detroitcharlie
09-27-2015, 06:01 PM
This is a follow-up to my post in the Boolit Lube ! room, Thread: .223 with BLL & Ben's Red (http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?288013-223-with-BLL-amp-Ben-s-Red)
I thought I'd share this in 'Casting' since I know the question of shooting cast .223 comes up quite often.
Like many other .223 shooters, I wanted to know if I could really shoot cast LRN .223 without fouling up the gas system, carrier bolt and mirroring the barrel. I read some great threads in the forums that gave me the confidence to give it a try. I will say this though, the amount of time it takes to cast .223's, size, gas check, tumble lube, pan lube and load is pure drudgery. And, at the end of the day, you can probably buy bulk FMJ's from Hornady for the near-same cost. But, what the heck- I figured I might as well try so I know I can do it.
First off, I am using a stock S&W M&P15 Sport with a 16" barrel. No mods to the hardware. No special gas blocks, buffers, carrier bolts, springs, etc.
149871
I cast the RCBS 22-55-SP (82007) with 50% double fluxed range lead and 50% Super Hard Alloy Ingot (30%-Antimony, 70%-Lead) from Rotometals. http://www.rotometals.com/product-p/superhardalloy.htm . I'm assuming there was some tin content from the range lead, probably less than 5%. My reasoning isn't very scientific other than I didn't want to spend a fortune casting pure linotype boolits and felt there would be more than enough hardness to keep a gas checked round from incinerating. I water quenched the boolits as well. My hardness tester is broken so I could not test BHN, but they are pretty damn hard.
I sized and gas checked the boolits with Hornaday .22 gas checks. http://www.hornady.com/store/22-Cal-Gas-Checks . They seated and crimped onto the RCBS 22-55-SP's nicely.
I then tumble lubed the boolits in BLL (Ben's liquid lube), twice. I left 24 hrs in between lubing. I then pan lubed them in BR (Ben's Red) adjusted slightly for better flow (reduced the beeswax by about 20-25% and added a tad more STP oil treatment, see http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?288013-223-with-BLL-amp-Ben-s-Red for more about this.
149873
I reloaded the the boolits in some REM .223 brass from the range using CCI #450 primers and Hodgdon's CFE 223 COPPER FOULING ERASER (CFE™). I got a bunch of it on sale and wanted to try it out on my FMJ's but figured I might as well use it up in this test. I won't publish the load data here, but I used the 'starting' load for my test. The starting load calculates approximately 3000+ FPS with approximately 44,000+ PSI. I did NOT exceed the starting load. The Hodgdon's load data can be found here. http://www.hodgdonreloading.com/data/rifle .
149874
I shot 100 rounds over the course of an hour. I spaced out my shooting to about 1 round per second and a half. No rapid fire. No problems with feeding, not a single jam and no primer failures. Groupings within an inch to two inches at 50 yards, great accuracy. The last 20 rounds I fired in groups of five (rapid fire) with a very hot barrel to see if I could encourage 'leading.' Performance was great, I couldn't tell the difference between shooting a 55 grn FMJ and the cast 55 grn LRN.
I started with a clean rifle. I broke down the gun and checked the gas ports, carrier bolt, barrel, etc. No evidence of 'leading' or mirroring of the barrel. Normal carbon buildup around the carrier bolt, but that's it. I gave the rifle a good clean with a lead solvent and re-oiled for next weekend. All-in-all, I have to say- if you have the time and patience to cast your own .223's or have some reason to do so, it 'can' be done. Everyone's rifle is different, but my stock S&W Sport is pretty 'default' for your average AR15, so I don't see why other's wouldn't have similar success. I think one of the biggest factors in keeping the 'leading' away was the double dip of BLL and the addition of Ben's Red paired together with a gas checked boolit and kept at starting loads. I wouldn't want to push it any farther, just glad I got to where I did without a catastrophe ;)
149875149878149879149880149877
I thought I'd share this in 'Casting' since I know the question of shooting cast .223 comes up quite often.
Like many other .223 shooters, I wanted to know if I could really shoot cast LRN .223 without fouling up the gas system, carrier bolt and mirroring the barrel. I read some great threads in the forums that gave me the confidence to give it a try. I will say this though, the amount of time it takes to cast .223's, size, gas check, tumble lube, pan lube and load is pure drudgery. And, at the end of the day, you can probably buy bulk FMJ's from Hornady for the near-same cost. But, what the heck- I figured I might as well try so I know I can do it.
First off, I am using a stock S&W M&P15 Sport with a 16" barrel. No mods to the hardware. No special gas blocks, buffers, carrier bolts, springs, etc.
149871
I cast the RCBS 22-55-SP (82007) with 50% double fluxed range lead and 50% Super Hard Alloy Ingot (30%-Antimony, 70%-Lead) from Rotometals. http://www.rotometals.com/product-p/superhardalloy.htm . I'm assuming there was some tin content from the range lead, probably less than 5%. My reasoning isn't very scientific other than I didn't want to spend a fortune casting pure linotype boolits and felt there would be more than enough hardness to keep a gas checked round from incinerating. I water quenched the boolits as well. My hardness tester is broken so I could not test BHN, but they are pretty damn hard.
I sized and gas checked the boolits with Hornaday .22 gas checks. http://www.hornady.com/store/22-Cal-Gas-Checks . They seated and crimped onto the RCBS 22-55-SP's nicely.
I then tumble lubed the boolits in BLL (Ben's liquid lube), twice. I left 24 hrs in between lubing. I then pan lubed them in BR (Ben's Red) adjusted slightly for better flow (reduced the beeswax by about 20-25% and added a tad more STP oil treatment, see http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?288013-223-with-BLL-amp-Ben-s-Red for more about this.
149873
I reloaded the the boolits in some REM .223 brass from the range using CCI #450 primers and Hodgdon's CFE 223 COPPER FOULING ERASER (CFE™). I got a bunch of it on sale and wanted to try it out on my FMJ's but figured I might as well use it up in this test. I won't publish the load data here, but I used the 'starting' load for my test. The starting load calculates approximately 3000+ FPS with approximately 44,000+ PSI. I did NOT exceed the starting load. The Hodgdon's load data can be found here. http://www.hodgdonreloading.com/data/rifle .
149874
I shot 100 rounds over the course of an hour. I spaced out my shooting to about 1 round per second and a half. No rapid fire. No problems with feeding, not a single jam and no primer failures. Groupings within an inch to two inches at 50 yards, great accuracy. The last 20 rounds I fired in groups of five (rapid fire) with a very hot barrel to see if I could encourage 'leading.' Performance was great, I couldn't tell the difference between shooting a 55 grn FMJ and the cast 55 grn LRN.
I started with a clean rifle. I broke down the gun and checked the gas ports, carrier bolt, barrel, etc. No evidence of 'leading' or mirroring of the barrel. Normal carbon buildup around the carrier bolt, but that's it. I gave the rifle a good clean with a lead solvent and re-oiled for next weekend. All-in-all, I have to say- if you have the time and patience to cast your own .223's or have some reason to do so, it 'can' be done. Everyone's rifle is different, but my stock S&W Sport is pretty 'default' for your average AR15, so I don't see why other's wouldn't have similar success. I think one of the biggest factors in keeping the 'leading' away was the double dip of BLL and the addition of Ben's Red paired together with a gas checked boolit and kept at starting loads. I wouldn't want to push it any farther, just glad I got to where I did without a catastrophe ;)
149875149878149879149880149877