Home Forums Reloading Varmint Rifles Further discussion of the 223 Ackley Improved

A thread and cartridge worth bumping.....

What is this 223AI you speak of?


What does the "AI" stand for?

Hey Jesse,

I guess I'm qualified to answer a few of your questions.

First of all, if your gunsmith sets up the headspace correctly, standard .223 Remington ammunition will fire perfectly in a .223 Ackley chamber. Usually with surprisingly good accuracy.

Actual ballistics? My standard load in my three .223 Ackelys is a 40-grain Ballistic backed with 30.3 grains of H-335. I'm running a 21-inch barrel and two 22-inch barrels. Surprisingly, the 21-inch Schnieder barrel is the fastest and it clocks 3980 fps (@ 10 feet) with the load. My 22-inch Schnieder has many thousands of rounds through it (you'd think I was fibbing if I actually told you how many) and it gets about 3950 fps with the combo. The slowest barrel is a Pac-Nor and it clocks a flat 3900 fps.

With Winchester brass, the maximum load in my three rifles is 31.0 grains with the 40 Ballistic. This load goes well over 4,000 fps in the 21-inch tube and just under that (call it 3960 to 3980) in the other two barrels. I don't use the max load much because it could be wicked in Wyoming at 115 degrees in the shade (and no shade).

Dies: I'd suggest Redding and you can pretty much pick your poison. Sinclair International (phone # 1-800-717-8211) has dies for the .223 Ackley Improved 40�. The Redding Deluxe die set, with a full-length sizer, neck sizing die and a seating die is listed at $98.70. Or you can buy a full-length die set (FLS and seater) for $61.70. Or you can buy the neck die set, with a neck sizer and a seater, for $61.70.

Personally, I like the Type-S neck-sizer and a standard Redding seating die. I have a body die (kind of a full-length sizer with no expander or decapper), but I've never used it. When cases get tight, I find that ironing out the base with a .38/.357 carbide sizer does the trick.

If you wanted a set like mine, the Redding Type-S neck sizer costs $50.25, the TiN .245" bushing is $17.25 (hardened steel - 73 series cost $9.75) , tungsten-carbide expander plug costs $17.85 and the seating die is $39.30. Sinclair may have a Type-S die set made up and it may save you some money, but the cost of the pieces is about $125.00 for this accuracy-oriented rig.

A question that you didn't ask: Is the .223 Ackley worth it? Let's put it this way; barrels last as long as the standard .223 (friggin' forever) and you'll never lust for a .22-250. Yeah, it's worth it.

Gun writers get issued basically unlimited supplies of .223 Remington ammo at the prairie dog hunts, so I use this for "morning ammo." And when the wind comes up in the afternoon, I shift to Ackley handloads. Yeah, Hell of a difference.

I used to use 40 Ballistics for prairie dogs and 50 Ballistics for coyotes/bobcats. Then, one day I got my ammo mixed up and whacked a half dozen Texas coyotes with 40s. They were bang/flop kills. Since that time, I've just shot 40 Ballistics for everything. I've killed literally hundreds of coyotes and many bobcats with the 40s. Man, they don't even twitch.....down and dead every time.

I have never (like NEVER) had a coyote or bobcat move a foot after receiving a 40 Ballistic in the .223 Ackley. Obviously, in hunting, sometimes positions are wrong and bullet placement is not quite right. Doesn't seem to make a difference. They just die.

Good luck in your quest. Be sure to let us know how you proceed in you journey.

Steve