Advice for 223 handloads

You can use the sharpie method to safety check.
Seat to the cannelure. But don't worry about a crimp.
Charge interval should be 2 tenths. 5 of each will be enough.
Don't expect great accuracy from fmj bullets they usually are a dumpster fire.

Quality of the barrel will determine accuracy potential. I have Expo, BA, and Faxon barrels that will stack Hornady FMJ. I had a PSA barrel that produced shotgun patterns.

Hornady data is notorious for being absurdly light. I'd look around at other sources and compare.

I usually divide start to max by 5 and then make 5 of each load, whichever is better I then make 5 of each load on each side at 2 or 3gr, I like to find a sweetspot where there is a range of 5 or 6gr. With an AR you are limited to mag length but I still do a plunk test on every new load on each firearm in that caliber and make notes if there is a issue. For plinking ammo I just apply a light crimp at the cannelure and run it. If you have an option, I've found soft points more accurate than fmj and about the same price

I generally go in 1% steps which would be around 0.3gr. I only load 3 rounds for the 1st screening. Then once I find a charge that give me a good group I expand around those to see how large the node is.

For an AR you can remove the upper to make it easy to check OAL. Drop in a round, push forward , tilt barrel up the round should fall out on it's own. In most all cases the magazine will set your max OAL.

With the Wydle chamber I never did find a load lighter than 62 that shoot good in mine. 62gr and up was very good. The way the Wydle chamber is cut it has a lot of leads/free bore to handle long heavy target bullets, not so good on short light.

blackd24 said:

Is this in reference to the factory 55 grain FMJ? Or expectations for FMJ handloads? I don't expect these to be sub MOA accurate - I have 69 grain SMK for that.

Click to expand...

In general I've had terrible luck with fmj ammo.
Aguila & Hornady factory ammo were the only anomaly. They ran about 2 moa.

I am doing very much the same thing right now, except with 62grn BTHP bullets, along with H335. Like you, my 1:7 Colt hates pretty much anything 55grn, that's why I went to the 62's... which have worked swimmingly so far in my testing.

Usually, if the bullet has the cannelure, I seat to it; that bullet is likely designed to work with 99.9% of the AR chambers out there seated to that OAL. Hornady data, as was mentioned, is a little optimistic... in my experience, and particularly the Service Rifle data... which is intended to produce accurate ammo, not necessarily top velocity. It depends on what you want the round to do.

For reference, my next set of ladder loads are 23.5/24/24.5grn H335 with the 62grn bullet... certainly over Hornady's published data, but safe in my firearms, and is a work up using about 4 sources of data.

I use that exact 62gr FMJ for my plinking ammo. My 1/7" FN barrels hate anything 55gr, but shoot these 62's well. Especially for being plinking ammo. I seat them to 2.230 like book says, and that has worked well for me. You can try out at 2.260(mag length) and see if that suits your rifle as well. In .223 on my ladders I usually do .2 or .3 gr intervals. With ball powders (like H335) it's my experience that they like to be run towards the top end of their load data, but as always, work your way up and watch for pressure signs!

I use the Hornady 55gr bullet, in a 16 inch barrel, H 335, 1 X 8, and needed over 24 grains. I stopped shortly after that.

BUT like the man said do your ladder.

PSA AR-15 Freedom Carbine (cheapest one they make) with a 1 in 7 twist barrel. Brand new out of the box, first clip ever out of the gun with mixed military brass and a mix of standard and magnum primers. 55 grain Hornady FMJ over 27.0 grains of CFE 223 dumped straight out of the measure.

I don't think the gun, bullets or combination are inherently inaccurate. I did use a 12X scope for this first trip to the range. First five shots at 100 yards. May want to try a different powder or maybe a little more magnification.

Bfh_auto said:

Don't expect great accuracy from fmj bullets they usually are a dumpster fire.

Click to expand...

I bought 1K of those Hornady FMJ's, but haven't loaded any yet. I did receive a report from a fellow shooter about them that leads me to be optimistic. He shot a slow fire prone 200-17x in a 200 yd. CMP match on the SR target. I realize that target is fairly generous and this guy is a great shooter, but the potential is there. FYI the SR target x-ring is 3" or 1.5 MOA. 20 rounds prone with a sling is not as easy as it sounds and definitely not comparable to 3 or 5 shot bench accuracy.

The quickest way to find the sweet spot(s) of a rifle is the Audette ladder test (at least for me).
With just a couple of rounde you get a very accurate load and for FMJs it would give you a fast result.
Just Google "ladder test audette" for detailed description.

call1911 said:

The quickest way to find the sweet spot(s) of a rifle was the Audette ladder test.
With just a couple of rounde you get a very accurate load and for FMJs it would give you a fast result.
Just Google "ladder test audette" for detailed description.

Click to expand...

Didn't you read the internet memo? The Audette system doesn't work anymore

Laphroaig said:

I bought 1K of those Hornady FMJ's, but haven't loaded any yet. I did receive a report from a fellow shooter about them that leads me to be optimistic. He shot a slow fire prone 200-17x in a 200 yd. CMP match on the SR target. I realize that target is fairly generous and this guy is a great shooter, but the potential is there. FYI the SR target x-ring is 3" or 1.5 MOA. 20 rounds prone with a sling is not as easy as it sounds and definitely not comparable to 3 or 5 shot bench accuracy.

Click to expand...

That's impressive. Hornady tends to be the better option was far as they go. But I still don't expect much. They'll group really well and have one flyer that makes you scratch your head.
It kills my confidence in them. I'll leave them on the shelf for other people.

Bfh_auto said:

I'll leave them on the shelf for other people.

Click to expand...

Sweet! Thank you!

As I mentioned... it just depends on what you expect out of your handloads, and bullet... specifically. Cheapo, generic 55grn FMJ's work well enough... even at a measured 4 MOA... for poking holes in Minute of Body Cavity targets in shooting drills and scoot and shoot. They are not target bullets, in most cases.

I am not an expert marksman or accomplished long range shooter. matter of fact I've only been shooting and loading my Savage Axis 223 since about Sept. and have not shot it out to 300yds yet. But I am loading that 62gr. Hornady bullet and have had very good success with it. At 100yds if I do my part I can shoot clover leafs with this and at 200yds easily staying within 2.5" circle. I really need more trigger time because I know this gun is better than this.

My load development runs in .3gr increments and I will do 4 loads at a time, Say 22.0, 22.3, 22.6 and 22.9 and then load 6 of each which I will then shoot them in 2 three shot groups on two targets. The targets I use are the normal 5 bull sight in targets using the 4 outside bulls at 100yds. Then after shooting the two targets I overlay them to make a composite of the six shots. If I find a nice tight group I will then go back and load six more of that one and six more on each side of that one and repeat the shooting cycle.

In my last ladder with this bullet and Ramshot TAC I shot the 6 at 23.1, 23.4 and 23.7.. The 23.4 was nice but the 23.7 was even nicer so I went back and loaded 6ea. of 23.7, 23.8 and 23.9.. When finished I could not see any difference between the 23.7 and the 23.8 but the 23.9 started to open up again. So I was pretty sure the 23.7/23.8 load was where I wanted to be. So far I haven't explored above the 23.9 to see if there was another higher node.

blackd24 said:

What's the right strategy for getting the right OAL for these?

Click to expand...

Testing for proper magazine and loading function.

For an accurate AR/Semi-auto load, seat out the maximum that your magazines will allow, while looking for reliable function. This enables maximum volume for powder capacity, which is what will be used to tune for accuracy.

I ignore cannelures completely, as I won’t be using them and won’t be crimping anyway.

Not often is a chamber’s leads reachable in an AR. I often don’t even look for the lands at all in an auto.

blackd24 said:

For my bolt action guns, I only make 5. But, for semiauto, should i increase that to 10 to make sure they cycle?

Click to expand...

Only if you will be staying that low. I don’t make a lot of low charges because I’m only looking for a conformation of safety. I won’t be looking at anything near start anyway. If some human was looking for a low pressure or soft shooting load, more should be made to check for functionality.
An adjustable gas block would be beneficial perhaps, but I use those to throttle gas down.

ARs are easy load and shoot!

kmw1954 said:

So far I haven't explored above the 23.9 to see if there was another higher node.

Click to expand...

There wasn’t for me. 23.5 was just right.

If you want to get the most out of that 7 twist, stick to heavier bullets. I always liked the hornaday 68 hpbt. In an AR, I typically seat .015 to .020 shorter then magazine.