30 minute Cast .223 gallery load development

[Wolfdog91]

So I had just finished loading up a box of 45gr hornets for my little .233 H&R ultra varmint. Well I kinda wasn't in the mood to stop and I happen to notice this bottle of sized and sorted powered coated cast .225 bullets I had. So said screw it and decided tho have a lil fun give my self 30min and see if I could make a low velocity gallery load that half way accurate and possibly could use for blasting small game or varmints out to 50 or so if I ran out of .22lr (again lol).
So the bullets are lee 55gr rf cast out of 100% clip on wheel weights , double quenched , sized to .225 , powder coated, gas checked and weight sorted in .5gr increments for these ( I usually do them to .1 gr) but yeah their running around 20-21 bhn and that with the gas check and power coating their super tough. Driven them up to 2500 gps in my AR and never had leading... They don't shoot for crap but hay was a fun experience


Just grabbed some some sorted clean range brass I had and a quick resizing , bumped the shoulder back to what my chamber seems to like trim yadda yadda and primed and charged them with 12 GR if accurate 2015. I'd played around with it before and was able to put 3rd in a .6" hole @50yd with them goin 2250fps so I just SWAG'ed it and dropped down to 12gr hoping it would get me into the 1600fos and down range.
Well that small of a charge didnt do much as far as filling the case

So used a .2gr chunk of Dacron as a filler to keep the power semi in place . Not to be confused with using it to compress the power like with black power. You just put it in a little past the shoulder with forceps and kinda fluff it so it just take up air space and keeps the power more confined.



Then gave the cases a little flare with my lee tool and loaded these lol pills to the CBTO I came up with for the rifle . This should be right off the lands. Like maybe 2 thousands of jump if that.. don't ask me what the coal is because I have no clue, generally dont use it since like 70% of my loads oar off the books past some powder data....if is use it lol , will this result in me blowing my face off eventually?..... Possibly, will it be fun until then ? DEFINITELY had found out all stuff about the jam point and my jump distance in prior test for this rifle so you could say I cheated a little bit hay if you ain't cheating ya ain't trying



And there we go a set of lip stick loads as my dad like to call them lol. Btw anyone know where i a guy could get some glitter power coat that could work on bullets ? I kinda like messing with people with the pink ones so glitter seems to be the logical next step lol

And out the front door shooting into the little berm I use for my .22lr when I'm plinking in the yard


So let me tell you two things 1. These H&R's are absolute drama to shoot when you replace the factory triggers/hammers with a old school rebounding one from a 155 topper. 1.5lbs vs 6lbs makes a world of difference. And 2. Shooting a target @ 30yd with a scope that's a fixed 100yd parallax is ... Irritating to say the least but still! Managed to get this !

I mean I really feel like I could have shot those better but was rushing lol but hay under 1" ! I mean is it amazing ? No, but it's definitely enough to pop a rabbit in the dome or boiler room a coon anyway was pleased for how fast I did t it and I think k I'm going to give this some more work . I will say though it's quiter then a full load. Not .22lr level. I'd say about like most .17hmrs I've shot. Aslo didn't Chronograph it but hoping I'm at last 1600fps or lower . Anyhow just a fun little ting I tried I figured I'd share.


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[Rickf1985]

Nice, But I want to see the 100 yard results!

[Wolfdog91]

So just out of curiosity ran another 6 rounds.I dropped down my powder charge some more just so see what would happen . Went down to 9 grains this time and I'm getting right over 1/2" @30yd pushing this right at 1300fos according to my Chronograph. Getting unburnt powder though so think I'll leave Accurate 2015 here. Might bump up to 10.5 later just to see if that's a happy medium though. Also much quieter then the last load but still snappy enough I word ear pro

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[Wolfdog91]

Nice, But I want to see the 100 yard results!

That would have to be a different load I have. This one is strictly for 50yd and in as a gallery plinker or small game deal

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[Electrod47]

Thanks Wolfdog, I got the same H&R .223 22" Bull Barrel. Sent it to a smith in Texas and had it Chopped and Crowned to 16 1/2". I had it topped originally w/Konus 6X18 Power Scope. The gun was no fun to lug around and needed a steady bench to shoot off of. After I got it bobbed I put a compact Leupold 1.5X6 and man is that rig now "Handi". My pet load of 55gr Sierra B-Tip went from 3,100 fps to 2.860fps, But, I can live with that. Accuracy did not degrade either. I have some 45 and 55 grain boolits provided by one of our friends here. Reading your article has got me jazzed up to use them. Been so dang HOT!!. Thanks Buddy.

[Bad Ass Wallace]

My Browning has a 1:12" twist and shoots 55gn PC'd &GC'd cast bullets very well



The hundred yard grouping is only 1 1/2 inches but it would be effective on varmints.

[Land Owner]

Clearly, I have some bench work to do, but saw some promising results with a lubed, sized, gas checked, and small powder charge under a 22 Bator through a 1:9 bull barrel Handi-rifle (below). I have tried the RCBS 22-55-SP, PC'd, at close to 200K-rpms, which rotationally disintegrated the boolits shortly after leaving the barrel.

Good luck to you:

One-inch diameter bullseye (1" squares)



Two-inch diameter bullseye (1/2" squares)

[tward]

Looks like fun loads guys! Like the lipstick boolits and your range setup is great! Tim

[jaysouth]

My most convenient range only goes out 100 yards. I got to thinking, why use full power loads for a mere 100 yards. Experimenting with my Ruger American Ranch Rifles in .223 and 7.62x39, I settled on a standard load of 14 grs. of 2400 with a 62 gr. bullet in .223 and 150 gr bullet in 7.62. Both are sub MOA at 100 yards and will extend the barrel life of each gun by many many thousand rounds. With cast plain based 150 grs powder coated bullets in the 7.62, I use 8 grs Unique for the kids to shoot. Keep up the good work.

[doghawg]

Interesting post Wolfdog. I've been doing basically the same thing with my .223 Henry single shot. I had a bunch of jacketed odds and ends bullets accumulated over the years, some left overs from prairie dog trips, some from an old shooting buddy that had to hang it up. Some of this stash has to be 40+ years old. Currently loading 50 gr. Hornady and Sierra's over 9.3 gr. of BlueDot for about 2140 fps and good SD on chrono. The 9.3 load just happens to be what the RCBS #14 rotor throws and is not the result of any load developement. Surprisingly small clusters on our 200 yard gong with about a foot of holdover. Next up will be starting with some tarnished old 55 grainers and then....maybe I'll take the plunge and get a .225" mold.

[Maven]

Nice write-up, photos, and results Wolfdog!

[Wolfdog91]

So played around a little more today. Bumped up for 9.5 grains and used a AO scope. Still having un burnt power but since I don't really have anything else I'm comfortable with I'll just keep messing with accurate 2015. Dirty dirty little load though lol . Any loaded up 11 rounds. Shot one in the pasture just to test the sound and found it actually pretty decent. Little louder then a .22lr pistol but manageable. The other went to sighting in the new scope. Think I put 7 on the target group total . Averaged around 1200fps and would have had a really nice group if I hadn't pulled #5

Again this isn't a 100yd load have no desire for it to be one ,that's a different deal I'm working on. But this shows alot of promise for what I want.
Now with that don't was curious to do a penetration test and see if I could capture a boolits. Wellll let's just say the alloy and treatment I did really really goes well in the penetration department. Even at only 1200fps st 50yd that little 55gr Lee punched dead though two one gallon water jugs. Though I will say it seems it really dumped a good bit of energy in the first.

If I can't get it to consistently print 1/2" @ 30-50 yd I'll definitely have a use for this on hogs

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[gwpercle]

That's Freaking Awesome !!!

Gary

[farmerjim]

Try one of the pistol powders in your 223 loadings. You can get the same speed without the unburned powder. You can even go subsonic if you want with bullseye or 700X.

[brstevns]

Wolfdog91 Enjoyed your write up and photos. Should make a great squirrel load.
I use Unique and Bullseye , 5 gr of either in my 223 Rem Martini. Getting the same groups as you are. I have been using the Lee bullet powder coated as well.