Now that the house has been cleaned up, it’s time to go to the garage to work on my next phase of the .223 reloading. Specifically working on trying to figure out the primer backing out issue.
More later.
Reloading
DIY Stuck Case Remover
I’ve been told that for reloaders it’s not if you get a stuck case, it’s when. Thus it’s good to have a stuck-case remover handy for when that happens.
Thing is, as I read the reviews of most commercial stuck case pullers, they’re all decent enough but eventually seem to all break. That’s why when I found this article on a DIY stuck case remover, I thought how awesome!
Swaging Military Brass
Primers Backing Out
The first round tests of my .223 hunting load resulted in one big issue: the primers were backing out.
foo.c‘s guess is it’s the brass, which was brand new Remington.
So I hit Google to see what I can see.
It seems that Remington brass isn’t regarded as the highest quality brass (not like Norma and Lapua), but it’s generally regarded as good brass. So maybe it’s not the brass?
Some things I’m finding in my reading:
- Too short for the chamber. Could be excessive headspace, could be the cases were sized too short for the chamber.
- Hrm. I’m loading to .223 Rem specs, but the Bushmaster is 5.56 chambered. Could it be things were sized just a wee short for that chamber since a 5.56 chamber (compared to a .223 chamber) has a longer leade and headspace dimensions?
- Too low a pressure.
- This might go along with the above. The chamber was slightly larger, thus when the case expanded it didn’t expand
- Chamber wall cling. That is, there’s enough pressure to expand the case sideways to cling to the chamber walls, but because there’s more free space along the axis running through the bullet from primer to tip, coupled with less pressure, now there’s not enough to fill things backwards including pushing the case back against the bolt face so as a result the primer can back out a bit.
- New brass. It just may be formed to “conservative” tolerances and/or have case uniformity issues. Debur the flash hole, uniform the primer pockets, etc.. to help.
- Full length sized brass, similar issues to the above.
Check out this PDF showing the dimensional differences between .223 and 5.56.
It sounds like the primers backing out may be normal for my situation.
If the loads are very weak, unlikely to see primers backing out as there’s probably just not enough pressure.
If the load is perhaps just under max, that’s enough pressure to cause things to back out.
If the load is max to hot, it’s probably more than enough pressure to cause things to sit tight.
What could cause lower pressure? Well, I’m loading a .223 Remington and shooting from a 5.56x45mm NATO chamber, which is going to be just a hair longer. It could also be due to the shape of the bullet (the ogive on the Barnes TSX). It could also be the length at which I loaded the cartridge really putting the bullet off the lands.
This is all just hypothesizing.
The bummer? After talking with foo.c I had resigned myself to just switching to NATO brass (Lake City, WCC, whatever I happened to have). Thus I took all of the Remington brass from yesterday and threw it with some other dirty .223 brass into the brass tumbler to get cleaned up and put in the bucket for reloading at some future date. Thinking about it now, I should have kept that brass: 1. to measure it and see how the size changed after shooting, 2. to go ahead and reload it and try again. Now that it was fired in that chamber, it may have taken on a different and better shape.
So I’m tempted to keep my NATO brass in reserve and continue with the Remington brass. I will pick up a few more dodads at the store, like something to debur the flash holes and to uniform the primer pockets. No harm in that. Then see how it goes. But this time, I’ll reload that same Remington brass and see how it goes. If I still have primers backing out, then I’ll look at other options.
I might even consider doing a test-run of brass this way. That is, instead of using the Barnes TSX bullets, I’ve got some 55 grain Winchester FMJ. I could work up a quick load with some of those to preserve the Barnes bullets.
Ah, so many things to consider. 🙂
.38 Special load recipe – for plinking, using Berry’s bullets and TiteGroup powder
Now that I’ve settled upon a .38 Special load, I thought it’d be good to give it its own entry for ease of finding it.
First attempt here. Results here. Chrono results and last word here.
This is a recipe for .38 Special (not +P). The goal is for a plinking/practice load. Something that doesn’t cost too much. I don’t want it to be a high power load so I can shoot a lot of them in a practice session or a class, but I also don’t want it too wimpy because I’d like it to still have some oomph so practice sessions don’t get too comfortable and have too much of a leap towards self-defense ammo.
The gun used is a Smith & Wesson 442 snub nose revolver with a 2″ (well, 1 7/8″) barrel.
I may no guarantees about this data. Use at your own risk. You assume all responsibility for yourself and your actions. Your mileage may vary.
Bullet — Berry’s Manufacturing Preferred Plated Pistol Bullet, .38 caliber, 158 grain, round nose (RN), double-struck (DS)
Powder — Hodgdon Titegroup, 3.5 grains
Primer — Remington 1 1/2 small pistol primer
Case — CBC (Magtech) brass, used
Cartridge Overall Length — 1.510″
Crimp — “light” Lee Factory crimp
In my testing that produced a velocity of 581 feet-per-second, which is reasonable for a 158 grain bullet and compared well against a Magtech factory load (158 grain LRN). Again remember, this is standard .38 Special NOT .38 Special +P.
Note as well, this is merely one recipe. Over time I may change it or just switch to something else entirely. But as of this writing, it’s what I’m using for my plinking loads.
Chronograph results – .38 Special and .223 Remington hunting load
Went to the rifle club this morning with foo.c and his chronograph. Read his write-up.
Might as well dig into the results.
That certainly was worth it
As a follow-up to my asking if reloading is worth it, check out foo.c’s cost savings on his zombie load.
Quite an impressive savings!
Working up my .223 loads
Now that I’ve some time, I’m working up my .223 Remington loads, with the goal being finding a good hunting load.
This will be shot out of a Bushmaster Super Light Carbine. 5.56 chambering, 16″ chrome-lined slim-profile barrel with 1:9 twist.
The basic ingredients:
Bullet: Barnes TSX .224″ 62 grain
Case: new Remington brass, .223 Remington
Primer: CCI #41
C.O.L.: 2.250″
The powders are where I’m varying things up. I want to experiment and see what sorts of results I’ll get. I have three powders: Varget, H4895, TAC. Using Barnes Reloading Manual #4 data, I’m starting at the minimum load then working my way up in 0.5 grain increments. For example, according to the Barnes data I’d start with 22.5 grains of TAC. So I’d load 3 with 22.5 grains, then 3 with 23.0 grains, then 3 with 23.5 grains, then 3 with 24.0 grains. The max charge is 24.5 grains and for now I’m going to stay away from max. Each powder has a 2.0 grain range, so 4 steps is enough for now. Granted I could probably go to max and be fine (it is a 5.56 chambered rifle and I am loading .223), but 1. I think this is enough curious data collection for now, 2. things are kinda tedious and I want to get things done so I can go to the range and chrono tomorrow so if I can keep the number of rounds to reload down, that’ll work. And yes, just loading 3 of each. I figure 3 should be enough for me to get a basic idea if it will work or not and what sort of performance I’ll get, yet not cost me a ton in components (mostly bullets).
These are the first rifle rounds I’ve ever reloaded. I learned a few things:
- You need a lot less case lube than you think. I had no idea how much I really needed and apparently less than I thought. I dented the shoulders of my first few cases due to too much lube. Oh well, live and learn.
- I tried priming using the RCBS Rock Chucker Supreme press, but it just didn’t feel right — I couldn’t seat the primers down far enough. I used the hand-primer tool instead and was able to get things seated all the way down. Not sure exactly what the deal is, but it was a tight primer fit. Given the way rifle reloading’s process flows vs. handgun reloading, I’ll probably use the press for handgun priming and the hand-tool for rifle priming. Of course, my Hornady Lock-n-Load press is coming so I doubt I’ll do much more handgun on the single-stage press.
- Lee shell holders don’t fit the RCBS hand-primer tool.
- I’m glad I bought a powder trickler. I set up the powder drop to drop the min charge. Then I’d use the trickler to add the 0.5 increments. Should have some well-measured charges.
- TAC does meter very well, but because it just flows so nicely it bounces out of the brass scale pan and makes a mess. Meanwhile, the Varget and H4895 often cause the powder drop to not throw, but they don’t bounce around and makes such a mess. As well, it’s easier to clean up the Varget and H4895, whereas the TAC takes forever to clean out of the powder drop and the powder trickler.
Foo.c and I will head to the range in the morning. He’s going to let me use his chronograph to see how things perform. I’m going to take some other .223 ammo with me as well to get some “factory” readings for comparison.
Stay tuned.
Pulled the trigger
… so to speak.
Due to some wonderful gift cards I received for Christmas, I decided now was the time to get the Hornady Lock-n-Lock AP. This should allow me to churn out 9 mm and .38 Special reloads at a good pace. Right now I’m only going to focus on handgun reloads for such quantity. Eventually I’ll sink the money for rifle-based things (e.g. shell plates to hold .223, etc.).
The press and various supporting parts are all on order, thanx to foo.c checking my shopping list.
foo.c also recommended I check out powderfunnel.com’s Powder Through Expander die. Supposedly it’s universal and much easier to use.
Can’t wait!
Ugh
Of course after I order a can of Trail Boss I learn that you shouldn’t use Trail Boss with anything other than pure lead bullets (no jacketed, no plated). I can’t find the official statement from IMR/Hodgdon but it is implied in their Trail Boss description and some things I found online reinforce that Trail Boss should not be used with any sort of jacketed/plated bullet: all lead only.
I wanted it for .38 Special loads, but the only bullets I have right now are Berry’s plated. I guess I’ll have to pick up some cast semi wad cutters from The Bulletworks. I got to meet Jimmy Mitchell last year at a KR Training class. Great guy.
Stuff From Hsoi 