.223 Rem. in a Savage Axis II - load development w/A2230/55gr FMJBT

[JBinMN]

  About a year and a half ago I bought a bolt action Savage Axis II in .223 Rem.
Pretty basic bolt action with a synthetic stock ( < Yeah, I know. Don't like synthetic much either, but what the heck, it was a reasonable price and it came with a basic scope, nothing special.)

I have IMR4198, W748, H4895, and a couple other rifle powders, but I also had some Accurate 2230 I thought might be something to try, since it is a new powder for me & so is the rifle.

Well, I did not have any .223 Rem. cases, but I do have more than a few 5.56 cases so, I took some once fired 5.56, full sized them & made sure they were trimmed to length correctly, and primed them up.

That was all done by last November(2023).  (I had some health issues I was dealing with from August til then & so I was not in a hurry.  I knew I was not gonna even think about firing them til this Spring anyway, so what the heck on that too)
Anyway, those cases have been sitting on my bench since then & Life got in the way up till now, but it is time to get on the job & Getter Done.

I know that since I am using 5.56 instead of .223 Rem. cases, and that there is a little bit of a thickness of the case to consider for the volume inside to account for any pressure difference possibilities.

Knowing that, I am still doing the work up using the Load Data for the A2230 powder
using the START load of 22.4 gr. & using 5 cases each at .3 gr. intervals until I would work up to, or close to the the MAX. of 24.9 gr. using a Hornady FMJBT 55 grain bullet.
( Eventually I will go to cast bullets as I have a mold for a 55gr. bullet, but want to start out with Jacketed first off. For my own reasons that are not important right now.)

Now here comes my question for ya'll to possibly give me some insight/suggestions on what I might/should do...

I made up 55 cases.  Figuring on 5 "warm up" shots at START of 22.4 gr. to verify sight in & "warm the barrel", then re-shoot at that START load 5 more times and then progress up from there, 5 shots per step of the ladder. Basically starting out with 5 shots at 22.4 after some warm up,  and then progress from there.

If I start at 22.4 and jump in stages of .3 gr. @ 5 rounds each , I would go from 22.4 , 22.7, 23.0, 23.3, 23.6, 23.9, 24.2, 24.5. & 24.8, thus still staying under the 24.9 MAX listed for that round &  specified components , and use up the 55 rounds.
( Keeping in mind I am using 5.56 cases & Not .223 Rem.)

Do you think I should just go with the 5 rounds per step of the ladder test scenario for a ladder test of load development I mention above,
 
or instead go to a .2 grain jump per step & use less rounds, say "3" per step, of the  ladder to see if it makes a difference in finding a node or nodes of accuracy?

What say you ?  or, What would You do?



Thanks if you reply with a reasonable idea(s)/suggestion(s)~!

Okay... I think this is my "virgin first topic" for this forum. Don
't recall & not gonna go look...
Haven't mentioned these doins anywhere else on the few other places I mostly lurk in...

Would hope to see at least a few comments/replies on this.


BTW, I don't have to necessarily load them up tomorrow, but I would like to see if I can get some input relatively soon before some more, "Life" slows me up again.

Thanks again~!

[neckisred]

+1 on the warm-up shots. I like to get a feel for a new to me rifle before shooting groups. I load in 1 grain increments for initial testing and shoot 3 shot groups. Take the most accurate load, then adjust +/- .5 grains if necessary.
 
In my opinion, the average shooter, shooting a stock gun, will never recognize a difference in accuracy in less than .5 grain increments.

Once again, just my opinion and you asked......................     

[Lloyd Smale]

ive used MANY different head stamped brass 556 and 223. my go to blasting load is 24 grains of 2230 and a ball 55. many different primers including small rifle mags and many different ball 55s and never once had pressure problems and im talking 100s of thousand rounds in both bolt guns and semi auto guns

[Lloyd Smale]

im with neckisred. find a load quickly that shoots acceptably for you and spend your time on something other than load development. ball bullets will usually shoot around 1-1.5moa if thats not good enough buy commercial bullets and tweak to your hearts desire

[moamonkey]

If you’re going for 1- 1.5 moa, you might as well use factory ammo. I, personally, ladder in .5 grain increments and 3 shot groups. Taking each shot seriously you can see if there’s promise with 3 shots.

[JBinMN]

Thanks all for the replies & suggestions.

I will think about them all & figure out what I plan to do; then return to offer my thinking & planned doins.

Thanks again for your assistance!

[Ranger99]

W748 and H4895 and RL15 have worked pretty well
for me in the 223 as well as 308 and 30/30
I've only used 40-62 grain bullets.  I don't have
anything twisted right for the heavy projectiles that
are so popular these days.
I've been trying to work with TAC to see what will
work because it's what I could find last time I needed
to resupply.  It looks good so far.
I'm different than many in that I look for accuracy first
and foremost instead of chasing velocity and trying
to figure out how to make my speedy rounds hit
the target.  One thing I have learned a couple of times
is to stock up heavy on components that work
great for you instead of trying this and that for
grins. I've had proven powders and projectiles
discontinued by manufacturers and was left holding
the bag after I ran out of whatever.  Stack your
proven stuff deep and that's one less thing to fret over

Good Luck

[Lloyd Smale]

tac is a great powder

[JBinMN]

It has been right windy around here & not what I would like to see for any shooting for load workup. Some days had steady strong winds + heavier wind gusts & as well, a couple days ago we actually had gusts to 45-50 MPH. 

Warm & sunny for a few days, but it was windier than I am.

Now it is not only wind, but rain...

Nope. Not good. Not my idea of good times for shooting anyway.

Like I said, I will come back in as soon as I start to do some shooting, but until things lighten up., just not gonna waste the time l already spent getting to the shooting part.

Once again, thanks for the replies/comments & input~!

I really do appreciate the responses.


Cya later~!

[moamonkey]

Just happened back onto this thread. Any good developments? Curious about your powder preference.

[gypsyman]

  Just caught my eye. Load that I've been playing with is with Varget powder. In my Hogdon No. 27 manual, for a 63 gr. bullet max load is over 26 gr. I'm shooting a 62 gr. and using  25.5 and getting pretty decent accuracy. It meters real well, I've got a Redding BR-30 powder measure and always very consistent with Varget. Shooting an AR with a 1-8 twist, off of bags with my red dot around 2'' at 100yds.

[darkgael]

Late to the party. I have used nothing but Re15 for years. Light bullets, heavy bullets. Not a bolt gun but a Colt AR 1-8 twist. Mostly 75 gr Hornady, very consistent.
 The cases for both are visually identical.
The interior volume of each are very
Nearly identical.,,,the NATO case has a volume of 1.82
ML of water. The Remington case has a volume of 1.87 ml of water.
Unless you are using powder measures that can detect that 0.02 difference. It is not worth considering.