40 gr.Sierra .223 Hornet in a AR-15?

[ricksgtx]

Has anyone ever reloaded a .223 hornet bullet in a Bushmaster AR?
I picked up 200 40gr. bullets at a yard sale and thought about loading them. The specs. are .223 JSP, AR .223 state .224. I'm just plinking with them.

 

[rcmodel]

If you load them hot enough to operate an AR-15 they will likely blow up mid-flight.

Not only are they too small, but the jacket is very thin to insure explosive expansion out of the .22 Hornet.

If they work at all, you would have to load them down to around 3,000 FPS or less.

The other thing is, .223" bullets in dies & cases designed for .224" bullets will probably give less neck tension then necessary to prevent bullet set-back in an auto-loader unless you modify your expander plug.

rc

 

[7.62 Nato]

I have Sierra bullets in both 40gr. and 45gr. marked Hornet. The dia. listed is .224 . Would these work well in a .223 Rem. bolt gun (1/12 twist) ? What is the difference with the Hornet designation? I'm only a couple hundred rounds into reloading so far.

 

[Walkalong]

They will work fine in a .223 bolt gun. The only potential problem is running them too fast as rcmodel alluded to. I do not remember the velocity threshold of those bullets. They are designed to work at Hornet velocities. Sierra could tell you. Call em up. I like those bullets in .223, and I used to download for them in .222. (.22 Mag/Hornet levels)