Home Forums Reloading Varmint Rifles 40 gr Ballistic Tip COAL?

What are you all seating this bullet to for a COAL in 223 Rem? My new Starline brass are 1.747-1.7485 and at the Noslers manuals COAL of 2.26, that don’t leave much in the neck.

Thanks, I’m a new Reloader sk take it easy on me. LOL

STEVE

I’ve got my load data in the barn workshop. If I don’t forget, I’ll get the COAL tomorrow.

2.26 is max SAAMI length for 223. Doesn’t mean you have to load them that long. Seating depth is always your choice. Your new brass is at trim length or about 10 thou shorter than max by the book. Load em and shoot, the brass will grow.

in the 223 or 22.250 I don't seat the 40 grain V max or Ballistic Tips, very deep into the case...
I do a light roll crimp on them, and make sure they will chamber.. if not, I seat the bullet a hair deeper..

but with the 40s, that is seldom the case...

actually I'm heading off to the garage to handload 20 rounds of the 40 V Max in a 22.250 case...
with 19 grains of Blue Dot as the load...

Load development for a new scope being mounted on top...

Stevens 200, truck gun....

Load them at 2.250 and make sure they are straight. Bet it works.


P.S. Welcome to the 'fire.

2.245 inches...

2.26" is where I'm at with the 40 nbt in my 223s. This bullet with Benchmark powder has proven to be accurate for me in multiple rifles.

What are your case lengths?

Case length = 1.745 + Bullet length .700 = 2.445 - one caliber seating depth .224 = 2.221
This will change after your initial firing depending on brass growth from forming to your chamber.

Your rifle ?

Shootin a long throated factory 223 ? Load a longer boolit.......maybe....

here's a great choice when in stock.....


http://www.shootersproshop.com/nosl...pped-varmageddon-bullets-blem-100ct.html

TBH, I don't even bother with trying to seat a specific distance to the lands with either the 40 gr BT or V MAX because both are well out of the case by the time they reach the rifling. Makes no difference in my rifle because both shoot outstanding with H4198 in my CZ. Kinda makes it easy since you only have to adjust the powder to find the best load.

You should still measure where your lands are just so you know. But most chambers are cut to a standard when no matter what the bullet is, at 2.26 you won't have throat contact with FACTORY ammo. With handloads, it's possible. I remember one bullet that I loaded for 2.26 and the nose profile put me hard into the lands, I think they were HDY 55 grain softpoints with a cannelure. But that was just one 223, the AR (5.56) ate them just fine.

At the least, what I would do is take your shortest case out of 10, then set the bullet on top of that, measure the whole works, that gives you "no grab" number. From that point, you would take away 0.2 inches, which gives you close to a caliber of neck grab, which again is pretty normal practice. I have "gotten away" with as little as 0.120, but those rounds could be bumped crooked pretty easily.
It may work really well for you in the end, as 223s are pretty tolerant. They will tolerate a jump as long as it is a consistent jump of the same distance within a couple of thousandths. Usually.

Make sure that you check feeding. It is possible to seat too deep, where the bullet is curving away from the neck at the top of the neck and leaving a gap that can cause feeding snags. But that normally only happens with really long, pointy bullets.

I loaded them at 2.223 OAL or 1.815 CBTO.

Shot pretty good for my first loads. At 26.6 it grouped .35” and at 26.8 it was .28. I loaded up more at 26.7 to verify, but with weather and work haven’t gotten to shoot them yet.

Kind of surprised that I ended up in the middle of charge weight, loaded from 26-27.8 in .2 grain increments with Benchmark. Was hoping to find a node at the upper end. May try it all over again this spring when weather is a little nicer. However, is this pretty common? Nosler accuracy load with benchmark is 28, however, Sierra lists max at 27.3 and I didn’t load any higher than 27.8.

Thanks
Steve

I would really be interested in your velocity. I use Benchmark or LT32 exclusively in 223. Shooting 50-52’s I have been getting max load velocities @ about a grain to grain and a half under max depending on which rifle. 3450 - 3500 isn’t bad for the charge weight. Word of warning, I ran into pressure issues at max loads during the summer and it showed up rather quickly. Awhile back someone on here said that the Nosler data for Benchmark was out of date and no good. I contacted Nosler and was told that they had updated that data in 2014 or 15 and was still valid. Why Sierra is lower and supposedly the authority has me baffled as they didn’t even list Benchmark for the 223 until their latest manual.