ar15

[jss227]

I have a few thousand once fired .223 brass taking up space. I had never planned on reloading for my ar's, as ammo is fairly cheap, and I don't shoot them often. But, I have all this brass, I have lead, primers and some powder, and a lot of free time. Plus two boys who would be happy to shoot it all up. So, anybody have any luck with cast in an ar? I would use the Lee 55 grain mold.

[Grayone]

I have a few thousand once fired .223 brass taking up space. I had never planned on reloading for my ar's, as ammo is fairly cheap, and I don't shoot them often. But, I have all this brass, I have lead, primers and some powder, and a lot of free time. Plus two boys who would be happy to shoot it all up. So, anybody have any luck with cast in an ar? I would use the Lee 55 grain mold.

19 grains of h-335 in my ar15 carbine will cycle and shoots acceptably for me. This is with the lee 55 grain mold. As usual start low and see if it works with your ar.

[Winger Ed.]

As Lead dries up more and more each year, the future of casting will be with Zinc.

Some folks are already switching over to it, and Professor youtube has a few videos of it being done.
It takes more heat, and needs to be done in Iron molds, and a boolit weighs about 60%
of what a Lead ones does from the same mold. But the up side is that you can push them up to jacketed speeds.

[jss227]

I actually cast with zinc now, and not just boolits. I do a lot of sand casting. I also have no problem using aluminum bullet molds.

[jss227]

I have Green Dot and 1680, both covered in Lyman cast books. Lyman testing is with 1/12 24" barrels, where mine are 1/8 16" and 20" barrels.

[Winger Ed.]

I actually cast with zinc now, and not just boolits. I do a lot of sand casting. I also have no problem using aluminum bullet molds.

Interesting.

I don't, and probably won't get into casting with Zinc, but I read up on it here & there.
Some have said the temps. to get Zinc to flow are getting pretty close to what will make Alum. get soft.
If you're not controlling the heat very well, it makes sense that you could damage or ruin a Alum. mold.

[Doughty]

I had some luck when I was using lubed bullets. Once I switched to powder coated bullets I easily found several loads, with several powders, with both checked and unchecked bullets that would function the action and give 2-3 inch groups in my S&W M&P. It seemed like loads in the 2200 to 2300 fps range worked well.

[jss227]

I powder coat with a gun. I make steel trays that hold 50 and drill holes so that just the nose fits. That way the bases get good coverage.

[cricco]

I cast with my MP mould (.224) 55 grains. I also lube and gas check. I push them to about 2200 fps with very good accuracy.

[poppy42]

Lyman has a very good manual for Reloading the A.R. 15 platform. It covers multiple calibers including 55 graders and has listings for Cast Boolets I’ve had good success with the data. Oh and it’s only about 20 bucks. They make a volume one and volume twoOr first and second edition however you wanna refer to it

[jss227]

Thanks you.
This place costs me money.

[Rockindaddy]

Wait till the idiots in left wing Washington start giving $$$$ to all the municipalities around the country to remove their lead water pipes. They are not concerned about the open border and all the indigents pouring into our country but are greatly concerned about lead water pipes. When the tons of lead pipes are removed there will be plenty of lead and tin available.

[elmacgyver0]

Wait till the idiots in left wing Washington start giving $$$$ to all the municipalities around the country to remove their lead water pipes. They are not concerned about the open border and all the indigents pouring into our country but are greatly concerned about lead water pipes. When the tons of lead pipes are removed there will be plenty of lead and tin available.

I wouldn't bet on it; they will make sure it doesn't get into reloaders hands even if they have to put it on rockets and blast it into space.

[kerplode]

Wait till the idiots in left wing Washington start giving $$$$ to all the municipalities around the country to remove their lead water pipes. They are not concerned about the open border and all the indigents pouring into our country but are greatly concerned about lead water pipes. When the tons of lead pipes are removed there will be plenty of lead and tin available.

Open borders = Expanded voter base

Scrap lead pipes = Heavily regulated and controlled Hazardous materials

[kerplode]

Zinc bullets are definitely an interesting topic, however...I'm gonna have to study up.

[Thumbcocker]

Outpost75 did a post with detailed information on loading boolits in an ar and getting reliable functioning. Worth searching for.

[WILCO]

Outpost75 did a post with detailed information on loading boolits in an ar and getting reliable functioning. Worth searching for.

https://castboolits.gunloads.com/sho...llets-in-AR-15

This Fouling Shot article cross-posted here by permission:


Cast in an AR? You Betcha! – By Ed Harris

If you reload for an AR platform, you know that ordinary 55-grain FMJ component bullets cost 10+ cents each when you buy in bulk, 1000-up quantities. Rifle powder costs upwards of $25 a pound if you still can find something suitable in this time of shortages. One pound of powder loads about 270 rounds of 5.56, so you are looking at about 10.9 cents per round just for powder. Buying 8 pound caddies can save you a little bit if you can find anybody who has them. Good luck with that.

Primers cost about $35+ per thousand, again, if you can find them.... So you are approaching 25 cents per pop in component costs alone to reload your "free" range pickup brass. That doesn't consider amortization of dies or equipment or put a value on your time to load the stuff. But it is lots better than $1+ per pop for factory stuff when you cannot find any...

An option is cast bullets! In a 5.56mm? Are you nuts?

Well, my neighbor is an avid reader of our CBA forum. He has learned “what works” by reading the gleanings from postings of other experienced shooters, which greatly shortened his learning curve. He has been shooting cast in his Colt LE-M4 clone for several years now. His has a 16" barrel with military 5.56 chamber. The military 5.56 chamber is larger in the neck and throat diameters than the .223 Remington. His M4 gas port is only 8" from the bolt face. QuickLoad, the interior ballistic computer program estimates his port pressure at ~ 12000 PSI. which is as low as you can go with (about 15 grains) of RL7 and still work the action reliably.

After 2,000+ rounds of cast practice loads accuracy equals or is better than the cheap Russian Tula FMJ ball ammo, the gas system shows no problems at all and the gun runs as clean with his cast reloads as with imported Tula ammo. The best use of cast loads is to preserve your expensive factory stuff for serious work...and to use your reloads for practice and casual shooting to save your Zombie Hoard!

He follows the advice of others, casting hard bullets, blending linotype from Roto Metals and wheel weights or backstop scrap 50-50, running his mold hot enough so that bullets drop uniformly frosted, then quenching uniformly frosted bullets in water direct from the mold. Gas checks are crimped on in a .225” sizing die so that the driving bands of the bullet are not sized at all. Bullets are seated as far out as they can be and still chamber freely, load into and feed reliably from the magazine.

His barrel twist is 1 in 9". Until recently he hadn’t tried any other powder than RL 7, because he keeps that around to load in his 7.62x39, which he also load casts for. Velocity is 2120 fps using 15 grs. of RL7 and the RCBS 225-55 gr. bullet.

This load performs well considering the generous military chamber dimensions. The major problem with shooting cast lead in AR's is their fast twist barrels in current rifles and their sloppy military chambers. Most folks who give up on cast in their ARs do so because they don't understand that the bullet surface which engraves ~ .002" deep simply does not have adequate shear strength to spin the bullet up in such a short distance without slipping the lands and damaging the bullet's integrity. Slow the load down to the minimum which cycles the action reliably, about 2100-2200 fps for most rifles, and they will shoot even better than steel cased Russian ball!

Computer modeling of slower powders such as Varget through QuickLoad, bullets lighter than about 68-70 grains, don't develop adequate port pressure at suitable velocities normally useable with cast bullets. Harder, quenched bullets can be driven 2400 fps without leading, but accuracy at this velocity is best in older 12-inch twist barrels, which limits you to flat based bullets no heavier than about 65 grains. In the 9" and faster twists stay below 2200 fps.

The computer-generated curves predicting pressure vs. bullet travel show that RL7 has the best characteristics to reliably function and efficiency is almost 100% with the powder being fully burned in a 16 inch barrel. A standard 20" length AR barrel is harder to make "work" as its gas port is further down the barrel than it is on the M4.

We did some accuracy testing in his M4 with his “standard load" of 15 grs. of RL 7 and the 55 gr. RCBS bullet, for which the double cavity molds are commonly available, and putting a scope on the rifle. Five-shot groups off sandbags at 100 yards averaged well under two inches in aggregate and were more accurate than the junky Tula FMJs.

Another LE visiting Peacemaker Training Center from DC brought his agency-issue Colt Military/law enforcement model with 7-inch twist barrel. We were pleasantly surprised to see it shoot a one hole 10-shot group of 3/4 inch at 25 yards. The load of 15 grains RL7 would occasionally would short recoil, ejecting the spent casing but without feeding another round. Additional experiments a 60-grain Saeco mold and 18 grains of H322 or IMR 3031 clocked 2100+ fps and cycled with no signs of leading. Bullets were lubricated with Lee 50/50 Alox-beeswax.

Adequate bullet diameter, not less than .225" is critical to accuracy. Load the largest bullet diameter that will chamber /function. Bullets must be of adequate hardness, not less than commercial 92-6-2 “hardball” alloy or 50-50 linotype and wheel weights, especially above 2200 fps. Heavier loads of slower powders such as Varget or 4895 may be needed to boost port pressure in full-length 20-inch ARs.

To load cast bullets without damage you must inside chamfer case mouths with a shallow-angle Lyman "VLD" deburring tool, and slightly bell the case mouths with a Lyman "M" die - so that the bullet can be hand started into the case mouth up to the top of its gas check and seated smoothly into the neck without risk of shaving lead. Then, during the seating operation apply a light taper crimp to remove all mouth flare, but not a heavy crimp which could deform the bullet.

Also drop-check all rounds 100% in a maximum length cartridge gage to ensure that they will chamber and extract freely. The same as required for any cast bullet load to be used in any semi-auto, AK, Garand, M1 carbine, M1911A1, etc.

The NOE http://noebulletmolds.com/NV/product...hiriq00hb97786 design is a good choice for either 10" twist, or faster twist barrels, with appropriate loads.

There are heavier custom molds available up to 75 grains, optimized for the 5.56mm military chamber, but I have no personal experience with them. Users on other forums report reliable functioning with 18 grains of IMR4895 or Varget for about 2000 fps with the MiHec 75-grain NATO bullet https://www.mp-molds.com/e-shop/sear...tribute_ids=22


The ENEMY is listening.
HE wants to know what YOU know.
Keep it to yourself.

[parkerhale1200]

223 does not cost much?!?!? send me a box or ten....
My man just start casting 223, i dont even want full jackets anymore.
My molds aere from RCBS 55grain, with own made alu gas check with a 15.9 grain of d060
100 meters 6cm to 7.5 cm group dia(2 to 3 inch???), yes i am not a good shooter with my dpms ar 15.(dont really like the gun)
With revolver i wipe your a**, even at 100meters....even at 300 with a 38spl groups of 20cm-25cm.

With best regards Igor