Did some load workup. Had a partner come and shoot with me using the same loads for reliable testing. Was a semi-chilly day. Handloaded some once fired mixed headstamp brass that I picked up off the range (saving my Hornady brass for later) trimmed to 1.750", FL sized and bumped shoulders back .003". H4895 powder (started at 21gr and worked up in increments of .4gr to 23.8gr where the primers began flattening - first signs of pressure.) Remington 6 1/2 primers. Hornady 75gr Amax bullets. 2.390" COL (jumping them five thousands off the lands.) Single loaded them into the rifle. Found a great load at 22.4gr. My partner and I managed an average of .345" at 100yds, with the best group measuring .328". Will be testing 22.3gr and 22.5gr loads to see if that's my accuracy node. Next step after that is to play with the seating depth.
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Range Report OCW with the AR-15
- Thread starter Wolfish365
- Start date
Re: OCW with the AR-15
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Wolfish365</div><div class="ubbcode-body"> Handloaded some once fired mixed headstamp brass that I picked up off the range </div></div>
You will get varying case capacity when mixing brass manufacturers which will effect velocity spread greatly. When doing load developments its best to stick to the brass manufacturer you plan to use, switch brass and you will want to change your charge weight accordingly.
On another note, those are some very respectable groups you are getting.
Kirk R
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Wolfish365</div><div class="ubbcode-body"> Handloaded some once fired mixed headstamp brass that I picked up off the range </div></div>
You will get varying case capacity when mixing brass manufacturers which will effect velocity spread greatly. When doing load developments its best to stick to the brass manufacturer you plan to use, switch brass and you will want to change your charge weight accordingly.
On another note, those are some very respectable groups you are getting.
Kirk R
Re: OCW with the AR-15
Heh, semi-chilly being in the 40's and upper 30's. Been saving up about 250 Hornady casings for after I get comfy with reloading for the .223. And thanks! My partner and I were expecting to settle for 3/4 and then 1/2 MOA - especially when considering some of the groups after that opened up to 2 and even 4 inches and both of us were really pleased about getting into the .3's (especially with an AR!) My partner was excited and stated if he hadn't seen and done it himself he wouldn't have believed it possible. He's always gone with factory loads and his personal best up til now had been 1/2 MOA. He's animated about having me work up a load for his 30-06 after this, and so I'll be sitting behind my reloading bench fine tuning this load and coming up with one for his rifle too lol.
Heh, semi-chilly being in the 40's and upper 30's. Been saving up about 250 Hornady casings for after I get comfy with reloading for the .223. And thanks! My partner and I were expecting to settle for 3/4 and then 1/2 MOA - especially when considering some of the groups after that opened up to 2 and even 4 inches and both of us were really pleased about getting into the .3's (especially with an AR!) My partner was excited and stated if he hadn't seen and done it himself he wouldn't have believed it possible. He's always gone with factory loads and his personal best up til now had been 1/2 MOA. He's animated about having me work up a load for his 30-06 after this, and so I'll be sitting behind my reloading bench fine tuning this load and coming up with one for his rifle too lol.
Re: OCW with the AR-15
30's and 40's? Figured you Colorado boys would be tougher than that. Ha Ha.
Looks like you got a shooter on your hands. I'm also surprised at your results with the mixed brass . I'm sure though that the Hornady stuff will outperform it at distance.
Good luck.
30's and 40's? Figured you Colorado boys would be tougher than that. Ha Ha.
Looks like you got a shooter on your hands. I'm also surprised at your results with the mixed brass . I'm sure though that the Hornady stuff will outperform it at distance.
Good luck.
Re: OCW with the AR-15
Haha, my partner noticed the cold. I didn't. He said he was about froze out after the sun dipped below the horizon. I was wanting to relate the conditions (because who knows, this same load might not perform well in 80 degree weather. But for this time of year this load is perfect.)
Lapua brass is on my horizon, like with my .260 AI and other cartridges, but I'm looking forward to seeing what the Hornady can do too. If a great deal falls into my lap I'll be getting Lapua but I've got other things I'm concentrating on for Christmas.
Thanks for wishing me luck! I'm excited to see how far I can push the accuracy on this home built tack driver
Okay. More AMAX loaded up. This time with 22.3gr, 22.5gr and 22.8gr of 4895. Same OAL. Same brass (second firing.)
I've been meaning to try 77gr SMK's and finally loaded some rounds up with those and some 4895. Charge weights went from 21.2gr, 21.6gr, then from 22gr up in increments of .4gr to 23.2gr. Different brass (once-fired range-found casings, trimmed and cleaned.) Three rounds for each load and seated them all to as close to 2.255" as I could, but am surprised at the ogive to meplat differences. It's minute but noticeable and it caused slight variations in the OAL from round to round (some rounds wouldn't load in the magazine as easy as the rest.) These'll probably shoot all the same but I'm going to look into getting a meplat trimmer if I'm going to be using them in the weeks and months to come.
Haha, my partner noticed the cold. I didn't. He said he was about froze out after the sun dipped below the horizon. I was wanting to relate the conditions (because who knows, this same load might not perform well in 80 degree weather. But for this time of year this load is perfect.)
Lapua brass is on my horizon, like with my .260 AI and other cartridges, but I'm looking forward to seeing what the Hornady can do too. If a great deal falls into my lap I'll be getting Lapua but I've got other things I'm concentrating on for Christmas.
Thanks for wishing me luck! I'm excited to see how far I can push the accuracy on this home built tack driver
Okay. More AMAX loaded up. This time with 22.3gr, 22.5gr and 22.8gr of 4895. Same OAL. Same brass (second firing.)
I've been meaning to try 77gr SMK's and finally loaded some rounds up with those and some 4895. Charge weights went from 21.2gr, 21.6gr, then from 22gr up in increments of .4gr to 23.2gr. Different brass (once-fired range-found casings, trimmed and cleaned.) Three rounds for each load and seated them all to as close to 2.255" as I could, but am surprised at the ogive to meplat differences. It's minute but noticeable and it caused slight variations in the OAL from round to round (some rounds wouldn't load in the magazine as easy as the rest.) These'll probably shoot all the same but I'm going to look into getting a meplat trimmer if I'm going to be using them in the weeks and months to come.
Re: OCW with the AR-15
I had real good luck with 25-26 grains of varget and 69 gr smk. They will shoot 1/2 moa at 400 in a 16" bushmaster. I was super surprised to see results like that with it. I'm in the process of loading up 1k rounds with it now. It's a long ride with a single stage.
I had real good luck with 25-26 grains of varget and 69 gr smk. They will shoot 1/2 moa at 400 in a 16" bushmaster. I was super surprised to see results like that with it. I'm in the process of loading up 1k rounds with it now. It's a long ride with a single stage.
Re: OCW with the AR-15
Varget and CFE 223 are on my list of things to try in this caliber. The load mentioned above had some mixed results today. Admittedly part of the problem was all the snow, the cold and the sun going down hurrying me along and was cutting things pretty short today. Another problem I had was I did not re-zero my scope, nor use a couple practice rounds to warm up the barrel before taking record shots.
I loaded up 30rds with 22.4gr H4895, 75gr AMAX's (seated to 2.390"), Remington 6 1/2 primers and Remington once-fired range brass and proceeded to shoot them to a target I had set up at 100yds. Yes, I had intended to post the results in the Semi-Auto challenge being held by elfster but until I figure out why the load was acting up for a couple of the shots I'm going to postpone that.
The first group was right out of a cold barrel and was also compounded by the fact I could clearly see where the first couple shots were printing (after a 2" correction in elevation for the next group I was feeling much better about it though.) The second to last shot out of this 5-shot string was visibly off POA (examination showed a distinct cleft where my guess is the ballistic tip of the AMAX was coming out and had affected the bullet's flight - has this ever happened to anyone else?)
The third grouping was by far the best. Nothing to complain about there. The fourth was okay but the fifth I noticeably jerked the trigger on the last shot. My partner commented about it as I was calling it. The last grouping was okay. Examining the target afterwards, it's consistent that four shots are tight with some sort of flyer opening up the group. Six 5-shot groups.
Best 5-shot group = 0.559"
Worst 5-shot group = 2.028"
Best 3-shot group = 0.198"
2nd best 3-shot group = 0.308"
Average of 5-shot groupings = 1.131"
Average of 3-shot groupings = 0.4385"
Dropping the worst 5-shot group brings the average to 0.9516"
Dropping the worst 3-shot group brings the average to 0.3246"
Interesting figures. (Some of the numbers above are taken from the best three shots in each 5-shot group.) The change of brass could be a factor to take into consideration. More data is needed. Especially now that the casings are fire-formed to my chamber. I'll be looking into changing the seating depth for the next firings.
If the flyers in each group would have been consistently in one direction (for instance all at two or ten o'clock) I could have attributed the flyers to shooter error or an oddity in the barrel, or if the flyers would have all been horizontal from 3 o'clock to 9 o'clock I could have blamed it on the almost non-existent wind (gusts coming in from my right at a whopping 2-3 mph.) But my money would be on the ammunition where I couldn't attribute the failing to something I did. Hmm.
Varget and CFE 223 are on my list of things to try in this caliber. The load mentioned above had some mixed results today. Admittedly part of the problem was all the snow, the cold and the sun going down hurrying me along and was cutting things pretty short today. Another problem I had was I did not re-zero my scope, nor use a couple practice rounds to warm up the barrel before taking record shots.
I loaded up 30rds with 22.4gr H4895, 75gr AMAX's (seated to 2.390"), Remington 6 1/2 primers and Remington once-fired range brass and proceeded to shoot them to a target I had set up at 100yds. Yes, I had intended to post the results in the Semi-Auto challenge being held by elfster but until I figure out why the load was acting up for a couple of the shots I'm going to postpone that.
The first group was right out of a cold barrel and was also compounded by the fact I could clearly see where the first couple shots were printing (after a 2" correction in elevation for the next group I was feeling much better about it though.) The second to last shot out of this 5-shot string was visibly off POA (examination showed a distinct cleft where my guess is the ballistic tip of the AMAX was coming out and had affected the bullet's flight - has this ever happened to anyone else?)
The third grouping was by far the best. Nothing to complain about there. The fourth was okay but the fifth I noticeably jerked the trigger on the last shot. My partner commented about it as I was calling it. The last grouping was okay. Examining the target afterwards, it's consistent that four shots are tight with some sort of flyer opening up the group. Six 5-shot groups.
Best 5-shot group = 0.559"
Worst 5-shot group = 2.028"
Best 3-shot group = 0.198"
2nd best 3-shot group = 0.308"
Average of 5-shot groupings = 1.131"
Average of 3-shot groupings = 0.4385"
Dropping the worst 5-shot group brings the average to 0.9516"
Dropping the worst 3-shot group brings the average to 0.3246"
Interesting figures. (Some of the numbers above are taken from the best three shots in each 5-shot group.) The change of brass could be a factor to take into consideration. More data is needed. Especially now that the casings are fire-formed to my chamber. I'll be looking into changing the seating depth for the next firings.
If the flyers in each group would have been consistently in one direction (for instance all at two or ten o'clock) I could have attributed the flyers to shooter error or an oddity in the barrel, or if the flyers would have all been horizontal from 3 o'clock to 9 o'clock I could have blamed it on the almost non-existent wind (gusts coming in from my right at a whopping 2-3 mph.) But my money would be on the ammunition where I couldn't attribute the failing to something I did. Hmm.
Re: OCW with the AR-15
Been a while gents. Sorry to keep you all waiting. The weather has not been the greatest for getting out to the range. The lack of wind has been perfect, but the three feet of snow poses the problem. But I have more rounds loaded with different charge weights and different OAL. If I don't post again before the end of the year, HAPPY NEW YEAR!!
Been a while gents. Sorry to keep you all waiting. The weather has not been the greatest for getting out to the range. The lack of wind has been perfect, but the three feet of snow poses the problem. But I have more rounds loaded with different charge weights and different OAL. If I don't post again before the end of the year, HAPPY NEW YEAR!!
