Help me make my .223 shoot like a .22 Hornet

chewi004

New member
I am not a reloader myself, but I have a guy who has done his fair share. He has all the supplies/books/etc. to reload. He has been doing it for years. However going from what I have read on these forums, he wants to make me a load OPPOSITE of what I was thinking. Again, I am a reloading newbie...

Here's what I am looking for: I want to make up a round that will have my .223 shooting more like a .22 hornet. Maybe someone has a good load mixed up, that I could try? I shoot a Savage axis .223

Thanks in advance!
 
Check this link out:
Link

Be careful. It can get dangerous if you loose concentration and double charge. LOL, I havent had the stones to try it yet...
 
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Research Seafire on 24hr campground and Blue Dot loads. There are also reduced loads using Unique, H110, Trailboss, and 4895. I can tell you the Blue Dot loads do work and are much quieter than full velocity and run near Hornet velocity. Double charging the case is the biggest danger in reduced loads since many of them are half or less of a standard 223rem charge. I'd trickle every charge and loaded one round at a time complete as to avoid confusion and double loading. This is not a recommended combination for novice loaders or you could end up looking like this
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and be called one eyed Chewi.

Here is another source of load data.
James Calhoon

Good luck and be extremely careful.
 
Trail Boss is a good powder to try...

I have used it in all of the cartridges I reload and it can be quite effective...

I must say that I have mostly used it with cast boolits though...

You won't double charge a case and it will give much reduced velocities...

The 70% rule can be used as a starting point for powder charge. See like below...

http://www.imrpowder.com/PDF/Trail-Boss-data.pdf

Good-luck...BCB
 
Originally Posted By: Widow maker 223Why trade it. Having that kind of versatility is a good thing!!

Oh for sure!
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.223 brass is way cheaper and easier to find than the Hornet is. And it is pretty easy to make a .223 shoot like a Hornet but there is no way you are ever going to get a Hornet to shoot like a .223!

I really like 12 grains of Blue Dot with a 40 grain bullet. Accurate, quiet, your brass last forever and it is just fun. Pretty good reasons to me.
 

Thanks for the advice and warnings guys. Of course with my limited reloading experience, I will have my reloading guy do it all for me (and maybe even shoot the first couple rounds...hahaha). I will keep everyone posted. May be some time before I get to try it, I am just starting my research.


Originally Posted By: NcWhitetailCheck out this. I'm gonna try it before too long.

http://splashurl.com/nyruhzo

Oops!!!

Keep me posted NcWhitetail if you get a chance to try it!
 
I see a lot of good info on powder, and brass, etc...but what type of bullet would you guys with experience suggest, or what bullet is shooting best under these loads for you?
 
Originally Posted By: chewi004I see a lot of good info on powder, and brass, etc...but what type of bullet would you guys with experience suggest, or what bullet is shooting best under these loads for you?

Just about anything will work, but when I tried it in my CZ527 that thing just loved those Sierra (#1385) 40 grain hollow points. Really fun on ground squirrels if you keep your shots less than 200 yards or so. 10-12 grains (don't go higher than 12 grains) of Blue Dot does the trick for me. Give it a try and tell us how you like it.

Oh, don't any of you try it in your autoloaders. Aint got enough poop to cycle the action I found out.
 
Originally Posted By: chewi004

Here's what I am looking for: I want to make up a round that will have my .223 shooting more like a .22 hornet. Maybe someone has a good load mixed up, that I could try? I shoot a Savage axis .223

Thanks in advance!

chewi,

I'd have to ask what distance are we talking here? BUT, I have a Savage Model 12 VLPDBM in .223 that I've been shooting for a few years and I'm in to pure accuracy. And I shoot strictly from the Benchrest position and have tested all sorts of bullet weights and powder combinations and have found my rifle likes 52 Gr HBPT's and 53 Gr FBs the best @100. For the 52's, I use 25 grs of VVN 133. For the 53 FB's I use 28.7 gr of BLC-2. I seat bullets to an Ojive measurement of 2.970 which will fit into the magazine of the rifle. Of the two, the 52's shoot a bit better, but both will group less than the size of the new quarter @ 100 yds. Now remember, this rifle is a Varmint Rifle and not a Benchrest Rifle and any animal you nail with this type of accuracy won't know the difference of what it just got hit by. As for the comparison with a 22 Hornet, that depends on the rifle and the shooter and how good the combination is together. Holler if I can be of further help as I spent a lot of time during testing and at least 1o trips to the range just testing bullets and powder in the rifle.
 
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I have finisher loads for most of my rifles, instead of carrying a 22 LR pistol I have a couple of light loads to finish wounded critters without blowing them up. I use 800X loads from the Calhoun sight as I use a lot of it in my shotguns and 41 mag.

http://www.jamescalhoon.com/

Look at the informative article "To Bee or Not To Bee"
 
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Speer Reload Manual #14 has reduced loads with SR4759 powder that slows it down to about 2000 fps this for bullets to 55 grain.
 
I've researched & chroney'ed my loads when I was looking. My data is right from a 10 year old Alliant manual. My load is 12.0 grains of Alliant 2400 with a 40 grn V-Max bullet, in the 223 of course. This load shows 2670 FPS with the chrony, still a fair bit below listed max.

I have not done extensive accuracy testing. They are unlikely to cycle in a semi-auto, I use a bolt. My goal was to get close to Hornet loads, I could go lower. I also recently bought a 17 HMR barrel for a 22 mag so I've been going with that lately.
 
Call me paranoid, but I've never seen pressure-tested data on the Blue Dot or 800X loads - I don't care for that when there are pressure-, and time-tested loads out there that will do the same thing.

Low velocity - Trailboss tends to eliminate the possibility of double-charging: http://www.imrpowder.com/PDF/Trail-Boss-data.pdf

Medium velocity - https://www.hodgdon.com/PDF/H4895%20Reduced%20Rifle%20Loads.pdf

SR4759 falls in between the two sort of in terms of velocity, and was listed in Speer manuals for years, but is fairly high in the pressure department at these reduced loadings, so Hodgdon doesn't list them anymore with the other alternatives - http://www.chuckhawks.com/reduced_recoil_reloads.htm.

JMHO.
 


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