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Looking to start reloading for an AR15 platform need advice
- Thread starter Keven
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That's pretty low for Varget and a 55 grain bullet. My book shows 25.5 as the minimum and 27.5 as the maximum (compressed, use caution.)
22.5ish is most likely safe to shoot, but it may not cycle your rifle reliably.
I have 10 lee dipper's none of them weight at the amount on the chart with the powders I have...I will say I have not had one weigh in above, yet.
You can make your own dipper's from spent pistol cases or any other little container. Scooping varget or any stick powder takes practice. I found a old large butter tub filled 3/4 works pretty good. Dip it in to the bottom and drag it across.
I have been useing a dipper on my cast loads for 30-06 since I'm only loading 10 or so for testing.
Kevin, I would like to see you do a accuracy test. 10 shots of the bench with factory ammo. I just want to see a group.
Then 10 shots of your reloads for every change in powder charge.
With my rra nm I started with the 22.6 min charge in my book. Cycled just fine but accuracy was not very good.
I then did 23, 24,25 grains. Accuracy was best with 24 grains. I then did 1/2 grain steps. 23.5,24,24.5
Off the rifle rest these loads do very well but 24.5 had the best results with these bullets. Groups stay in the 1.5"moa area with tighter groups more common than wider. These are bulk 55gn fmj fb unknown manufacture. Hornady fmj 55gn bulk do well also. With the nosler or hornady match do much better. Now if I can just learn to shoot asxwell as my rifle and ammo.
You can make your own dipper's from spent pistol cases or any other little container. Scooping varget or any stick powder takes practice. I found a old large butter tub filled 3/4 works pretty good. Dip it in to the bottom and drag it across.
I have been useing a dipper on my cast loads for 30-06 since I'm only loading 10 or so for testing.
Kevin, I would like to see you do a accuracy test. 10 shots of the bench with factory ammo. I just want to see a group.
Then 10 shots of your reloads for every change in powder charge.
With my rra nm I started with the 22.6 min charge in my book. Cycled just fine but accuracy was not very good.
I then did 23, 24,25 grains. Accuracy was best with 24 grains. I then did 1/2 grain steps. 23.5,24,24.5
Off the rifle rest these loads do very well but 24.5 had the best results with these bullets. Groups stay in the 1.5"moa area with tighter groups more common than wider. These are bulk 55gn fmj fb unknown manufacture. Hornady fmj 55gn bulk do well also. With the nosler or hornady match do much better. Now if I can just learn to shoot asxwell as my rifle and ammo.
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My next purchase will be a scale........help me out digital or beam?? My price range is under $100
I like the ease of the digital but dislike its auto shut off and the dependance on a power supply. I am kinda leaning for a beam scale, or am I crazy? If not then what beam scales do you guys like and recommend?
I noticed some beam scales have adjustments on the beam on the pan side and some do not, what is this for?
I like the ease of the digital but dislike its auto shut off and the dependance on a power supply. I am kinda leaning for a beam scale, or am I crazy? If not then what beam scales do you guys like and recommend?
I noticed some beam scales have adjustments on the beam on the pan side and some do not, what is this for?
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I have 4 scales.
1. Is a pharmacy grade ohaus......its stupid accurate 120v power supply. Its a older model. Down side takes for ever to warm up. Will jump all over the place with the slightest movement. So basically its a pita to use.
2. A 10$ digiscale brand works and is accurate. Calibration is easy anthe only thing I did notice is it can get off a bit in accuracy when my down stairs gets cold.
3. Hornady battery digital scale. It works. I dont like the blue back light and eats batteries up?
4. My go to scale is my 5-0-5 scale. Its a simple beam scale and never seems to have problems. I load 99% of my ammo with a powder drop so don't use a scale a lot.
if I buy another scale it will be a 120v scale with maybe powder dispensing capabilities. I plan on doing a lot of cast loads with different weights and powders in small batches of 50.?
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Though a bit more expensive, consider getting a scale that works with an automatic dispenser. You could buy just the scale now, then add the dispenser later on. I like the RCBS Chargemaster, it makes weighing out charges brainless - just type in the charge weight you want and hit dispense and it does all the work for you while you can work on some other stage of the process.
http://www.midwayusa.com/product/77...500-powder-scale-and-dispenser-combo-110-volt
On the other end, there are plenty of low priced basic electronic scales that work fine too. Lyman has one that's pretty good. Franklin Arsenal sells a really cheap one that works fine. You can get a basic one that works (no bells or whistles) for as little as 30 bucks.
If you really want a beam scale (meh) you'd be hard pressed to beat the RCBS 1010, but it's just as expensive as the Chargemaster 1500 electronic scale. You could step down to the 505 or even the 502 if you needed something a bit cheaper.
http://www.midwayusa.com/product/77...500-powder-scale-and-dispenser-combo-110-volt
On the other end, there are plenty of low priced basic electronic scales that work fine too. Lyman has one that's pretty good. Franklin Arsenal sells a really cheap one that works fine. You can get a basic one that works (no bells or whistles) for as little as 30 bucks.
If you really want a beam scale (meh) you'd be hard pressed to beat the RCBS 1010, but it's just as expensive as the Chargemaster 1500 electronic scale. You could step down to the 505 or even the 502 if you needed something a bit cheaper.
Yeah that is very cool and slick. The auto dispensing powder, and the auto case trimmer is just a "TAD" bit more than I have to spend, but very cool!
One problem because I only have a $28 dollar plain Jane press.
One problem because I only have a $28 dollar plain Jane press.
Update! Used my Lee Ram Prime yesterday in my single stage Lee press and I was surprised at how easy the WSR's went in to the degree that I am wondering I need another brand of primer in order to get .005 thousandths extra friction fit. WSR vs CCI 400??
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Easy: Do the primers pop when you shoot them? If no, you're good. If yes, not so much. (If they do it probably has more to do with you reaming the pockets than the brand of primer.)
This
also with nice clean primer pockets they will go in slick. I have some never fired lapua 223 brass. The primers fall in when used on the press. Only with the hand prime tool do i feel a little resistance
OK makes me feel better then because I have some non crimped Remington cases that I do not ream and my primers slip in with very little effort. With the crimped cases and the reamed pocket the primers seems to have just a tad more resistance.
Yes your crimped brass that you cut the crimp off doesn't always remove the entire crimp. You need to swag the primer pocket to reshape and bump back the crimp completely. If your primers went into the decrimped brass your next loadings will most likely go in smoother. I have some brass which I think is norinco brass from the eighties that after 2 loads you could push primers in by hand. You will get a feel for it. This is why I load my brass in batches. I have a 500 rnd batch that is on its 5 loading (my mixed brass plinking and practice ammo) as soon as it shows signs of pocket failure splits. I will inspect on 6 th load and discard the the same head stamps in the batch. So far been doing well only had some old norinco and some federal brass fail after 4 loads...the rest of my brass is LC and PPU after the 7th load I plan on trying to aneal this batch and keep loading it. I have a dedicated batch of LC brass that I use for matches. That's only on its 2 go round.
What is your annealing process mac1911?
Similar to the way we did it while making .250-3000 out of 30-06 brass. I just was helping and observing.
People actually anneal their brass? That's way too much work for me. Maybe if I had something a little more rare/expensive like .338LP I would to extend life, but I'm getting plenty out of my .223 and .308.
My .223 primer pockets loosen up before I have to worry about split necks. Annealing won't help that.
I'm going in on a Giraud annealer with another member here for .300 BLK brass.
I'm going in on a Giraud annealer with another member here for .300 BLK brass.
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I do, but I have a buddy that has one of those cool Giraud automatic annealers. In theory it helps keep neck tension more consistent, though I doubt I actually see any difference on the target (at least not on my target.) Even with annealing every 3 or 4 firings I still start getting split necks around the 9th or 10th firing and by then it's just practice brass with loose primer pockets anyway.
I stopped getting neck splits when I went to the Hornady full-length bushing sizing die. All of my 'regular' sizing dies (Redding, RCBS, Hornady, Lee) work the necks way too much. They all make the neck much more undersized than necessary before using the expander ball to re-expand it out to size.
Take out the expander ball, run a case through your sizer, then measure the unexpanded neck ID. You'll be shocked.
