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As a surprise, my wife and daughter are taking me to the range and joining me there to shoot, where we will use rifles and hanguns. One of the rifles is an AR-15 chambered in 223 Remington, but for which I have no ammo (and can't get any high quality stuff). I have reloading equipment, brass, bullets, and powder, but have not used it for the AR. I would surely like to have about 150 rounds of identical 223 Remington for this outing and have just one load, but at the same time, know I should work up loads, evaluate pressure signs, etc. I want to simply use a known load that will work well, but also know that just loading up something like the "Sierra accuracy load" for the AR-15 without first working up is obviously dangerous.
I could load up a whole bunch of different loads, but it is possible some may be too light or too light giving me cycling problems or are too hot, both forcing an early end to the day. I don't mind shooting lower power loads for this outing. I am thinking of loading a few rounds (how many) starting at the low end, and increase by .2 grains until I reach around the midpoint of the average of what the manuals say, and load the rest at that level. The risk here is that the midpoint is too hot, and the majority of my ammo for the day will not be used, cutting the day short. I am not sure of the liklihood of a midpoint in the manuals being too hot for my AR-15.
I have Vhitavouri N133 and Hodgon H322 powder. Bullets are Sierra 53 grain flat base bullets used in a 1:9 twist 22" long Krieger barrel chambered in 223 Remington. These are the loads I was considering, with a plan to load the majority of rounds at the higher value. Again, the worry is, these may be too hot. What do you think? My hottest loads is in bold.
My proposed loads of Vhitavouri N133: 22.4 up to 23.8
This is from low end of Sierra AR-15 (22.3 to 24.1 max) and Berger's (22.0 to 24.4 max) recommendations, and lower than what Vhitavouri (22.5 to 25.0 max) says.
My proposed loads of Hodgon H322: 21.6 up to 23.0
This is from the low end of what Lee (21.5 to 23.5 max) and Hodgdon (21.5 to 23.5 max) say, but well below what Sierra says with the AR-15 (23.1 to 25.2 max). This big variance concerns me.
Any best approaches to how many rounds needed to reliably evaluate for pressure are welcome. I don't mind having plenty of loads at the lower end. This is just a fun shoot.
Phil
I could load up a whole bunch of different loads, but it is possible some may be too light or too light giving me cycling problems or are too hot, both forcing an early end to the day. I don't mind shooting lower power loads for this outing. I am thinking of loading a few rounds (how many) starting at the low end, and increase by .2 grains until I reach around the midpoint of the average of what the manuals say, and load the rest at that level. The risk here is that the midpoint is too hot, and the majority of my ammo for the day will not be used, cutting the day short. I am not sure of the liklihood of a midpoint in the manuals being too hot for my AR-15.
I have Vhitavouri N133 and Hodgon H322 powder. Bullets are Sierra 53 grain flat base bullets used in a 1:9 twist 22" long Krieger barrel chambered in 223 Remington. These are the loads I was considering, with a plan to load the majority of rounds at the higher value. Again, the worry is, these may be too hot. What do you think? My hottest loads is in bold.
My proposed loads of Vhitavouri N133: 22.4 up to 23.8
This is from low end of Sierra AR-15 (22.3 to 24.1 max) and Berger's (22.0 to 24.4 max) recommendations, and lower than what Vhitavouri (22.5 to 25.0 max) says.
My proposed loads of Hodgon H322: 21.6 up to 23.0
This is from the low end of what Lee (21.5 to 23.5 max) and Hodgdon (21.5 to 23.5 max) say, but well below what Sierra says with the AR-15 (23.1 to 25.2 max). This big variance concerns me.
Any best approaches to how many rounds needed to reliably evaluate for pressure are welcome. I don't mind having plenty of loads at the lower end. This is just a fun shoot.
Phil
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