Anyone Reloading 88-grain Hornady ELD-M for 5.56?

[cz74]

All the youtube videos I can find are people reloading the 88-grain Hornady bullet for 224 Valkyrie and a quick search on this forum revealed none for 5.56 either. Just wanted to see if anyone having experience in 5.56? My test gun is 26-inch barrel with 1:7 twist. My references are the Hornady book and the Gordon Reloading Tool modeling software. My powder is CFE 223. Curious why so few reload this grain weight for 5.56? Thanks!

[smoothy8500]

Sierra had come out with the 90gr SMK intended for 223 Rem in F class, Palma, and Long Range Service Rifle(AR15) but it really didn't catch on. The 88 just got ignored and instead got picked up by the 223AI and Valkyrie shooters.

[sigstroker]

It's probably hard to get into the case. My 55 gr loads are slightly compressed.

[RideWest]

Extra Long

All the youtube videos I can find are people reloading the 88-grain Hornady bullet for 224 Valkyrie and a quick search on this forum revealed none for 5.56 either. Just wanted to see if anyone having experience in 5.56? My test gun is 26-inch barrel with 1:7 twist. My references are the Hornady book and the Gordon Reloading Tool modeling software. My powder is CFE 223. Curious why so few reload this grain weight for 5.56? Thanks!

The 88 gr ELD is a really long .22 cal bullet, it’s longer than the 90 gr SMK. The 88 gr ELD works in the Valkyrie, you can magazine feed it no problem. You would have to check if single feed might work, but you will need enough room to load it long with out jamming it into the lands.

You would have to measure your free-bore. I think a .223 Wylde has a longer throat so it could work in that type of barrel, not sure about a regular 5.56 gas gun. If you have the latter I would stick with the 77 gr TMK projectiles, you can load them magazine length and with the right powder, they can go 1000 yards.

[cz74]

Thanks for the insight! According to Hornady, both the 75-grain ELD-M and 88-grain ELD-M have overall length of 2.390" which will be too long to fit my Magpul p-mags. I will load couple 75-grain to see if single feed them works.

[Caligula36]

88gr ELD bullets are gravy for the 224

[sigstroker]

Thanks for the insight! According to Hornady, both the 75-grain ELD-M and 88-grain ELD-M have overall length of 2.390" which will be too long to fit my Magpul p-mags. I will load couple 75-grain to see if single feed them works.

Get a GI mag.

[smoothy8500]

My test gun is 26-inch barrel with 1:7 twist.

I read this and assumed you had a bolt action.

If you're talking AR platform, the heavy projectile such as SMK 80/90, Berger 85.5, and 88 ELD are all meant to be loaded long and single fired. Magazine length ain't going to work.

[RideWest]

Thanks for the insight! According to Hornady, both the 75-grain ELD-M and 88-grain ELD-M have overall length of 2.390" which will be too long to fit my Magpul p-mags. I will load couple 75-grain to see if single feed them works.

I took a couple of measurements this morning with my Hornady tool, free bore should not be an issue if you load the 88 ELD with a COAL of 2.390”. Single feed should be fine, I don’t have any 75 gr ELDs, to measure.

I just wanted to mention the Ogive will be different on each of these bullets as well, so it’s not just length, but the curve of the bullet that affects free bore.

If you want rounds that you can magazine feed, then you need to stick with the 73 gr ELD or the 77 gr Sierra TMKs. The TMKs have a slight better BC compared to the 73 gr ELDs. Black Hills made the TMKs popular, but you can load your own with TAC powder and get similar external ballistics.