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what is the best out of the box 223 ammo for varminting have dpms varmint 1/8 twist what should i shoot until i stat loading back . thanks

Black Hills remanufactured 52s or 68s. Probably best bang for your buck. If wanting brass and reloading in the future do not buy anything federal at all ever. The brass sucks.

Now of course YMMV, but black hills usually works good. I've personally been very happy with HSM and its the only loaded stuff I've ever paid for. But the BH has a great track record with lots of folks from military teams to varmint hunters.

Jeff

What's wrong with Federal brass? Just curious.

In the few I tried to load, I lost primers and split a neck on a very safe load in other brass. My fault for not working up but I won't try Federal brass in anything else.

That said, I don't know what you consider varminting but I've been buying American Eagle 50 grain hollow points for $269.00 per 1000. It runs around 3250 fps out of my 16" guns and shoots 1/2" groups out of my Colt HBAR. Kills coyotes pretty good so far. Damage on coyotes has been minimal.

I watch critters fall instead of looking for brass now.

Edit to add American Eagle is Federal.

I like the AE too but have had good luck with UltraMax 55gr soft points as well. My Colt CAR-15 shot the UltraMax so well it was almost obscene.... <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />

Careful with the Ultramax, after some horror stories on the net, I checked a box I had and found a few bullets could be pushed in fairly easy, no crimp. Bullet gets pushed in during loading cycle and pressure goes way up. A slim possibility I'll not chance.

But they do shoot well in my cousins Bushmaster Varminter, scary well.

Thanks for the heads-up!! I think I'll shoot up the rest in my LVSF.....

You have to remember that Federal American Eagle/Lake City brass is mil spec 5.56mm, and the cases are thicker than commercial .223 Rem cases, so therefore they have less case capacity. If you try substituting a load used in a thinner walled commercial .223 case you're going to have pressure signs much quicker in a mil spec case. That's why it's recommended to always start low and work up toward max loads whenever you switch components.

I usually try to buy either Federal/Lake City or Winchester U.S.A. ammo in case lots, and then save the brass for reloading. They both work fine for me. You can't use the same loads in different cases though.

Federal American Eagle is .223 Remington, not 5.56 nato and yes it was my fault for not working up when changing a component in a proven load.

Lake City is 5.56 and that brass is fine but then again it's made with different material, machinery and specs. Federal just runs the govt plant.

Federal brass in 223 only, is heavy and extremely soft. I could have picked up probably 50K pieces over the years, maybe more as teams shoot it,but its known to be junk and so goes to the scrap bins.
If you can get Federal that comes off the LC line and know that for sure you are ok as its built to LC spec, not FC. Even gold medal FC is junk in 223.

FWIW crimps are not needed in the AR ammo, but must have good neck tension. I've never crimped a round in over 100K+ rounds.

Looking for brass..... Shoot your AR a bit. You can trim the ejector spring to toss it where you want, if not, it will toss them the same place and its pretty easy to find. Just get used to X feet forward and to the right...

As to ammo, every brand has had bad batches. Ultramax is not by itself. If you want to try it, call them and ask, they'll know which batch was bad. I've seen it in HSM and Black Hills - BH had a huge lot that went to the Marine team that was over pressured... I know, I've still got part of a box here....

BTW the reason for the overloads in FC brass is partly due to weight, meaning less case capacity. I load fairly warm in match ammo, if I were to use FC brass it can give me 1-2 loads before the primer pocket gives out maybe, but to have same speed and pressure(the pocket issue is a soft brass issue not a pressure issue) I have to go down between .5 and1.0 grains.

Jeff

Jeff you are correct in that a crimp is not needed but when shooting someone elses ammo, I like to see it. You never know how much tension is holding the bullet unless you seat it yourself or see a good crimp.

Ultramax is accurate ammo, just wish I hadn't noticed the loose bullets in the box I had.

The load that lost the primers and split the neck was 26 grains of Benchmark under a 50 grain Ballistic tip with a Fed 205M primer. I used to shoot 26.5 grains in WW and Rem brass with no problems but backed off for accuracy.