reloading 5.56 vs .223

[indyblue]

If I may offer some advice, A) the projectiles your using, use that manual,i.e. I use Hornady, use Hornady manual. If load data isn't listed, email them.
B) 8208XBR is an awesome powder for your service rifle load. Yes it is faster then varget or cfe223 , but neither of those would offer satisfactory results in ,y service rifle.
C)load development is only 10 shots. Load in .2 increments down from the max load.(so example 30.0 , 29.8 , 29.6 ect) shoot thru your clock, you will find 3 shots on the low end with nearly identical velocity & same on the high end. The lowest powder charge on the high end is were you want to load at.

Aaron

Thanks for the advice.

I don't have chrono so I'll have to rely on shot POI for now I suppose.

Using Sierra MatchKing 69gr hpbt and Nosler 80gr hpbt.
The only rifle powder I have so far is the 8208 XBR and some H110. Will need to add some IMR4320 to my inventory.

Nosler has online data available, but does not list 8208 XBR data. Hodgon does have Sierra data online and had entries for 8208 so I should be able to use the Sierra 80gr hpbt data for the Nosler 80gr hpbt.

 

[55fairlane]

Thanks for the advice.

I don't have chrono so I'll have to rely on shot POI for now I suppose.

Using Sierra MatchKing 69gr hpbt and Nosler 80gr hpbt.
The only rifle powder I have so far is the 8208 XBR and some H110. Will need to add some IMR4320 to my inventory.

Nosler has online data available, but does not list 8208 XBR data. Hodgon does have Sierra data online and had entries for 8208 so I should be able to use the Sierra 80gr hpbt data for the Nosler 80gr hpbt.

POI tells you nothing.

A 69SMK is good short line projectile, works great at 200 &300 yards.

I'm not a fan of Nosler, using Sierra load data with a Nosler projectile, please don't do that, you may find out the hard way , it's not a good idea.

Hodgons 69SMK load data was shot from a 700 Remington type test gun, not a "gas gun" (Lee is the same way)

Sierra & Hornady both have "service rifle "data pick up the manual that matches your projectiles and use that data.

8208XBR is a good powder for your 69SMK, that is what is use in both my service rifle and match rifle

 

[indyblue]

Well that sucks. Sierra doesn’t publish data anywhere except in their $50 databook. I hate to spend hat much for the only one thing I’ll probably use.

I only got the Noslers instead of the Sierras because they were available at the time in the weight I wanted to test. These days beggars can’t be choosers. Most of the sierra stuff is out of stock everywhere and I had these laying around for a few years.

I had no idea it would be so hard to get the data for certain projectiles, I thought it was a fairly universal thing that I could look up in any one of the three books I already have or online. If Sierra is going to guard their data with a pay wall then maybe I just won’t buy sierra bullets anymore.

I won’t be firing any of these beyond one or 200 yards anyhow.

 

[t-squared]

From my Lyman 50th:
223 Remington
Sierra HPBT #1380 69gr
2.260" oal
IMR 8208 XBR
starting load: 21.0gr...2618 fps
max load: 23.8gr...3006 fps

from my Sierra Edition 6:
223 Remington "Bolt Gun" using a universal 24" test barrel
Sierra HPBT #1380
2.260" oal
IMR 8208 XBR
20.4gr/2500 fps
21.2gr/2600 fps
22.0gr/27oo fps
22.7gr/ 2800 fps
23.4gr/ 2900 fps

There is no data for IMR 8208 XBR in their 223 Remington "AR-15" section using their 69gr HPBT

 

[russc2542]

Let me throw a couple more wrenches in the works:

chrono is a pretty critical part of load development as far as pressure/safety goes, it gives you some indication of pressure trends and consistency that POI won't.

There's more variation between brass manufactures than between .223 and 5.56 marked brass

and one that may help:
Start low and make up loads for YOUR rifle(s). The data in the books is with the exact case, primer, projectile, barometer, humidity, altitude, and firing apparatus that they have. YMMV big time. That's why the chrono monitoring speed is important: you may have different pressure/speed for a given load in your gun and conditions than they did but having a chrono lets you know when you're approaching the max speed you know you're probably approaching the max pressure.

 

[indyblue]

Let me throw a couple more wrenches in the works:

chrono is a pretty critical part of load development as far as pressure/safety goes, it gives you some indication of pressure trends and consistency that POI won't.

There's more variation between brass manufactures than between .223 and 5.56 marked brass

and one that may help:
Start low and make up loads for YOUR rifle(s). The data in the books is with the exact case, primer, projectile, barometer, humidity, altitude, and firing apparatus that they have. YMMV big time. That's why the chrono monitoring speed is important: you may have different pressure/speed for a given load in your gun and conditions than they did but having a chrono lets you know when you're approaching the max speed you know you're probably approaching the max pressure.

I'm not going for anything long range at this time, I'm just trying to optimize my reloads within reason for shooting consistently at paper at 1-200 yds. All my books say the best groups will come from somewhere in the mid-range of load data anyhow, I'm not going to try to approach max.

Please see here: https://www.indianagunowners.com/threads/accuracy-where-do-you-start.529753/post-9394340

When I have a couple hundred more rounds under my belt, am confortable with my reloading methodology, and I can find someplace to shoot longer distances, I will consider getting a chrono and "doing it the right way". The funds just aren't there for me to get a chrono atm.

All my brass is PMC, either .223 or 5.56 X-Tac all fired through my rifle. I'm not mixing, I'm only loading the .223 brass this time.

For now I just want to save the $$ reloading as it is significantly less expensive since I've been sitting on the components for awhile now (now that I have a good supply of primers on my shelf).

 

[mark40sw]

There's more variation between brass manufactures than between .223 and 5.56 marked brass

^^This^^
I have weighed a lot of 223/556 brass and found this to be true.