I really appreciate it!

  Ahh, the Hornady manual. Figures that I was missing one.  Thanks- Do you just go with mid-cannelure, and not get too wrapped up in COAL?   Or do you measure and try to keep them all within a certain range of length?

Hi folks-  I have a couple reloading questions you all might be able to help me wrap my head around.   The source of the questions-  .223 Remington. I have the Lyman manual, the Speer manual, and several of the annual Hodgdon Reloading magazines with load data-   The bullet I am going to be loading - 55gr. Hornady FMJBT.  Surprisingly, there is very little data that I can find for this bullet. I would have thought info would be much more common for this. The closest I can come to is a brief mention of it in the Hodgdon magazines, but none of the typical powders are mentioned for this bullet. I have CFE223.   So, here goes- While there aren't really specific recipes for this bullet, most of the load recipes I'm finding for a 55gr. bullet call for a COAL of 2.20.   I trimmed my brass to the trim-to-length of 1.75- all good there. I made a dummy round with one of the Hornady bullets, and I get a COAL of 2.213. It's seated just about as far as I can go without completely covering up the cannelure.  I may be able to get the extra .013 seated to be officially at 2.20, but it will take up the whole cannelure. Searching around on various websites, it seems like a lot of folks like to seat the bullet mid-cannelure for crimping.  There's no way I can seat to mid-cannelure and get to the 2.20 COAL called for in the 55gr. recipes I'm seeing.   What is the solution to this puzzle?  Pay less attention to the 2.20 called for in the load data, or don't worry about how far I seat up the crimp, or covering up the crimp completely?   Also, though it's not specifically mentioned in any of the manuals, I get the impression that the COAL for .223 Rem that is stated in the manuals- 2.260-  is a MAX value- do not go longer, but a bit shorter is fine-  am I correct on this, or no?   Finally, since there really isn't specific load data for this bullet, I would imagine that what I need to do is look at all the 55gr. bullet recipes that I can find for CFE223, then pick a starting load on the low end of the range and make it up as I go, watching for pressure problems, etc.  Right?   Thanks for the help-   I think I'm getting 'paralysis from analysis'.

Is David or Sam going to be there? I could use some stuff, and haven't seen them in Mid TN for several months....

I have a 2002 Ford truck, and the trans fluid pan gasket is re-useable. They are rubber, and don't need to be replaced unless the gasket is failing for some reason.

Thanks for the replies everyone, I appreciate it!

Folks, I searched as best I could, but wasn't able to find what I was looking for-  Maybe one of you knows the answer to this question.   I own a handgun that I am considering shipping back to the factory for some minor repairs.   According to the rules and laws of the State of Tennessee, when the factory ships the firearm back to me after they are finished with it, do they have to ship it to an FFL,  or can they ship it directly back to my home address?   Thanks-

Same thing happened with mine. YHM set screw low pro gas block. I took it off and reinstalled it- no problems now.

You know, I was never in the service, so maybe I'm just ignorant, but I often wonder how many of our troops would be ok with being issued an AR as opposed to an M4 or other select fire weapon, which actually is designed for military use. Seems like a poor argument that an AR is/was 'militarily designed for mass carnage on a battlefield'.

My Shield in 9 is my EDC as well, in a Galco King Tuk IWB holster. Very happy.

Me too, as late as this week.