NATO 62 grain .556 bullet question

[sammy]

Hello all,

Has anyone loaded pulled 62 grain .556 bullets and gotten decent accuracy? I got some pulled bullets from High Tech Ammo. Collet pulled with no marks. I took the time to separate the wobbly ones and expected better results than I am getting. The gun is a LMT 16" chrome lined 1/7. It is a 1/2" gun using 60 grain v-max bullets at 100 yards. All I can get from the 62 grain bullet is 5" at 100 yards. Most of the time it is closer to 7".

I am using Varget and 748 powders and am working my way up. All of my loads give horrible results. Is this all I can expect from these? Very disappointing to say the least.

[NRAhighpowershooter]

I bought several thousand pulled SS109 bullets from Jeff Bartlett several years ago... 25.5gr H335 and with my H-Bar clone, slung up at 200yds it will hold the 10 ring on a SR target (6")

[joelogic]

Are you using lead core or steel core bullets? I would say pulled steel core bullets are 2-4 moa bullets.

[Kappy]

Are we talking scoped?

Either way... I can't get what I consider good groups with bulk ammo... and I'd suggest that part (not all) of that is caused by the payload.

BTW, I'm shooting 40gr Vmaxes over 25.8gr of Varget and getting a fine result (1/2" or so).

[sammy]

These are steel core bullets. Using a 4x ACOG. It is not my shooting. With different ammo 1" groups all day long.

I will get a pound of 335 and see if it will help.

Thanks for the help.

[goodlookin1]

It's likely your barrel. Some barrels just flat out dont like certain bullets. Take for instance...

Daniel Defense Chrime Lined, Forged 14.5" with a Spikes Dynacomp pinned on it:

Here's the 55gr Hornady V-Max @ 100 yards:


Here's the 68gr Hornady's @ 100 yards:


That second is a 0.75 MOA without that flyer, 1" with it. These were all shot with a 4x ACOG as well. Funny thing, the SS109's I loaded, which were also bulk pulled bullets, shot nearly identical to the Hornady's. I believe the reason for this is because my barrel (1-7" twist) really likes the longer bullets (usually longer). All 55gr bullets shot about the same: 2.5 -3.5 MOA....reloaded, factory, didnt matter. I couldnt get better than that. Soon as I stuck longer bullets in there, like 69 HDY, 69 SMK, SS109, etc....they ALL shot amazing, and I was getting 1" groups with ease.

So if you do your testing and find that you cant get your groups any better, it's likely the bullet out of your barrel.....just doesnt like it. Dont ask me why, but it happens all the time. Just switch bullets

[GeoffLinder]

Hello all,

Has anyone loaded pulled 62 grain .556 bullets and gotten decent accuracy? I got some pulled bullets from High Tech Ammo. Collet pulled with no marks. I took the time to separate the wobbly ones and expected better results than I am getting. The gun is a LMT 16" chrome lined 1/7. It is a 1/2" gun using 60 grain v-max bullets at 100 yards. All I can get from the 62 grain bullet is 5" at 100 yards. Most of the time it is closer to 7".

I am using Varget and 748 powders and am working my way up. All of my loads give horrible results. Is this all I can expect from these? Very disappointing to say the least.

The fact that you state there were "wobbly ones" which you separated out makes me think these are just a very bad bullet choice and you should stop trying to make them work and throw them away (and don't buy anymore).

While it is kind of true that some barrels don't like certain bullets (at least at certain velocities anyway) this does not quite account for the extreme level of inaccuracy you are getting with them.

[ExtremeX]

Have you tried shooting factory M855 ammo? I’m curious what types of results you can achieve with that. It would help figure out if it’s just the bullet your barrel doesn’t like or your load.

I think I was at about 1.5” group at 100 with my 4x ACOG with factory M855 around the time I zeroed the optic… I don’t shoot groups often with that ammo and the ACOG…. That was with a 1:9 twist chrome lined 16” stag barrel.

[GeoffLinder]

OP has stated that other bullets perform with 1/2 MOA results for him so it is very, very likely that these bullets are just not good.

The OP also states that he is working through a range of charge weights and not getting accuracy from just this bullet. I have seldom seen a quality bullet not provide decency accuracy when you find a velocity node for that bullet barrel combo.

To me all this pretty much flat out points to the bullets not being very good ones in the first place. As noted before, OP has stated that there were "wobbly" ones in the batch. This says inconsistent bullet concentricity and that says they won't go to the same place downrange no matter what you do with them.

[SixPointEight]

You bought the cheapest bullet you could get, don't expect moa out of them. Those are the kind of bullets you buy for a carbine class or to blow up tin cans.

when I buy bullets like that I don't work up a load, I just choose one and shoot it. surprise surprise when I get groups that mimic factory stuff, 2-3"

[Sunday]

I don't think the 855/ss109 bullets are "accurate'.