Anyone? Reloads .223 close to Military specs

[gadao01]

Has anyone come close loading .223 to Military specs using W748 at 55gr or 62gr FMJ bullet? Please provide me with your details and specifications so I can test out the loads.

I only use W748 and they are awesome. I have tested different load datas from different books and old timers. Below is what I tested so far.

55gr FMJ- 24.1gr, 25.5gr, 26.2gr
62gr FMJ- 25.5gr

Best load for me is the 25.5gr, same with other reloaders known to me they agree. Thanks.

[Unclenick]

I've always been most interested in finding loads that produce the best accuracy than copying NATO specs. However, it should not be hard to at least come close to copying them. The military often lists WC844 powder for the loads you mention. In canister grade for reloaders, this is available as H335, from Hodgdon. The military primers are available as #41 primers from CCI.

Be aware that the military buys its powder in bulk, and bulk powder has wider burning rate variations from lot-to-lot than does the canister grade powder sold for reloading. The canister grades go through the extra step of blending with held back faster or slower (as needed) bulk lots to adjust their burning rate to within a narrower range than the raw bulk lots achieve. It adds cost, so commercial loading operations normally just buy the bulk grade and use pressure testing to adjust the loads. For reloaders they blend to the tighter burn rate specification in order to keep load manual data valid. Bulk powder load data normally changes for every lot, and has to be tested in a pressure gun.

The thing you have to watch out for, even though a lot of military technical manuals and sources of information on their ammo will list a powder charge, you can't just use that number safely. The manuals report a number that was true for one particular lot of ammo, but not all. The military requires the load to hit a certain velocity range within a certain pressure range, so they work up test loads for each type and lot ammunition in pressure test barrels until they find that load range where the pressure and velocity windows overlap. If they can't get an overlap with a particular powder lot, they reject it for use in the particular round they are testing it for and go to a different lot.

For yourself, because your gun's barrel and chamber won't match that of a military test barrel and because the military primer is a magnum primer (for cold weather) I can't tell you exactly where your charges will land. Just work up in small steps, watching for pressure signs. It is normally safe to just use a chronograph to match another load's velocity IF it uses the exact same components (all of them; brass, bullet primer and powder) loaded to the same COL. However, because bulk powder burn rates vary, this may not be safe to do with any particular lot of military ammo as the standard. You may or may not be able to match a particular lot exactly.

What I would do is obtain some military ammo and fire it over a chronograph on the same day and under the same test conditions as your handload testing will be done, and use its average velocity as an upper limit. I would settle for about 5% lower velocity at first, then carry a box of the resulting reloads around in the car for a week, letting the powder settle and the casemouth grip on the bullets relax. Then I would retest those against the NATO loads (again, on the same day, under the same conditions) before making final incremental 1% steps toward a matching velocity. This will guard you against unexpected pressures.

Extrapolating from Hodgdon's data for 55 and 62 grain bullets, I'd recommend you start at 21 grains of H335 with both bullet weights using the military primers. Hodgdon starts higher, but they use the milder Winchester WSR primer and Winchester commercial brass. Your military brass may be a little different. The difference between military and commercial brass isn't as great in .223 as it is in the .30 caliber guns, but assume the worst anyway, and stay safe.

[Scorch]

While in college I worked for an ammo manufacturer, and the load we used to duplicate military ball was

Hornady 55 gr FMJ BT
WSR primer
26.0 gr W748
Crimp into cannelure

That said, it is almost impossible to duplicate military ball, for several reasons. Few loaders want to use bullet sealer on the bullets, fewer still want to go to all the trouble of crimping and sealing primers, the powders used in military loading are not generally available to the public, and the testing procedures are complex and rigorous. So get as close as you can and run it.

[gadao01]

Thanks Guys, that was very helpful...I will test load at 26gr using w748