So, if you give a mouse some damaged 5.56 brass...

[buck460XVR]

So, if you give a mouse some damaged 5.56 brass...

.....hopefully after a little TLC, he'll reload it and shoot the dam cat.

 

[Kaldor]

To start with, 110 grain M1 Carbine style bullets that were left over from the days when I was loading that cartridge. When those run out, I'll first look at the 125 gr Hornady bullets that you and Walkalong mentioned.

I had seen mention of using a small chop saw like the one Harbor Freight sells and I figured that made a lot of sense.

Thanks for the caution about the jig. My father is a master machinist and even though he's 93, he still likes to tinker, so I may ask him to build one for me. Be sure that if he does, it will be finely crafted, vastly overbuilt, a true work of art and take six months to build, but keeping him engaged seems to keep the Alzheimer's from progressing.

Yes, I have a rotary tumbler.

I've used a Forster trimmer since the 1990's.

Thank you for that. A roadmap is quite helpful.

I want to say right now that I'm only thinking in terms of a thousand or so rounds since that's what I've got in the way of 308 projectiles. But I said the same thing about 9mm when I got started and I'm now sitting on 4,500 rounds of processed and primed brass.

Are you talking about the 110gr 30 Carbine bullets? Cannot remember the exact bullet, but word of warning the round nose 110's do not generally feed well in an AR. They tend to hit the feed ramp and then bounce, jamming the gun. Stick to bullets that have a point. The 120-130gr range seems to be the best for most of us that shoot for accuracy. I shoot the SSTs mostly for hunting, they are very dependable on deer out to about 150 yards. When I am plinking I shoot mostly 125gr Speer TNT's, accuracy is compable to the SSTs, I use the same load data, and the price is right. I have tested the Sierra 125gr SMKs and TMKs, and I dont think they are worth it. I think the same of the Barnes bullets as well. Regular old 150gr Hornady FMJs shoot well enough too. I use W296 in everything. Ive tried LilGun, wasnt great. I would like to try CFE Black, but I have 6# of W296 on the shelf.

Sounds like a hell of a jig

Manual trimmer will probably make you hate yourself after 50 rounds, so I cannot recommend. If you plan on using a manual trimmer, try to cut as close as possible to the case OAL when cutting cases to length. This will save you alot of work and 4 letter words later.

 

[Walkalong]

I tried some 30 Carbine bullets in 300 BLK because I had a leftover box. fed "OK", but not great and tend to bounce off stuff getting there. You need real good neck tension. Since I only had a few I decided not to pursue it.

I agree that the Hornady 147 Gr FMJ shots pretty well in 300 BLK. I also tried the 125 Gr tipped SMK and the Hornady 125 Gr HP and the Speer 130 Gr HP because I got them all on sale. While they did shoot well, they didn't shoot well enough to pay full price for since it is a plinker mainly. I would certainly buy them on sale again though.

I like using a bullet with a cannelure for 300 BLK and lightly crimp into it. The 125 Gr SST has a cannelure, shoots really well, I just wish they would put it on sale. If they put the Hornady bullet I linked to on sale I will buy those and be happy as well.

Enforcer has worked well for me. If your not into velocity, AA #9 and 2400 work well too.

 

[Kaldor]

I tried some 30 Carbine bullets in 300 BLK because I had a leftover box. fed "OK", but not great and tend to bounce off stuff getting there. You need real good neck tension. Since I only had a few I decided not to pursue it.

I agree that the Hornady 147 Gr FMJ shots pretty well in 300 BLK. I also tried the 125 Gr tipped SMK and the Hornady 125 Gr HP and the Speer 130 Gr HP because I got them all on sale. While they did shoot well, they didn't shoot well enough to pay full price for since it is a plinker mainly. I would certainly buy them on sale again though.

I like using a bullet with a cannelure for 300 BLK and lightly crimp into it. The 125 Gr SST has a cannelure, shoots really well, I just wish they would put it on sale. If they put the Hornady bullet I linked to on sale I will buy those and be happy as well.

Enforcer has worked well for me. If your not into velocity, AA #9 and 2400 work well too.

I bought 500 of the 125gr SSTs when they were on sale locally. So Im set for awhile. I just hope Hornady doesnt EOL them as they are based on an AMAX jacket. Give the Speer TNTs a try, they shoot pretty well. They run about 14 cents a piece, so better than FMJ prices most of the time.

I tried some of the 120gr plated bullets from Highborn awhile back. Had some bad feed issues and accuracy was pretty bad, Im talking 3" from a gun that normally shoots right around an inch. Heres the link: https://accuraoutdoors.com/product/30-cal-120gr-round-nose/ I ended up trading them to a guy on 300 BO Forums for a couple boxes of 125gr SMKs. His AAC upper ate them like candy, so maybe my BHW barrel extension just needed some massaging to make them work.

 

[Walkalong]

Give the Speer TNTs a try, they shoot pretty well

They do, but I had a bad experience with them in 300 BLK and am leery of them now. I don't know if I made a mistake or it got pushed in, but it blew a primer and was very close to being a bad thing.

 

[Kaldor]

They do, but I had a bad experience with them in 300 BLK and am leery of them now. I don't know if I made a mistake or it got pushed in, but it blew a primer and was very close to being a bad thing.

Interesting. I wonder if you had some setback like you said, spike pressure, boom the primer.
Ive loaded about 1000 of them at between 18 and 18.5gr of W296, never had any issues. 2.10" OAL, CCI 400 primers, and a light crimp from an FCD.

 

[Walkalong]

Other folks here like them and use them as well.

 

[hdwhit]

buck460XVR wrote:
.....hopefully after a little TLC, he'll reload it and shoot the dam cat.

The cat shed blood in defense of me and my household; she's got a home for life.

 

[hdwhit]

Kaldor wrote:
...word of warning the round nose 110's do not generally feed well in an AR. They tend to hit the feed ramp and then bounce, jamming the gun. Stick to bullets that have a point.

Thank you for the warning.

 

[Jesse Heywood]

If you give the mouse some damaged brass, then he's going to need a 300 Blackout die set.
If you give him a die set, then he will make 300 Blackout brass out of it.
If he makes 300 Blackout brass out of it, then he will need an upper in 300 Blackout in which to shoot them out of.
If he has a 300 Blackout upper, then he will need a 30 Cal suppressor to enjoy it with.
If he has this suppressor, then he will need a 300 Blackout bolt gun.

And to salvage the brass you destroyed making .300 BO you need a .22 TCM.

For questions about reloading for the 300 BO: .300 BO Reloading Forum

So many cats, so few recipes.