.223 reloading help needed

[silverback13]

I have a friend that got some reloads from his brother in-law. he told me that the rounds wouldn't fit in his ar mags. he is able to load one at a time. I figured it was just the seating depth. so he gave me 3 rounds to check out.

sure enough they were set a 2.28 and it does not look like the case mouth have been crimped as they are not smooth around the bullet. they popped out with only a couple of good whacks with the intertia puller.


It is my understanding that the rounds should be at 2.250 or shorter to fit in the ar mags.

I pulled all three and the bullets are fmj boat tail that weigh 72.
the cases are federal.
the powder I was told was varget and the was 23 with one at 26.


Can he just have someone reseat the bullets to proper depth?

Or should I tell him he should buy an inertia puller?

[GabbyM]

well I've a few 223 rifles. None of the rounds I load for my bolt gun will fit into an M-16 magazine.
My advice would be to just shoot them single shot and stop trying to fix a problem that doesn't exist.
However if the cases are not crimped into the bullet. You could seat them deeper just by running them through a seat die set to magazine length. If they are crimped they are done.

5.56mm NATO chambers have a longer free bore than a 223 Rem SAMI chamber. However rounds loaded out to touch rifling in a 223 SAMI chamber will not usually fit into an M-16 magazine. But they'll shoot fine and still have a jump to lands.

[BD]

My "go to" load for my AR is the 77 grain SMK over 24.5 grains of Varget seated to 2.250 and I have to use a drop tube to settle the powder in there so I can seat the bullet. That 26 grain load is gonna be pretty hot if you seat them shorter.
BD

[Junior1942]

I think you should tell him not to shoot his bro-in-law's reloads.

[Larry Gibson]

the powder I was told was varget and the was 23 with one at 26.

Not being sure and with that powder charge weight variance I also suggest pulling the bullets and starting over. Also your friends AR will need a 7 - 9" twist to stabilize those 72 gr bullets, maybe 7-8" twist.

Larry Gibson

[9w1911]

it amazes me the stuff people try to pass off as reloads . not to be overly critical but you might want
the case mouth and neck to all be round?
I absolutely would pull all and secondly if this guy is giving your family rounds find out why his powder weights are off

[WineMan]

Shooting an AR service rifle, the usual 600 yard load is a long seated 80 grain Sierra MK, a 75 or 80 grain Hornaday AMax or a Berger VLD 75, 80.5 or 82 grain. These are seated long and single loaded. Because of the extra space in the case, powder charges can be higher than a mag length seated 75 or 77 grain HPBT. Seating the reloads deeper is asking for trouble, using reloads from a unknown source is asking for even more trouble. Larry is right on the twist, 1:9 is fine on a 72 grain but a 1:8, or 1:7 will be needed for anything heavier.

Stay safe.

Dave