Anyone loaded AP, Tracer, or Frangible bullets?

[Matt Dillon]

Folks, I have a few AP(type M61), tracer (type M62) and frangible (type M160) .308 bullets, and was wondering if anyone has loaded these for a .30 caliber rifle, and what cautions/results may have been the outcome? I'm particularly concerned that perhaps the AP and/or tracer may damage the barrel. Should I be concerned? And also the M160 frangible (the little 107 grain bullet with the green and white tip) may require a reduced load, as the information sheet with it states that it has a velocity of 1320 fps at 100 yards from the muzzle, and uses 10.5 grains of some type of propellant, listed as SR 8074, of which I have never heard.
Any help or advice on any of these rounds is greatly appreciated, thanks so much in advance!

 

[Paul "Fitz" Jones]

AP-Tracer

The AP and tracer rounds have copper jackets so you load them in the normal fashion. It seems that the frangible might be more delicate and you will find out if you break any during reloading. I don't see any harm to the barrel with any of them as I have fired all of them in my Garand in the National Guard when I was a teenager.

 

[Matt Dillon]

I have another question about these rounds, and this is about compressed loads. I have tried loading the 145 grain tracers in 7.62x39 cases, and the only way that I can come anywhere near the COL is to compress the load entirely, holding the bullet down in the case (on the press) several times, and I'm not sure yet whether it will chamber correctly. I will, however, check this before firing any rounds, but the powder is completely compressed in the case, and there can't be any space at all at this time between the bullet and the powder. I'm using 24.8 grains of reloader 7 with this bullet. What dangers may be there, and do you have any cautions or suggestions? Thanks so much in advance!

 

[cheygriz]

Many years ago, I bought 10,000 .30 cal M-2 AP bullets that had been pulled from .30 cal WW2 ammo.

Anyway, I loaded and shot them all in a few years in .30-06, .308 and .300 WinMag cartridges.

Load the same as for the same weight commercial bullet. In my experience they were slightly less accurate than ball.