XM193 & .223 Rem cal reloading

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Gen. Remington

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Hi gents. I am hoping to reload some Federal ammo after its shot, someday.

Im new to this caliber and would appreciate any suggestions for POWDER, and WEIGHTS that you enjoy.

Also, I am looking for a source on .223 cal BULLETS. Where do you get them? Midway & Cabelas dont seem to stock them, which I dont understand? :confused:

Any experiences or suggestions? Thanks kindly. ;)
 
I think I've ordered ALL of my .223 bullets from Midway....I've ordered Winchester, Speer, Hornady, and probably a few other brands from them. You must be looking in the wrong part of the catalog. Since you're new to the loading, I'm assuming you understand that there's really no such thing as a ".223" caliber bullet. The standard diameter for all regular .22 centerfire cartridges, such as .220 Swift, .222, .223, .22-250, etc., is actually .224 inches. They're usually listed that way in the catalogs.
 
Thanx Rico567. I kind of thought that but figured I would find out.

OK, bullets is settled, Cabelas has good shipping rates for me :D
 
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You can order bulk bullets thru Midway or even check e-bay for bulk as well.

I use H-335 under 55gr FMJ in Lake City brass for my 16" Oly and it's plenty accurate. 25gr of powder and Winchester primers.
 
Varget and BLC2.

actually prefer the BLC2 because its a ball powder...

Winchester 748 is good, too...

with the two ball powders I use small rifle mag primers and work up from standard starting loads...I use regular primers on the Varget.

D
 
Oh oh. Im up to 26 cents per round already...

With high powder costs here in HI of $28/#, that cost is 12c/rd, 11c for shipped cheaper bullets & 3c for primers, and I'm only 6c/rd below the cost of shipped XM193. And on top of that, tools are extra costs too, that wont be recouped for over 1k rounds. I dont really like those numbers too well.

The shortage of XM193 is really starting to show on the net, according to AR-15 com's pricing list. I am grateful to have gotten 1k on 10-6-5, especially shipped here, courtesy of Outdoor Marksman, for a shipped price of 32c/rd. I know it sounds better at 22c/rd or less for all you mainlanders.

So, I will have to watch the supply from Lake City, & local powder cost & availability. If the war ends and LC is available, maybe I could use the brass to reload later someday. Any good ideas why I could do better with reloads, while saving LESS than 6c a round?

Bring our troops home from Iraq! And not just for XM193! :cool:
 
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I'm just starting out like you, but I'm having good luck with H335 and the cheap 55fmj bullets (Winchester) from Midway. I think I paid $38 for 1k. I'm going to be buying some pulldown SS109 bullets for my next batch I think.

Have a good one,
Dave
 
H-335 also meters well out of my Lee autodisc. I am using a 4 hole turret press with the autodisc and I can put them out pretty fast.
 
I've used

IMR 4895 and W748 with 55 gr FMJBT bullets with good results in a 20" DPMS rifle.

I've used Hornady bulk bullets from Midway, and GI pulldown bullets from the same source. Shouldn't be too hard to load good ammo cheaper than factory, although I admit I don't have to deal with Hawaiian taxes and laws.
 
I have had excellent results with the winchester 55 gr FMJ bullets .224 from midway last time I bought them on special they were $34 per thousand. I use cci small rifle primers, and 24 grains of Varget. .50" 5 shot groups sometimes better from my Ars at 100 yards. I also like the Sierra 69 HPBT match out of my space gun with 23.5 gr varget.
 
I'm glad to see the H335 users. That's my favorite powder, too. For varmit hunting, I like a 45gr. Sierra over 26gr. of H335, with CCI's small magnum primer.
 
I use milsurp #4895 in my .223...about $108/8-lb ($80 plus shipping) from Jeff Bartlett. After running through a lot of powders and tests I've standardized on #4895 for everything from .223 to .30-06, and buy it in bulk.
 
My favorite powder for .223's is Accurate 2230. Very cleanburning and meters well. My pet load for my Ruger 77V is 23.5 grains of Accurate 2230, Sierra 52 gr HPBT Match bullet, Winchester case and CCI small rifle primer. It consistently shoots 3 shot cloverleafs at 100 yards.
 
Is there some reference that'll clue me in as to which .224 bullets will exhibit fragmentation behavior a la M193? I'd like to be able to roll my own M193 supply, but short of buying pull-down parts I don't know what components to purchase....
 
rbernie said:
Is there some reference that'll clue me in as to which .224 bullets will exhibit fragmentation behavior a la M193? I'd like to be able to roll my own M193 supply, but short of buying pull-down parts I don't know what components to purchase....
Click to expand...

You can buy the pull down M193 bullets. If you search on threads in this forum there have been a few in the last month with links to people selling (at a good price) both the M193 and M855 bullets. I intend to buy a couple k of them when I use my cheapo winchester's up. I think the price for new 'unpulled' was less than $40 per k.

Regards,
Dave
 
Thanx gents..

Lots of great suggestions. I guess the bullets do come cheaper at Midway, if I can afford the shipping, and waiting a month for parcel post to show up here. The pulldown bullets were Midway's or are we talking about XM193PD's from somebody?

Some different suggestions for powders sound worth checking out at my local shop. I do believe I could do better and more accurate rounds myself.

Do we like magnum or regular primers best?

Now, we are talking decrimping too for this Lake City Brass, right? Thats not much of a problem, huh?

I got a case gauge to check the slightly dinged up XM193, and I only had 1% that would not fit it (small shoulder dings), and only around 5% that fit it snugly. I can reject 1% easy, would you?

The 20" Panther CMP is a few weeks closer to getting here by now.
 
High-Tech

If you by from here, get the new .224 bullets - NOT the pull downs.

I bought 1k of the pull downs and they were all very marred from collet pulling I think. The new ones are not that much more expensive and are fine.

High Tech gives great service and I am pleased with all of their other offerings that I have purchased. .308 150gr FMJ, .224 62gr FMJBT, Powder, Primers and brass.

Good luck with your project, it can be very uplifting when you put together a group that would impress Daniel Boone with rounds that you "Made Yourself".
 
Anybody mention

Win. 748 yet? I've gotten good results with it. And no, you don't need magnum primers for .223.
 
How much speed should Varget give us?

I've used H335 and 748 under M193 bullets for years, and both worked great in an AR but showed excess gas port pressure in a .223 AK we've also been feeding.

Tried 4064 but it's too bulky for a full load. Still have 24+ rounds I need to pull down because powder granules got seated in the neck alongside the bullet. The full case with stuff sometimes spilling out was more than a full grain below published max AND shot only 3,020 fps with 55-gr FMJBTs.

Varget packs denser--26.5 got me to about 3050 fps out of a 20-inch 7-twist barrel, and Hodgdon says 27.5 is max. How fast have you guys got Varget to safely send 55-gr FMJBTs?

Thanks!
 
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