FINALLY.....225462 HV load in .223

[JeffinNZ]

Team.

After MANY loads downrange I have finally achieved my goal of getting my Lyman 225462 bullets to shoot into 3/4 inch at 50m/55y at 2600fps +.

Load is:

225462, alloy, clip on WW + 2% babbit, oven heat treated to 31 BHN.
23gr W748 over a Winchester small rifle primer
Case neck expanded to .2255
Velocity is 2600fps on the button.

I am sizing the bullet in two steps in order to seat it only to the base of the neck of the case - my Rem 700 throat is too tight for the full length bullet at .226. The first driving band is sized .224 pushing the bullet upside down into the die. The remainder of the bullet and gas check are sized .226 as my .225 die sizes .226................go figure. The bonus of this operation is when sizing the .224 section a flat point is created on the RN bullet for better stopping power. I sized the .224 section PRIOR to heat treating of course.

Seated out to engage the rifling on chambering.

The same bullet, sized the same way over 6gr of Green Dot shoots at 1700fps and into 3/4 inch also.

Trust me, it was a labour of love to get this far.

Now to see if the round nose bullet with a small flat will down hares at 2600fps.

[Buckshot]

.............Jeff, that's good work. Now to go to 100 meters to see what THAT does :-) I think about the fastest I've gone with my 223 from a 26" bull brrl'd Savage (12" twist) has been something like 2400 fps.

That load of yours should sure whack the gollyknockers out of ground squirrels!

.................Buckshot

[felix]

You are doing an excellent job! It is amazing what you can learn dealing with these small boolits, and most especially in the alloy arena because they don't require much effort to automatically harden. The mass of boolit is small compared to the ambient conditions, and so the rate of change of being from hot to cold is quite fast during the cooling process, either by air dropping or water dropping. High antimony without supporting copper and/or tin means hand-grenade results at the target, and this is desired for open range shooting. The slightest object will allow the boolit to become a puff of smoke within a reasonable range. Add tin, if you are using a lead babbit, to make the boolit mushroom instead. One way to tell how tough the boolit is, is to oven treat with a tight fitting gascheck, and then water drop. If the boolit cracks upon hitting the water, then you know you have an explosive boolit. Do this checkout with only a hand full of boolits so the entire lot will not be destroyed in the process. ... felix

[Bass Ackward]

After MANY loads downrange I have finally achieved my goal of getting my Lyman 225462 bullets to shoot into 3/4 inch at 50m/55y at 2600fps +.

The same bullet, sized the same way over 6gr of Green Dot shoots at 1700fps and into 3/4 inch also.

Trust me, it was a labour of love to get this far.


Jeff,

It's good that you tested that bullet at lower velocity. This let's you know what to expect for accuracy. Kinda goes to show a discussion that JoeB wanted to have that you can find just as good a accuracy outside of "the zone" if you are willing to look for it.

You may be peaked out, but I don't think so. I suspect that as your WD bullets age and soften, you are going to go out one day and not believe your eyes. Then if you repeat your load development process, you just might not only come down some, but eliminate some fliers along the way. With 22s, my best accuracy in my barrel with my lube under my load conditions seems to be about 20 BHN.

My best with that bullet was 24.7 grains of RL15 with a WSP primer sized .225 seated into the lannds. That was sub MOA at 2850 fps which is only 35,000 psi.