Anyone here shooting lead loads with your AR-15 .223 ???

[Motownfire]

I am looking into reloading for my new toy. AR-15. All I load is lead for my .40S&W and 9MM's but I have never talked to anyone that loads lead for an AR-15. I order my lead bullets from Missouri Bullet Co. but couldn't find any .223 lead bullets on their website. Any and all info is much appreciated.

 

[RustyFN]

I have never tried lead in my AR. I have talked to people that did and said the gas tube gets plugged up pretty quick.

 

[NuJudge]

Casting .224" or .225" bullets is a huge pain in the butt. In my teens I cast and shot some cast bullets in a 1:12" AR barrel using 4198, and it worked, but lubricated cast bullet loads are of necessity dirty, and the AR does not like dirty ammo. My gas tube did not crud up, the action did. If you have a faster twist barrel, you may find your cast bullets coming apart in flight, they way mine do on a 6.5x54 barrel with a 1:6.5" barrel when I go over 1400fps.

I have doubts you'll save much money with such, as you will have to have a gas checked bullet to get pressures high enough to function with any powder, and your bullet metal will be more expensive than most cast bullets because you'll have to use a good bit of Tin to get bullet fill-out. Gas checks run about 2 cents each:
http://www.midwayusa.com/viewproduct/?productnumber=127791

There are a lot of threads on this over on the Cast Boolit board:
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=40642&highlight=AR15
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=45952&highlight=AR15
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=48035&highlight=AR15
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=47731&highlight=AR15
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=54884&highlight=AR15
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=47365&highlight=AR15
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=56164&highlight=AR15
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=56750&highlight=AR15
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=68853&highlight=AR15
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=11529&highlight=AR15

I may well try cast bullets in the AR again some day, but I'll get a 1:12" barrel before I do.

 

[bullseye308]

Try casting them from straight linotype. You will have a lighter bullet for the length, so get a mold for a heavier bullet. Looks good on paper. Cast bullets has a lot of info on doing just this.

 

[Motownfire]

Thanks for the info guy's. I am not going to be casting my own bullets, I will just by them like I do my lead .40S&W and 9MM. I am going to do some looking around and see where I can find some lead .223 bullets and load them up and see how it does. Hopefully the gas tube won't get dirty to quickly but who knows.