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Old December 12, 2012, 03:37 PM   #1
rebs
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reloading question ?

A friend gave me 3 50 round boxes of this ammo from the Maine Cartridge Company. On the box it says 223 Remington 62 gr M855/SS109 Military M5. He said they were very very poor on accuracy in his bolt action 223 rifle. So he gave them to me to try. I looked up Maine Cartridge Company since this company reloaded them and when I seen the results of the search I decided not to shoot them in my rifle. It seems this company is out of business and had a few law suits against them for bad ammo.
I pulled them down and they have 22.0 grains of unknown to me powder, I weighted some of the bullets and they are 62 grain. I saved the powder, bullets and primed cases. I would like to load them back up just for plinking ammo. What would you guys do with them ? Would you scrap the powder that was loaded in them at 22.0 grains and use another powder like H335 or just re use the powder that was in them ? What COL would you seat them to ? These are green tipped bullets and I think that means they have a steel pin inside them, am I right ?
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Old December 12, 2012, 03:45 PM   #2
Goatwhiskers
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The powder makes darn good fertilizer for your yard. DO NOT attempt to re-use it, you have no idea what kind it is and what would make a safe load. You can utilize the cases and bullets, work with your manual to get a safe load. The bullets are best used for plinkers, doubt that they are good hunting types, you just don't know. Goat
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Old December 12, 2012, 03:45 PM   #3
schmellba99
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Toss the powder - you have no idea what it is.

Reload with whatever powder you normally reload with. COL will depend on your rifle more than anything.
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Old December 12, 2012, 05:12 PM   #4
serf 'rett
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Scratching head...

...if you were afraid to shoot them before disassembling them, why wouldn't you be afraid of reloading them, using the same stuff, and shooting them now?

Ditch the powder.
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Old December 12, 2012, 05:20 PM   #5
rebs
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Before I pulled them apart I didn't know how well they were loaded as in if the amount of powder was the same in each case or had a large spread or an over charge etc.. But the powder was the same in each case 22.0 grains. They didn't hurt my friends bolt rifle, but because the accuracy was so bad I thought they may have a big swing in the amount of powder.
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Old December 12, 2012, 06:58 PM   #6
PA-Joe
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It might have been teh twist rate of his barrel. 62 grains should have a 1:7 twist rate.
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Old December 13, 2012, 01:03 PM   #7
RC20
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I know its a bit sarcastic but on this forum they are pretty much all realodign questions.

Better tittle.

"Using Factory Reloads in 223? "
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Old December 13, 2012, 02:49 PM   #8
rebs
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Quote:
I know its a bit sarcastic but on this forum they are pretty much all realodign questions.

Better tittle.

"Using Factory Reloads in 223? "
I didn't think it was sarcastic, your right that would have been a better title.
Another good title would have been "reloading factory reloads for 223".
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Old December 13, 2012, 03:11 PM   #9
JimDandy
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I'm actually curious how they could be M855/SS109 and .223. Another indicator of why they went out of business. M855/SS19 are 5.56 NATO rounds, not .223. While the difference is small enough MOST firearms can utilise either/or it's not universal, and contraindicated by SAAMI guidelines, much like tires for a Chevy Mustang,
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Old December 13, 2012, 05:06 PM   #10
Dog Chaser
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DOG CHASER

150 rounds? 3-5 dollars worth of powder? How much is your weapon worth? Ditch the powder.
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