Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles Reloading an AR

I having been reloading ammo for 25 plus years, all for bolt action guns. Recently got a 6.5 creedmoor in the ar platform. Is there anything different or any thing to watch out for when loading this as compared to bolt guns?

Thanks

Quality FL die set. Redding or Forster

Try backing the die off a bit to see if they chamber okay. Brass lasts far longer.

Keep OAL at factory.

Very pleasant cartridge in an AR-10.

I’d recommend trimming the brass to the minimum. I had a 308 Rock River. I didn’t have to use small base dies, but I tried a couple I had loaded for a bolt. One or two wouldn’t chamber, because brass was too long. I finally sold it, too heavy.

I loaded 500 pieces of Speer once fired brass for a 223 AR. I learned the hard way to check length of brass on AR loads too. The were fine in a bolt gun


That’s my 2 cents.

Good luck, good shooting

Same same deputy. No special tools or dies required. An off the shelf RCBS FL die set works just fine. If a guy can prove to me he gets better accuracy using a fancy expensive die set for an AR10 6.5CM, he better speak up now or I'll call bullcheidt. I use the same die for loading both bolt guns and my AR10... Its always a good idea to check to see where your lands are with the bullets you are loading. If you can load to max mag length with good function, that's where I'd run them. I've checked mine and am safe to load to max mag length.

Question of the day: How accurate are your loads with those expensive die sets?

For me, the big benefit of Forster dies is runout goes away.....
IME they make the straightest ammo.

That is great. I get less than .002" TIR on my loaded ammo. A lot of that is in how you set up your dies. I'm often surprised when I check run-out and it flickers to .0005-.001". Less than .001" is pretty damn good for an off the shelf die set. Also, as we know a lot of guys aren't loading their AR's for precision. They are happy enough getting torso sized groups at 50 yards.. At least that seems to be the consensus lately.. Also, you should let NYNY post up some groups from those fancy expensive dies he uses for his AR10 6.5cm. I like looking at pictures... I could also tell you a story about a guy at the clubs range yesterday shooting a fancy Christensen Arms 7mm rem mag. He is a newbie hand loader and says, "it is a must to use neck sizing dies for precision shooting" and he only uses forster and redding dies. I casually invited him to our next centerfire shoot, being a new member, I think he's going to get a good education...

You and I are in the same ballpark for runout. I have non-competition Redding dies that produce .005-.008 runout. RCBS is typically in the .002 to .005 range, and the Forster's producing less that .002, and that .005 to .001 range being pretty common.

Sure you can do it with other dies and die combinations, but it's the simplest way I've found to mitigate runout.

Minimal TIR is always a good thing. Most of us know that. Some here don't realize they can attain it with a run of the mill RCBS die set you can find at most any sporting goods store. I'll be the first to admit I like very little TIR. Even in my big guns:


If my dies aren't producing less than .003" TIR, something is wrong..

Thanks for the replies.

As far as dies go, I'm using Lee because that's all I could get my hands on in this crazy world.

Yep.

When I started measuring runout one of my biggest surprised was just how good the old RCBS dies are in that department.

Uh oh nyny better be posting pictures time now!

Hornady dies are fine ---- as long as the GD spring clips stay in place and the decapping rod doesn't leave the die stuck in the case. (Like Lee)

Redding and Forster accomplish the same results with no "tricks".