.223 loading help needed

cricco

cricco

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I need some help from veteran reloaders. I have loaded up my first batch of .223 ammo. I used 69 grain Sierra Matchking HPBT with 23.4 grains of BLC (2). This is a minimum load per Lyman 49th edition. The cartridge won't fit into my mags, or my chamber on an M&P AR15. My seating depth is 2.270. After doing some research, I found that 2.240 should work. My questions are
1) Does this depth of 2.240 sound correct?
2) Can i reseat crimped bullets, or do I need to toss them and start over?

Thanks folks.
 
Maximum overall length for .223 rem in 2.260"
You probably want to go slightly shorter to ensure feeding in all magazines. 2.250" should be a safe bet.
You should be able to reseat and recrimp those a bit shorter.

Good luck,
Steve
 
I always try a new load in the magazine and I load enough to fill it because sometimes they don't cause a problem until they get way down in the magazine. I'd try seating the bullets deeper but if the crimp is heavy, the shoulder may begin to collapse. If this happens, you'll have to pull the bullets. I don't pull .223 bullets with my inertia bullet puller because .223 bullets are so light. I use a collet type puller.
 
How many did you make? I have several loads for .223 that are longer than mag length - I just single load them. You might want to try a few that way and at least see they shoot.

Second, why are you crimping these cartridges?
 
EddieCoyle said:
How many did you make? I have several loads for .223 that are longer than mag length - I just single load them. You might want to try a few that way and at least see they shoot.

Second, why are you crimping these cartridges?
Click to expand...

I made 12 rounds. I'm crimping because most of the folks I spoke with advised me to. I tried single loading, and it did't work. I reseated the bullets to 2.235. They seem to load and chamber fine now. If the rain stops I'll go out and shoot them.
 
Take a cartridge with no crimp and see how long it takes to pull the bullet with impact puller and the answer will be obvious. I don't crimp any 5.56 and have no problems (1,400 so far) with bullets moving on me. I am not a seasoned expert by any means but I have read and heard it is fine if you don't crimp. YMMV
 
2.260 is the SAAMI standard. That should work in an AR-15 magazine but they are all different a little bit. There is no SAAMI standard for magazines.

I would not crimp them like others have said. Yes you can re-seat them, but depending on the amount of crimp it might dig up a bit of the jacket material. .030 is not that much.

Why couldn't you single load them? I'd be very surprised if the throat was so short that it would prevent you from chambering a 69 sierra loaded to 2.270.

B
 
2.260 is the max length I've read in reloading manuals. As a highpower shooter, the last thing I want is an alibi because of my loaded rounds. There is always a variation in OAL in loaded rounds due to the fact that the bullet heads have variation and IF you have a mag that has a smaller opening that the others, you can have problems. I seat mine to 2.245 which gives me a bit more room for the variation and have never seen any evidence of a problem of pressure due to this. I load mostly Varget and Sierra 77's mag length.

Crimp... When I started loading the .223, the guy I bought my rifle from said that you NEVER crimp .223 rounds. Never gave me a good reason but he said not to. My Bonanza die set didn't have a crimp and I wasn't having problems. I bought a Dillon carbide set for use in my 550 press which comes with a crimp die. I set the crimp die so it just hits the edge of the case and I only load rounds that will be loaded into mags, for 200 and 300 yards. I can't say I'd call it a crimp but technically I guess it is. All I can say is if you do crimp, crimp lightly. If you are having a problem with OAL changing when chambering rounds, you have bad brass or your sizing die is not right.
Bob
 
Highscore, I ended up with an OAL of 2.235. I took my 12 rounds out back a while ago, half expecting to blow my head off. LOL! Fortunately, all 12 went BANG! The accuracy was good. Not spectacular, but good. I'm mostly just super excited that I've just successfully made my OWN AMMO!!!! And it WORKED!!! I checked the cases and primers for evil signs, as I was concerned about using the Remington 6 1/2 primers. There was nothing at all wrong with them! It seems 6 1/2's work fine for light loads. They all cycled fine in my M&P AR15. I am soooooo psyched! Expect to see me much more often on the reloading forum!! Thanks for the advice everyone!
 
If you end up re-seating crimped rounds beware that the shoulder may widen. Check them in a Dillon case gauge to ensure that they will work. I have had a few that jammed when I bumped the neck and were a pain to get out. The Dillon gauge is dimensionally accurate from top to bottom where others may not be (Lyman for example).
 
Rifle ammo seems to be more accurate if it's not crimped. Some ammo like revolver ammo needs to be crimped to keep the bullets from pulling during recoil. Military rifle ammo all seems to be crimped. I crimp all my .45/60 WCF and the .45/70 ammo that will be used in lever action rifles to keep the bullets from being driven deeper into the cases during recoil. I don't crimp my .38/55 or the .45/70 that will be used in the Sharps. If you don't need to crimp,try not crimping and see if the accuracy is better.
 
Roger that Gerry. Also, Fixxah, I do check each case with a Dillon case guage. Everything looks good. In fact, I just loaded up another 100 rounds for target practice!
 
Unless your gonna belt feed a SAW there's no need to crimp. 69 Sierras like to go around 2750-2850. Seating depth like was said above 2.260 is max. seat to 2.250 and you won't have feeding problems as long as the brass is sized right. Check each loaded round for length, locking your calipers on 2.255 and passing the rounds through while you're boxing it up is a good way to do it, they'll be a range of lengths(that's why the calipers are set long but still in specs) don't go nuts trying to get them all at exact, you're not gonna shoot 1000yards with mag length ammo. Write down everything you do and label your handloads, and have fun. Check out NJHighpower website Reloading Stuph and White Oak Armament and you'll learn alot more about loading for the AR. Hope this helps.

Tom
 

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