223 reduced loads

I've done a little research into reluced loads for the 223 Remington.

I came across two very different loads.... First follows the old stand by for reduced loads from Hodgdon using H4895. Take the Max load and divide by 60%...that will give you a starting load to work up from. Example: The load 21.7gr of H4895 with a 40 to 50 gr bullet is supposed to mimic the 22 Hornet.

On the other hand, reduced loads can be loaded with handgun powder. For example: 4gr of Unique under a 40gr Hornet bullet will be compareable to a 22 Magnum...but can be worked up to around 8gr.

I am going to load a test batch using both methods...I will start around 17gr of H4895 and work up to the 21.7 mark...and start with 4gr of Unique and work up to 7 or 8gr...but if I'm happy with loads around 6gr I will not go any farther...no sense in pushing it too far.

What Velocity are those rated for? What Velocity are you wanting?

Thanks

why do you even want them

why do you even want them.

Not sure how to take that....

Why do I want them? Because I do!

I am not allowed to shoot full load 223's at the silhouette targets...they get damaged. But if I can reduce the load to one that equals a 22 Hornet ...I can then use them on the Silhouette range.

I am looking at getting around 2000-2200fps and still be fairly accurate out of my single shot pistol.

not questioning your motives, just this is the first time that I have ever heard of someone want reduced loads for the 223. I just couldn't figure out a reason for them.

algunjunkie wrote:not questioning your motives, just this is the first time that I have ever heard of someone want reduced loads for the 223. I just couldn't figure out a reason for them.

Yeah, it does seem a little strange to want to reduce a load in an already small cartridge. If I can get a good load worked up for the pistol, I might try them in the bolt rifle...as long as the bullet has enough get up and go to exit the 26" barrel ,it could be a fun small critter round too.

I know I spend too much time outside the box...but inside the box is a little crowded and I like my space.

This sounds very intresting as a load such as this would also be quiter would I be right? Keep us posted. I like being a mad scientist also .

what would be real nice is if you could get a 223 loaded down to a subsonic velocity.... now that has potential....

literally kill small game and not disturb the squirrels in the next tree....

A reloadable sub sonic.... hmmm.. now I might really have to buy a 223...

I'm sure it can be done. you'll need a fast twist to stabilize a heavy bullet....and then go with a reduced charge with that combination....under 1200fps I think would be the goal fps for subsonics.

I was thinking a 40gr and light load... but then again I talked to my buddy that is an ar nut ans he said he has 30gr bullets he got from fiochhoi and he light loads them and get 800fps.... he says it is his cat killing round????? quite as a 22lr subsonic with a little more weight

I did a little work on these this weekend. I did some calculations on QL I was going to paste up here, But my junk puter at home wouldn't connect to the internet...

anyhow, so far I have 20 cartridges loaded. 5 at 5gr of Unique, 5 at 6gr of Unique, 5 at 6.5gr of Unique and 5 at 7gr of Unique. 7 grains of Unique will be just over 2000fps according to QL(using the Hornet 40gr bullets seated to a COL of 2.068).

I have not loaded any with h4895 yet. It looks like I'll have an incomplete powder burn while the bullet is in the barrel...so that equals more muzzle flash and prolly more carbon residue in the barrel and on the cases. Not very efficient, but I can easily get the outcome I want and I know it is a safe load.

I'll try to get the data sheets on here...

i did some with 30-06 i use a 55 grains 22 cal bullet in a sabot with 12 grains of unique and filled the rest up with poly fill it was about like a 22 mag or 17 hmr it was fairly accurate out to 50 yards but after that they started drifting never could get them to group at 100 yards but im gonna try again when i get another 30-06! good luck keep us updated!

hey dart where did you get those sabot for the 30-06???

kcatto wrote:hey dart where did you get those sabot for the 30-06??? I had about 500 but shot them all up and now I cannot find anymore......

Use the PM guys!

Anyhoo...since it is for a reduced load.....I'll let it slide. and I'll give ya a link for some sabots.

http://www.eabco.com/reload02.html

i got mine from here but there the same thing dont waste your time on the sabot seater there just a piece of plastic!! sorry hawcer!!

sorry hawcer was not trying to hijack your thread..... dart just reminded me that I was looking for sabots.....

thank you for the link.....

I moved dartfreaks sabot information to it's own topic for discussion as not to take away from the reduced .223 load data by Hawcer...

Thanks

read a couple articles on reduced, even subsonic loads for the 223 platform... majority of them ended up leaning on trailboss because everything else had hazards and problems associated with em, i've done quite the research on the topic for my own reasons. predator hunter magazine, for one, had a two month running article describing various issues including lodged bullets in bore... pressure spikes... lots of nasty stuff... the trailboss seems to be the best overall bet in my and others opinions, hope this helps.

there are a variety of other platforms and cartridges that will fit the bill and designed to do so safely, hornet, k-hornet, bee, 22lr, 22mag, and a HUGE assortment of wildcats and antiquated cartridges that any number of us would love to have for the cool factor alone...

but if i had to... i'd play with trailboss

Hello hawcer,
In your post of Dec 6, 2010 11:22 you have a table that has a column headed "Charge Grains". The weights are to the hundredth of a grain. Like the row that says "+00.0", the Charge Grains is 7.01. My electronic scale will not display to the hundredth of a grain. Does yours? Or do you round off the numbers and use 7.0?

Hello CMAsailor,
You had a post Sat Dec 11, 2010 7:22 pm. Could you tell us more about the issues you mentioned? In particular do you have information about detonation? I used to see warnings about some powders, like Winchester 296, where if you use too little powder it blows up your gun. That always seemed a mystery to me. Do you have information on that?

EdgarEg wrote:Hello hawcer,
In your post of Dec 6, 2010 11:22 you have a table that has a column headed "Charge Grains". The weights are to the hundredth of a grain. Like the row that says "+00.0", the Charge Grains is 7.01. My electronic scale will not display to the hundredth of a grain. Does yours? Or do you round off the numbers and use 7.0?

yes...just round up or down. For some reason QL set the charges to the hundredths in the table.

EdgarEg wrote:Hello CMAsailor,
You had a post Sat Dec 11, 2010 7:22 pm. Could you tell us more about the issues you mentioned? In particular do you have information about detonation? I used to see warnings about some powders, like Winchester 296, where if you use too little powder it blows up your gun. That always seemed a mystery to me. Do you have information on that?

Detonation is an interesting phenomenon... I can try to explain it... but that might be stealing a thread, I'll start a new one with other links too

https://atgreloading.forumotion.com/t339-asked-about-detonation-folks#3295