by Member-Deleted » 27 Jul 2018, 2:26 pm
After trawling through the many threads in this great forum, I thought it was about time I gave this reloading caper a try. My dear old dad (83 years young) is going to show me how it's done tomorrow. I've accumulated more than 500 once fired ADI cases in .223 - and and another 120 of mixed Winchester, Fiocchi, PPU, RWS and Remington. I'll just start with the ADI cases.
I'm loading for a 24" varmint barrel 1:9. Powder is AR 2206H, CCI small rifle primers, Sierra 55grain GameKings, Lee dies and press. I've got some 'recipes' from other forum members.
Planning to start conservative (23.5gr) and work up batches of 5 rounds in .3 or .4 of a grain increments, to a max of say 25.5grs. Then I'll test on Sunday. I'm looking for an accurate round that will group well out to 200 yards, which is my self-imposed max range for hunting purposes at the moment. The Buffalo River stuff uses the GameKings and I'm getting .75MOA at 200 off a sandbag on the bench so if I can match that or better it I'll be happy. (I'm reloading for economy, for the pleasure of making my own, and to spend time with my dad).
I got supplies today from my LGS and the guy there got me thinking I might be going down a dry gully by starting too low - he said he starts .5 grain under max and works up to .5 grain over max. He had to be 70+ and hasn't blown himself up yet so is he right? The ADI tables I have don't list the Sierras but the Speer 55gr soft points are very similar.