Handloading .223 for the AR

Military style rifles are not usually known for having match grade accuracy, but the AR-15 can be easily upgraded with just a few parts to be more than capable of shooting sub MOA groups out to distances exceeding 600 yards. Swap out the trigger for a Timney and replace the barrel with a heavy stainless steel varmint or match barrel and you'll be surprised by the significant increase in accuracy. But the biggest improvement may not come from the rifle at all, but from the ammunition you use.

I got started shooting cheap military surplus 5.56mm NATO rounds in my AR, along with cheap Winchester white box and Remington .223 FMJ plinking rounds. These cartridges were usually 55 or 62 grain and had decent accuracy. I still use them for plinking and just having fun at the range. But when you want to get serious about target shooting, you need better ammo. The biggest differences between mass produced ammunition and match grade ammunition is the quality of the components and the attention to detail to ensure every round is exactly the same.

Getting Started
You can buy match grade ammunition from a number of manufacturers. Remington and Hornady both manufacture excellent match grade ammunition. Varmint ammo from Remington and Hornady is just as accurate as the match grade ammunition, but is loaded with lighter bullets weighing between 40 and 55 grains. This factory ammunition is easily capable of shooting half-MOA groups is an excellent place to start establishing a baseline for your own handloads. Shoot a variety of loads and bullet weights to find out which performs best in your rifle and start loading your own based off of this data.

Bullets
When selecting the proper bullet, keep your barrel twist in mind. We've written in the past on the importance of barrel twist rate with regards to bullet weight or, more accurately, bullet length. For any given caliber of ammunition, the heaver the bullet is the longer it will generally be. Longer bullets require a faster twist rate to get them spinning at a high enough speed for effective stabilization in flight. If there is a specific load you just have to run, consider rebarreling your rifle with a barrel with a more appropriate twist rate.

The first barrels produced by Colt for the AR-15 had a slow 1:14 twist rate, which was adequate for 55 grain bullets under normal circumstances. However when air density increased due to lower temperatures, the 55 grain became unstable. This prompted the Army to switch to a faster 1:12 rate barrel, and later an even faster 1:7 rate barrel to accommodate heavier 62 grain M855 bullets. Most modern rifles have a 1:9 twist rate, which has been found to be a healthy compromise that is able to stabilize bullets weighing from 50 grains on up to some 69 grain bullets.

Varminters often use very light weight bullets such as the 40 grain Sierra Hornet. Such bullets are exceptionally accurate in order to hit small targets, lightly constructed to provide explosive expansion while minimizing ricochets, and lightweight to obtain high velocities with flat trajectories. The extremely flat shooting varmint round is perfect for taking small game at unknown distances. Competitive shooters on the other hand tend to favor longer and heavier bullets with an aerodynamic boat tail design. These long bullets have a superior ballistic coefficient which allows them to maintain a high velocity for a longer distance, thus making them less prone to wind drift at extended ranges.

One concern when loading heavier longer bullets for your AR is the overall cartridge length. Heavier bullets are longer, and there is a limit to how far back they can be seated. Standard AR-15 magazines can hold cartridges up to 2.275 inches long. If you are loading rounds with heavy 79 grain or heavier bullets, such as 90 grain Sierra MatchKings favored by long range target shooters, the overall cartridge length will likely exceed 2.275 inches, requiring you to load and fire these handloads one at a time. If you are preparing a load that is over-length, it is important to make sure that your barrel is designed to handle it. A barrel with a 1:7 twist is generally not sufficient to stabilize bullets weighing over 77 grains (however some shooters claim to be able to stabilize 90 grain bullets in a 1:7 barrel), but more importantly, in longer handloaded cartridges the bullet could be swaged up against the lands of the rifling and cause overpressure in the case. Barrels for the longest of these loads will usually be custom made with a 1:6 or 1:6.5 twist rate and have a longer leade (the unrifled portion of the bore just past the chamber) to fit the longer bullet.

Powders
Depending on the weight of the bullet you are pushing, you will need different powders. Faster burning powders are more effective for propelling relatively light weight bullets. Slower burning powders in general should be used with heavier bullets. For our purposes here, powders such as Reloader 7, Reloader 10X, Accurate 2015, IMR4198 or Hodgdon H322 are excellent choices for accurate varmint loads topped with light 40 grain to 55 grain bullets. Reloader 15, H4895, IMR4064 or Varget are all good choices used for accurate match loads that propel heavier bullets weighing 60 grains and more.

When developing a load, always start at 75% of the manual recommended max load and work your way up, checking for signs of overpressure as you gradually increase the powder charge. If you don't have enough powder of one type or another, get more: never mix powders! Mixing powders can result in unpredictable burn rates and could cause a case rupture or detonation.

Primers
When choosing a primer for your match loads, stay away from hard military style primers. Most match triggers will not generate primer strikes hard enough to reliably shoot hard primers. Instead, stick with high quality standard small rifle primers such as CCI 400 or Winchester WSR primers for most loads, and Federal Gold Medal 205M for heavier match loads using slower powders.

Brass
Brass for match grade or varmint loads should always be cleaned and polished. This not only makes it chamber better, but it removes any carbon or debris from the case resulting in better more consistent powder burn. When resizing, don't rely on just a neck resize. For the most accurate loads your brass should be fully resized to ensure a consistent case capacity. Fully resized cases also fit the chamber better. What brand of brass you use isn't particularly important, but some shooters prefer Winchester or .223 Remington brass due to the consistent case weight and wall thickness.

When trying to wring every bit of accuracy from a handload, the devil is in the details. Turning the neck of your brass will help to ensure that your case mouth is perfectly round and concentric with the case body, giving you a consistent crimp and seal all the way around your bullet and positioning it perfectly concentric with the bore. RCBS makes a case neck turner and .223 pilot to help you turn the perfect case neck. Necks that are out-of-round can have gas escape around the bullet prior to the bullet entering the bore and result in an uneven bullet release. A perfectly even bullet release helps to ensure that it swages onto the rifling evenly.

Handloading Procedure
One of the primary reasons for handloading is that it gives you the ability to ensure absolute consistency among all of the rounds. Handloads that are quickly and carelessly assembled may be great for plinking and making a bunch of noise, but they are useless for precision shooting. Additionally, carelessly assembling your rounds can be dangerous! Double charged or poorly measured loads can destroy your expensive rifle and kill or seriously injure you. When sitting down to reload, get rid of all possible distractions. Never watch TV or have a conversation while reloading. Dividing your attention between the task at hand and something else can result in a mistake that could prove deadly. Remember that the more attention you give to the quality and consistency of your loads, the more accurate they will be.

See our article on reloading necked rifle ammunition for more details on the reloading process.

Example Loads

Bullet	Bullet Weight	Powder	Primer	Overall Length	Charge (grains)	Velocity (FPS)
Hornady V-Max	35 gr	Accurate 5744	CCI 400	2.13	21.1	3602
Speer SP	40 gr	Reloder 7	CCI 400	2.06	20.5	3011
Speer SP	40 gr	Reloder 10X	CCI 400	2.06	24.5	3481
Nosler BT	40 gr	Accurate 2015	CCI 400	2.260	25.4	3671
Speer SP	45 gr	Reloder 7	CCI 400	2.155	20	3059
Speer SP	45 gr	Reloder 10X	CCI 400	2.155	24	3292
Nosler BT	50 gr	Reloder 10X	WSR	2.2	24.2	3389
Nosler BT	50 gr	Reloder 15	WSR	2.2	28	3356
Speer HP	52 gr	Reloder 7	CCI 400	2.2	20.5	2931
Speer HP	52 gr	Reloder 10X	CCI 400	2.2	22.5	3179
Nosler BT	55 gr	Accurate 2015	CCI 400	2.230	24.0	3215
Speer SP	55 gr	Reloder 10X	CCI 400	2.175	23	3159
Hornady V-Max	55 gr	Varget	WSR	2.240	27.0	3344
Speer FMJ	62 gr	Reloder 15	CCI 400	2.255	25.0	2832
Sierra HPBT	69 gr	Reloder 15	Fed 205M	2.26	25.5	2956
Hornady A-Max	75 gr	H4895	Fed 205M	2.273	24.5	2861
Swift Scirocco	75 gr	Varget	Fed 205M	2.270	23.0	2714
Sierra HPBT	77 gr	Reloder 15	Fed 205M	2.26	24.1	2783
Sierra MatchKing	90 gr	H4895	Fed 205M	2.550	21.7	2600
Sierra MatchKing	90 gr	IMR-4064	Fed 205M	2.550	22.4	2600

All load data presented here should be used with caution. Consult a reloading manual and always begin with a reduced load to ensure that they are safe in your particular rifle before proceeding to full power loads. Cheaper Than Dirt! has no control over the quality of the components that you choose, the condition of your rifle, or the actual loadings you use, and therefore assumes no responsibility for your use of data presented here.

Reloading, A Beginner's Guide Part II

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In the first installment of our series on reloading, we discussed the methods and procedures for cleaning, depriming, and reloading straight walled cases. In this article, we will discuss reloading bottle necked cartridges. Most necked down cartridges are rifle calibers, but there are a few notable exceptions, notably .357 Sig and Tokarev. The FN 5.7mm cartridge is bottle necked as well, but it is a proprietary round and is very difficult to properly (and safely) reload.

Lyman Classic Tumbler

As with straight walled brass, make sure that your bottle necked brass is clean and free from debris. With bottle necked rifle brass, it's generally a good idea to run your brass through a polisher. This cleans off powder residue as well as any dirt or corrosion from the brass. Make sure that once you are done polishing and cleaning your brass that there is no polishing media left on the outside or inside of the brass. Polishing and cleaning the brass helps make resizing much easier. Dirt, grit, or corrosion on your brass can scratch or damage your steel dies. Carbide dies don't have this problem, but having nicely lubed clean brass means that you don't have to pull so hard on the press lever when resizing.

Reloading bottle necked cartridges is actually fairly easy compared to reloading straight walled brass, but you do have to take the additional step of utilizing case lube. The primary difference between reloading straight walled cases and bottle neck cases is the resizing process. Bottle neck dies perform a lot of work with a single pull of the press lever. When resizing brass, the die not only resizes the case and deprimes the brass, it also has an expander ball that is plunged down the neck of the case so that new bullets can be seated.

Hornaday One-Shot Case Lube

When lubing your rifle brass, it is critically important to spray your case lube all around the outside as well as down the case mouth. This lubes the inside of the case for the expander ball. To properly lube the cases, set them all in a loading block with the mouth of the case up. Spray the cases on one side and from above at an angle so that the lubricant not only goes on the outside but also sprays down inside the neck. Turn the loading block so that all 360 degrees of the cases get lubed. Don't be afraid of over lubricating the cases. You CAN spray too much (though it's difficult), but it's far better to use too much lube than not enough lube. Failure to use enough case lube will result in your case becoming stuck in the die. Getting a case stuck in a die is a nightmare scenario, so don't do it! If you think you've got enough lube, go ahead and give the cases one more spray, just for good measure.

Once your brass is cleaned and lubed and you've got your resizing die properly adjusted and locked down as we discussed in our previous article, place your brass on the shell holder and lower the ram. You'll begin to feel resistance as the expander ball is plunged through the neck of the case. One of the reasons that reloading necked brass is a bit easier than straight walled brass is that the dies for your necked down brass perform more operations with a single pull of the lever. The resizing die decaps the primer, resizes the brass, and expands the case neck to receive a new bullet, all in a single stroke.

Now that your brass has been resized, clean off the lubricant and inspect the brass for any cracks, creases, or bright spots near the head. A bright ring around the head at the base of the cartridge indicates stressed brass that will result in a case head separation. You may notice little dimples on your brass: this is not a big deal, and it occurs from using too much case lube. Large dimples occur when you have managed to use far too much lubricant. Brass with large dimples should be discarded.

In my experience, it is not usually necessary to measure and trim pistol brass after resizing. The same cannot be said about rifle cases. Use a dial caliper to ensure that all of your brass is the same correct length. You can also load the resized brass into your firearm to make sure it will chamber. Use a case trimmer to trim off any excess length.

Priming your rifle brass is the same procedure as priming your pistol brass. First, make sure that your primer pocket is cleaned out. Make sure that you have the correct size primer - large pistol and rifle primers can appear to be the same size, but they are not! Using the correct size tools and primers, prime all of your brass and make sure that the primers are seated to the proper depth. Primers that are set too high can be slam-fired in semiautomatic rifles.

Hornaday Seating Die

When loading your powder, make sure that you have the right kind of powder. Using pistol powders in a rifle case can result in over-pressure and detonation, potentially destroying your rifle and injuring or killing you. It is very difficult (though not impossible) to double charge a rifle case if you are using the correct powders. Still, pay close attention. When developing a load, always double check your loads against a current reloading manual. Start at 50% of the manual's recommended load and work up from there. Once you have a load developed, make sure to periodically check your powder measure against a scale to ensure that it remains consistent and accurate.

The final process in reloading rifle ammunition is seating and crimping the bullet. Since rifle cases are not flared, it can be more difficult to seat a flat based bullet. Boat tail bullets are much easier to seat. If you are loading flat based bullets, it helps to have a bevel cut in the case mouth using a chamfer or deburring tool. While crimping is not necessarily required for rifle rounds, it definitely helps when you are loading large caliber or magnum rounds. Crimping is definitely necessary if you are loading for a tube magazine fed rifle, as it will keep the bullets from being set back. Some bullet seating dies also crimp at the same time. Seat the first bullet, then measure your overall case length. Once you are certain the length is in spec, lock down your bullet seating die and proceed to seat bullets in the rest of your cartridges.

As always, observe proper safety procedures when reloading ammunition. Make sure that you have a clean and organized work area that is free from distractions. Never try to watch TV or listen to the radio while reloading - you're working with potentially dangerous explosives that require 100% of your attention. Always wear proper eye protection when reloading. Remember that lead and primers are toxic and wash your hands every time after reloading.

Reloading - A Beginner's Guide - Part 1

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Ammunition prices have gone sky high in recent months, and show no sign of falling anytime soon. Heck - many calibers of ammunition are hard to find at any price. So, what's a shooter to do? For myself and others, reloading is one solution.

Reloading involves recycling spent brass and prepping it to reload with new primers, powder, and bullets. Perhaps you're one of many who are fed up with the unavailability of your choices in ammunition and are ready to get started loading your own. Where do you begin?

The Lee Anniversary Reloading Kit is one of the most popular kits for the beginner. It includes almost everything you could need for reloading a single caliber of ammunition for a low entry level price of $89.99. Lee Anniversary kits include powder measure, powder funnel, case prep tools, priming tool, scale, breech lock press, and a reloading manual. In addition to the reloading kit, you will need dies in your caliber, calipers, primers and powder. All told, you can get started with this basic press, new brass, bullets, dies, powders and primers for around $500 shipped (depending on caliber).

When your new reloading gear arrives, try to restrain yourself from diving right in and starting to throw things together. Stop! Find your instruction manual and reloading manual, and sit down with a nice cup of tea and READ IT. I can't emphasize this enough - reloading involves working with smokeless powder and primers, both of which have the ability to severely injure you if you don't respect them. Be patient, turn off the TV, and read your instruction manual front to back before doing anything else with your kit.

After you are done reading the manual, begin to unpack your kit and parts and familiarize yourself with them. Make sure that you can positively identify each and every part of your kit. Next, find a clean safe area you can work in and find a solid base that you can mount your press to (hint: if you're married, the kitchen table is not a good choice!) and a separate place to set your scale that is sturdy and level.

Now, let's get started reloading. First of all, this information should be considered ancillary to the instructions that came with your reloading press and in your reloading manual and in should no way be construed as overriding or replacing the instructions for your particular press. That being said, let's get started.

.38 Caliber Resizing Die

I want to address straight-walled cartridges first, as these are the easiest to reload. Straight-walled brass does not need resizing lube when it is used with a carbide die. Ensure that your brass is clean. Grit and particles on the brass can damage a resizing ring, so your brass needs to be spotless. There are a number of brass cleaning systems out on the market. If you are polishing your brass (as you should) make sure that all of the polishing media is thoroughly removed from the brass. You can use brass that hasn't been polished, but make doubly sure that all powder particles, dirt and grit have been cleaned away.

Take the appropriate shell holder for your brass and install it on the ram of the press. With the ram raised up, screw your resizing die in until it only barely touches the shell holder. With the ram lowered, move the sizing die in by turning it one full turn. Raise the ram up again and the shell holder should press up against the die. Now tighten the locking ring of the die tightly so that it can't back out. Adjust the deprimer pin on the resizing die so that it sticks out enough to push the primer out of the case, and lock it down securely.

Now, take your clean brass and insert one case into the shell holder. While raising the ram, the case will begin to encounter resistance as it enters the die. If it feels like it is stopping or jamming completely, DON'T FORCE IT! Lower the ram and make sure that the case is well seated in the shell holder. If it is not, the die can crush the mouth of the case and ruin it for reloading. Once you've verified that the shell is properly seated in the shell holder, operate the ram lever to the full extent of its stroke. The primer of the case should pop out. If it does not pop out, or if you are unable to operate the lever all the way, check that the rod carrying the deprimer is not screwed in too deep. Adjust the decapping rod and try again.

Inspect your deprimed and resized case. Make sure the metal is uncreased and undamaged. Ensure that there are no cracks or shiny rings around the case rim. Check that the case properly chambers in your firearm and that the bolt will close and chamber properly (or for revolvers, that the cylinder will close and operate properly). This is how we will verify that the case is resized correctly. Once verified, you can proceed to resize the rest of your cases. After resizing and depriming all of your brass, inspect all of the brass, looking for the same flaws we mentioned above. Clean out the primer pocket with a cleaning tool, making sure that all soot, dirt, and grit is cleaned out. If you are reloading rifle ammunition, at this point you should chamfer and deburr the case mouth.

Now remove the resizing die from your press and install the expander die. We will use the expander die to slightly widen the mouth of the case in order to allow us to easily seat a bullet. The process for installing and adjusting a case expander vary, so follow the manufacturers instructions precisely. Make adjustments to the case expander slowly and incrementally to avoid damaging a case. Damaged cases will not be able to be used or repaired and should be discarded. When you have the case mouth flared just enough to begin seating a bullet without having to struggle to get it positioned properly, stop. There is no reason to expand the case mouth too much, and in fact over expanding the case mouth can impede your ability to properly crimp the bullet in position.

Once all of the brass has been flared, it's time to prime them. I can't emphasize safety here enough: primers are essentially small self-contained and impact-sensitive explosives. Proper eye protection is a MUST when you are priming your brass. Make sure that you have the proper sized primer for your cartridge - pay close attention, because rifle and large pistol primers appear to be the same size, but they are markedly different in their performance.

RCBS Priming Tool

There are a number of priming tools available on the market, and most of them work in similar fashion using a lever to gently press the primer into the primer pocket of a case held in a shell holder. Follow the manufacturers instructions for your particular priming tool. When checking the primed brass, make sure that the primer is firmly set so that the cup of the primer is set just below the head of the case. It should not stick out at all. If it does, place it back in your priming tool and press it in a little farther until it is just below flush.

Finally it's time to charge your case and seat a bullet. Again, since we are working with dangerous materials, make sure that your work area is clean and that you are free of distractions. Reloading is not something you can do while watching TV or carrying on a conversation - all of your attention needs to be focused on the task at hand. As always when working with potentially explosive materials, always wear safety glasses!

There are a number of ways to properly measure a powder charge. Many of the budget model presses include pre-measured scoops or dippers that are marked with a grain measurement. These will work, but they are not as accurate as a powder measure and scale. But before doing ANYTHING with powder, grab your reloading manual and check the proper load for the caliber you are loading. Make sure that you have the right powder and bullet weight. Check your load data. Check it AGAIN. Cross reference it with a second reloading manual. Now is not the time to mess around or experiment, make absolutely sure that the load you are using is safe and within spec according to your reloading manuals!

Once you've confirmed the proper powder charge, set up your scale on a stable and level surface and place your powder pan on the scale. Zero (tare) the weight on your scale so that you are only measuring the contents of your powder pan. Dial your powder measure back to its smallest setting and fill the hopper with powder. Dispense a charge of powder into your powder pan and measure it on your scale. Slowly increase the setting on your powder measure until it dispenses the correct amount of powder into your pan. Repeat this charge two or three times to ensure it is consistent.

You can pour your charge directly into the case, use a funnel, or if you have a deluxe press, use the supplied charging system. Make a note of how full the case is. With come calibers, it's possible to double or even triple charge a case! Use this mental note of how full a properly charged case is to keep an eye on your charges and ensure that you don't overcharge any. Also, make sure to stop every 10th round or so and weigh your charge to make sure that the powder measure has not changed.

With your cases all charged, it's time to break out the bullet seating die. For bullets with a cannelure, seating is a fairly straight forward process. For bullets without a cannelure, it's slightly more difficult. First, you need to know what your overall cartridge length is. Dial calipers are extremely useful here to measure the finished cartridge as the seating die is adjusted. Using an empty (uncharged) primed and expanded case, raise the ram to full height. Unscrew the seating stem of the seating die out almost all the way. Now screw the die back into the press until you can just feel it touching the case, and then back it out a half turn and lock it in place. Take the case back out of the press, charge it, and start a bullet. Place it back into the press and slowly raise the ram. The ram should go almost all the way up before the seating stem touches the bullet. If you are able to raise the ram all the way up, hold it up while screwing the seating stem down until it makes contact with the bullet. Lower the ram and screw the seating stem down a little bit more. Raise the ram back up and the bullet should be fully seated into the case. Using your dial calipers, measure the overall cartridge length to make sure that it is within spec. Continue this process while adjusting the seating stem until it is within spec, and then lock down your seating stem. Proceed to seat bullets in the rest of your charged cases.

We're almost done, but there's one more step we need to take. Unless your manufacturer includes a crimp in the seating die, you will still need to crimp the bullet securely in the case using a factory crimp die. Follow the manufacturers instructions for your factory crimp die, and you'll be done!

That's all there is to reloading straight-walled ammunition. In our next installment, we'll discuss loading necked-down cartridges.