Noob with questions

[buckfever5]

I apologize in advance if these questions have already been asked.

Potentially boring read:
To make a long story short, I've inherited a pretty good amount of reloading equipment. I had planned to get in to reloading for rifles/handguns, but not this soon.

Right now I'm working on reloading .223 Remington for coyote hunting. I will either be using these in a Ruger Mini-14 or a TC Contender super 16 barrel.

Soon after I intend to reload .30-30.

The loads that the previous owner of this equipment used were all 24.0 grains of Winchester 748, regardless of bullet type.

Questions:
1. Is 748 a poor powder choice for .223 and/or .30-30?
2. Would this powder charge (24.0 grains of W748) work with the Hornady 50gr V Max?
3. Is this bullet good for coyotes?
4. Would any of the below powders be more suitable for .223, or should I invest in some different powder?
5. I have some nickel cases. Is there anything different about reloading these? Does the nickel affect the resizing or anything like that?
6. Sierra 69grain HPBT bullets: good for anything besides target shooting?
7. My .30-30 die set only has 2 dies. Is this normal or am I missing a piece?
8. The .30-30s will be shot out of a Winchester Model 94. I'm assuming that round nose bullets are the only option I have here.
New Questions:
9. I have a little over 3000 Remington 6-1/2 Small Rifle Primers. What is the difference between these and the 7-1/2's?
10. As far as manual data is concerned; is a 50 grain bullet a 50 grain bullet, regardless of point type?

These are the powders I have on hand:
Winchester 748
Hercules 2400
Unique
Blue Dot
Hodgdon HS-6
Lil' Gun
Alliant Bullseye
Accurate 5744
No 5
IMR 700x
IMR 4064

[hardhit]

748 would work ok in both the 223 & 30/30 I personally would try Varget it would fill the case a little more because of it bulk and give slightly more velocity in 30/30 across the bullet range in general. the Sierra 69grain HPBT bullet need a faster twist rate to stabilize it like a 1 in 9 twist.

[buckfever5]

The Mini-14 I have was manufactured in 2005, serial 580-14XXX. I could be mistaken, but I believe this model has a 1:9 twist barrel.

If it is the 1:9 barrel, is the 50gr v-max too light?

[hardhit]

The only way to know for sure is to shoot 50 grain bullets, but a high rotation could over stabilize lighter bullets which could produce poorer accuracy than what you would get with the 69 grain, I have herd that lighter varmint bullets can disintegrate before reaching the target because of the rotational forces put on them by fast twists barrels i have a 22-250 ackley that has a 1 in 12 and shoots 50 to 60 grain noslers very accurately but wont shoot 69 grain SMKs the just tumble. its a suck it and see project good luck..

[buckfever5]

Can anyone verify if the 24 grains of win748 is safe for the 50gr v-max? I have three reloading manuals, but neither of them is new enough to have that bullet in it. Are all 50 grain bullets treated equally?

[two 70]

I reload for a target mini with Varget. Barrel is 22 inch 1:9 and it stabilizes all weight bullet I've tried from 50 gr thru 75 gr. Pet loads at this time are 60 gr VMax w/26 gr Varget and 28 Hornady and 29 Sierra hpbt's w/25.5 gr Varget. In browsing many forums I do see that 748 is an often used powder but most commonly recommended for heavier bullets. With your 1:9 I would suggest going with the flow and trying 60 to 69 grain bullets which are apparently the top pick for this twist. Have never loaded with 748 so cannot make any suggestions but personal preference is for Varget . Seems very difficult to overload for any application. My experience with hot loads were some minor primer flattening but have never noticed anything more serious and these were with pretty severely compressed Varget charges. Major drop in accuracy with the hot loads were the most noticeable in my experience.

[rg1]

24 grains of Win 748 in .223 Rem and the 50 V-Max is a very light load. I'ts actually 1/2 grain below the start charge in Hornady's 7th Edition latest manual for 50 gr. bullets.
I load Win 748 at 26.7 grains with the 50 V-Max for a Rem XP-100 pistol and a Rem 600 rifle and accuracy is very good in both. Velocity is only approx. 3000 fps in the Rem 600 and is a mild load with no pressure signs. I use Rem cases and RP 7 1/2 primers with the above loads seated to 2.205" overall length. Hornady says 2.200" OAL and says 26.7 grains should get 3200fps in a 26 inch barrel.
Hornady has a 24.5 grain start charge and 28.3 Max. using Win cases and Win SR primers. Work up and do not start with maximum charges. The 50 V-Max should do very well on coyotes. I've read where 748 works well in 30-30 and most rifle die sets are 2 dies.Full length sizer and bullet seater die. Win 748 and 55 fmj loads work very well in AR's at 25.9-26.1 grains for me.

[buckfever5]

I can't figure out why he loaded all of his .223 with 24 grains. After looking at the different reloading books I have, it seemed like a pretty light load to me.

[buckfever5]

What is the difference between Remington 6-1/2 and 7-1/2 Small Rifle primers?

[phippsy]

i recently started reloading my .243 wssm, i wanted to no if i went over the maximum load by 1 or 2 grains in weight would it matter that much.
that you

[marine0341]

I wouldn't take load data off the internet verbatim, you may want to invest in some newer load data. It could save your life and $$$ in gun you would have blown up.
Good luck

I use Hornady-Lee-and a.223 manual with all bullet makers load data and I check the smokeless powders website and call to confirm my data.