I was hoping you would chime in ingwe, who better to give advice than the man the round is named after .

Why do you not like H335 for the conventional bullets?

I seem to remember you posting that you liked your AI but probably wouldn't do another one. May I ask what you feel are the pros and cons of the round?

Thanks

Don't know if it helps any, but I've fire formed steel cases.

I
1) If the guy running the lathe uses a standard go gauge to headspace an Ackley chamber, the case will stretch too much in fire forming and get frequent case separations just behind the shoulder. This problem is common as dirt.

2) I have tried ~~ 100 fixes and the best I have found is 10 gr of any pistol powder [that would be 5 gr for .223] covered with cream of wheat and fired without a bullet.

3) The case is slathered with a film high pressure lubrication like moly grease. This forms half a shoulder and does not stretch the case too much behind the shoulder. That half shoulder can stand up to the push of the firing pin. That is unlike the base of the case neck cannot stand up to the sharp shoulder neck base and there will be a ring of plastic deformation.

4) Ackley chambers should be headspaced so new brass crushes .004" [on bolt closing] at the base of the neck. The case then does not move forward on fire forming with the tighter headspace.

5) The half formed shoulder can be full power with bullets with full accuracy. There will then be a full shoulder for the 3rd firing.

6) There are other good fixes. A mandrel can open up the case neck that can then be partially full length resized so that there is .004" of crush on bolt closing. Or the barrel can be set back .004".

1)I am ackman.
2)Barrel set back as the only solution.

There is more than one way to skin a cat.

everyone needs at least half a dozen rifles in this caliber, long barrel life, ungodly accuracy, quick to find an accuracy node with most powders.

H335, AA2230, Benchmark, H322, N133, N135 all are surpurb.

H335 and AA2230 will give you very long barrel life, and that is no schitt!

If you will have Greg Tannel(Gre-Tan Rifles) bush your firing pin, you will not believe the good stuff that follows!

The .223 case head is good for long brass life at 75,000 psi.
The .223 is SAAMI registered at 55,000 psi.
That is at least 36% safety margin that can be exploited with handloads.

Contrast that with the 6mmRem or 270Win with case heads good for 67,000 psi with long brass life. They are SAAMI registered at 65,000 psi with 3% safety margin.

What does it all mean?
The loads in a load book for 223 or 223AI are only suggestions for bolt action rifles. The AR15s with non adjustable gas systems may be tuned up for 55kpsi.

CCI400

Rem 7.5 and cci 41 have harder cups and don't flow as much into loose firing pin holes. A cci 41 is basically a cci 450 with a harder cup rem 7.5s were made harder to deal with the flow of 17 rems. I run a lot of the cci 41s.

Bb

Those fire form loads Steve?

I think I need to get me some 8208xbr.

AR-Comp provides same speeds and better temp stability along with better consistency from lot to lot.

IMHO anyway.

I like AR comp ok but 8208xbr has metered better, almost meters like ball but it's a small extruded like h322 or benchmark. I used to use benchmark a lot more but have grown to like 8208 a bit better for 75s. I have good lot to lot and great temp stability.

Still love benchmark with 50 or 53g vmax's.

Bb

I've read guys claiming 8208xbr and Benchmark is the same stuff.

Not the case?

CCI 41, 25g 8208xbr, lapua case, 75 amax. 2.435" coal 3000 fps 21" 8 twist pacnor 3 groove. Sub 1/2 moa.


Bb

It’s interesting that both FF to formed loads are 1.3 gr different.

Math…..

Good to know. Just started load development on a new one I traded for. It shot the Fiocchi 50gr vmax factory stuff into abysmal 2” groups that’s always been accurate for me. Loading formed brass in the morning and heading back to the range.

Any luck?

Decided to get the flu instead. Hopefully shoot some reloads this weekend.

I formed cases with 28 grains of tac and 40 grain NBTs. It shot those around 1"

That thing stacks 77 tmk in formed rem cases with 27.5 grains of lever. CCI 450s

What did you load up to try?

I was one of the first to speak out against it.

What brand of dies are you gents using for the Ackley?

I thought the AI loading procedure was like this: Start at the standard cartridge max to fireform. After that, keep adding powder until primers start blowing. Then back off a tenth grain, or maybe two tenths, for a safety cushion.

Hahaha! For many loaders this seems to be the technique! Then if the desired velocity is not yet reached, the second method is to switch to a faster burning powder in order to shove more of it into the case. Proceed once again until primers blow and back off a tenth or two.