Couple of reloading ?

Westie1

Westie1

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A little background first. Been reloading for about 40 years, and the 223 for the T/C Contender for about 20. So, I know what I'm doing. Also, I unfortunately live out here in the "DPRCa." Which means, all of us out here will soon have to present ID and give a thumb print to buy ammo. Before it's suggested, no I can't buy ammo mail order. Local laws ban mail order ammo purchase. With that out of the way, now to the questions.

First, where do you reloaders buy your bullets? Want to have a real good stock pile.
Second, what's your favorite powder? Got IMR 4895, H335, Accurate 2015,2230,2460 and 2520. More curious than anything else about what others are using.
 
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Hello Westie1.
Bullets? Really whoever on the interwebs has the best price/shipping ratio at the time I'm looking. Natchez, Mid South plus many others. That's riflewise.

For handguns I cast most of my own but I will buy Berrys plated or Missouri bullets if time is tight and I'm low.

Rifle powders 335 for .223. IMR 4895, 4064, 4350 are staples although I did purchase 8208 and CFE just no time to load up.

Handguns I'm old fashioned-Bullseye, Unique and 2400.

Some things I pick up locally or if they're out Cabelas is @ 25 miles south of me.
 
Mainly,was wondering for the m&p15. Back in the day, had a local shop that was just reloading stuff, but my stash is running low. On the handgun side, mostly I load for the contender. However, I do load 357 and 45 auto. In both my 45's love Hodgdon Clays with 230 or 250gr lazer cast. Soft loads, only needing 11lb recoil spring.
Just recently purchased some 62gr hpbt's from MidSouth, and loaded with a decent charge of IMR4895. Haven't had the chance to shoot the loads yet.
 
Haven't seen any of the petitions yet, but will sign as soon as I do. The two shops I've been into lately don't have them. Have both an indoor and outdoor range within 15min of the house, so going to check there.
 
Check it American reloading, they have some great deals on bulk (1000+) buys of 223 bullets, especially if you don't mind the pulled ones.

American Reloading
 
I've bought more bullets from Rocky Mountain Reloading than anywhere else. The nice thing about their website is that every price you see is with shipping included - no surprises when you go to check out.

Powder is very caliber specific and the only caliber you mention is .223 so I would suggest adding Varget to your list.
 
Westie1 said:
Mainly,was wondering for the m&p15. Back in the day, had a local shop that was just reloading stuff, but my stash is running low. On the handgun side, mostly I load for the contender. However, I do load 357 and 45 auto. In both my 45's love Hodgdon Clays with 230 or 250gr lazer cast. Soft loads, only needing 11lb recoil spring.
Just recently purchased some 62gr hpbt's from MidSouth, and loaded with a decent charge of IMR4895. Haven't had the chance to shoot the loads yet.
Click to expand...

If you bought the Hornady 62gr HPBT from Midsouth those are excellent! I've bought 3,500 from them but noticed the other day they only showed the smaller quantities now. I've also bought a bunch of the Varmint Nightmare 55gr stuff sold under Midsouth's label and those are good too. I'm still fairly new to reloading but the CFE223 has worked well as far as powder goes.
 
Varget and Reloder 15 are popular for loading heavier bullets in the .223. Your IMR4895 might be good too. H335 is a good pick. BLC-2 is pretty good. There are a lot of choices, but if you know that you must pick a combo for the gun you want to shoot, especially if you are doing much long range shooting.
 
I have been experimenting extensively with different loads for my M & P 15 this year. All of the powders I have tried( about 8) have been satisfactory but the two which have delivered the best accuracy for me were IMR4895 and H335. I have used these with bullet weights from 40 grains to 69 grains. The latter was originally a rifle powder developed for the US Military specifically for the M16. Being a ball powder it meters very smooth and accurately and works well with all bullet weights.
 
I only load two bullets for my .223s, a 55 grain FMJ from Xtreme in Carson City, NV pushed by 25.3 grains of H335 (for my S&W MP15) and 55 grain Hornady V-Max pushed by 26.6 grains of Varget (for my Browning 1885 Low Wall). Both are very accurate loads in their respective rifle. I'm also from CA and get my Xtremes from a local shop and the Hornadys usually from Sportsmens Warehouse.
 
Actually, back in the late 50's when Eugene Stoner was developing the AR, the powder he designed his system around was 4895. The cyclic rate, as determined by the pressure, pressure curve, recoil spring rate and BCG mass was optimized for IMR4895. When 335 came online, there were enough differences in powder parameters to require extensive redesigns to accommodate the ball powder.


I use the Rocky Mountain Reloading 62 gr bulk bullets for everything except match shooting (I use Sierra Matchking bullets for that) and IMR4895. That cuts my powder needs down as I only need 1 powder for my rifles (M1, 03-A3, and AR-15). I've tried other powders, and I keep coming back to IMR4895. If only my pistol choices were so simple...
 
with a stock sport or sport2 what size groups at 100yds (5shot) are we shooting? i need to know if i'm beating a dead horse or have not found the sweet spot yet. shoots like a laser, tack driver are not facts, outside to outside in inches is facts. thanks for any info. you may share. jim
 
Westie1 said:
A little background first. Been reloading for about 40 years, and the 223 for the T/C Contender for about 20. So, I know what I'm doing. Also, I unfortunately live out here in the "DPRCa." Which means, all of us out here will soon have to present ID and give a thumb print to buy ammo. Before it's suggested, no I can't buy ammo mail order. Local laws ban mail order ammo purchase. With that out of the way, now to the questions.

First, where do you reloaders buy your bullets? Want to have a real good stock pile.
Second, what's your favorite powder? Got IMR 4895, H335, Accurate 2015,2230,2460 and 2520. More curious than anything else about what others are using.
Click to expand...
I hope you got politically ACTIVE other then voting..
 
bentcam said:
with a stock sport or sport2 what size groups at 100yds (5shot) are we shooting? i need to know if i'm beating a dead horse or have not found the sweet spot yet. shoots like a laser, tack driver are not facts, outside to outside in inches is facts. thanks for any info. you may share. jim
Click to expand...

My target @ 100 yds with my stock M&P. This was made using the powder and bullets I mentioned in Post #13 above. It's not a Sport, it's a piston, but the bullets come out the same end going real fast!

 
One thing I've seen a few folks touch on is metering. I load my AR stuff on a Hornady LNL progressive with the case activated powder drop. When I was researching a good powder a primary concern was metering. I wanted to try Varget as it is highly recommended but being a stick powder and reading about metering issues it was eventually crossed off the list. The CFE223 is a ball powder and meters extremely accurate in my set up. It's definitely something to consider. Of course, if you manually measure your powder charges this isn't going to be a problem anyway.
 
Hi All,

I don't mean to hijack this post. Obviously you guys know what you're doing and are just looking for the best deals on supplies, but I figured this would be a good place to start my search for dependable information

I have one AR, a Sport II, and love it. I have been lurking a bit on some of the threads about reloading ammunition and I am very interested in getting into this game. I am only interested in reloading for this one rifle at this time. Maybe some pistol ammo at a later date.

I am retired, and have plenty of time for this activity, but I don't have any information that is not confusing me.

I recently received the Cabela's 2016 Shooting Catalog and it is loaded with reloading equipment. This is just confusing me even more.

I would like to know what do I need to get started in this aspect of the hobby? I don't necessarily want the "Rolls Royce" of reloading equipment, but I do need to be set up so I can do a good job, not just waste my time.

There seems to be so much equipment out there, that I could see myself dropping thousands and still not have what I really need.

If you could give me some ideas as to what I need to get started, and the approximate amount I should spend on the equipment (without getting ripped off), I would really appreciate it.

Thanks in advance,

Rick
 
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