I recently downloaded Army Tech Manual 43-0001027
ARMY AMMUNITION DATA SHEETS
SMALL CALIBER AMMUNITION
FSC 1305

I am looking to manufacture my own ammunitiion but am not interested in optimizing it for MY rifle. I just want usable, reliable, general purpose ammunition - "duty" ammunition if you will.

Assume for the sake of the question that I follow the data in the TM exactly. I use projectiles of the specified type/weight. I load powder of the specified type (or civilian equivalent) to the specified weight. I make sure everything (cartridge length/weight) is per the TM within the variances I measured when I disassembled and weighed/calipered 50 rounds of German-made milsurp NATO ammo. If I do all that, then do I need to do any chrony testing or is it a safe assumption that the ammo will be safe in my rifle?

I don't have the eyes or steady enough hands to be a true long-range shooter. I am completely happy to be able to aim CoM and make torso shots @ 400 yards. I would just like to be able to make usable general purpose ammo.

What do you, the experts, say to me? And if you tell me I still need to confirm conformity with test shots through a chrony, I am, of course, willing. You guys in this forum hand load all the time. I trust your judgement implicitly.

Thanks in advance.

You do not indicate your level of experience.
If you are a long time loader then you could put together a standard load with a known powder charge and be happy. I doubt that everyone here uses a chronograph and it is not necessary for most loads.

If you are a new loader you need to assemble some test loads as a learning process. This is to be sure you can assemble ammo that works, otherwise you run a chance of loading a lot of ammo that may not function properly.

If i understand you are talking about military ammo?
If so it can be duplicated to some degree.
If you collect all the components and use the load suggested in the mill speck you are taking a chance. first and most important the powder you use, will be commercial and the powder the military used is a cannister powder. it will produce diffrent pressure loads. ALWAYS START LOW AND WORK UP YOUR LOADS FOR THE RIFLE THEY WILL BE SHOT IN. iF YOU USE MILITARY BRASS BE SURE TO REDUCE THE MINIMUN LOAD BY 10 TO 15% AND WORK back UP.
lYMAN HAS A REALLY GOOD RELOADING MANUEL THAT WILL GIVE YOU STEP BY STEP DIRECTIONS ON BASIC RELOADING.
Dave

Folks reloaded for a whole ton of years before every kid on the block had a Chrony. And killed a lot of game and very few blew themselves up. Using a load book and listed components and adding a dash of common sense can result in good ammo. And, assuming that you are shooting a modern, bolt action rifle, your results should be fairly close to the published data in the book(s). One way to check that your load is ball park with the book is to shoot at distance. If the book sez that xyz load will give you abc velocity, you can check the ballistics section of the book. It will tell you how much drop you should get with that velocity at say 300 yards. If your bullets performs close to that, you're good to go.
There are also several impirical signs that will show up as you approach the max for your rifle. Individually, they may or may not meqn anything but together, they are still a good sign to slow down and back off.
Using my "rock and a rusty nail" method of reloading, I had a load for my 30-06 that was absolutely letal. I used it for years and killed a lot of stuff with it. Then I got a Chrony. I was embarassed at just how puny the load was. According to the hot rod crowd, my bullets should have been bouncing off of the deer.
As I tell every newbie, go to a gun store and ask to look at a Lee Loader. Those few, simple tools are all you really need to reload good, accurate, safe ammo. Everything else is whistles and bells.
Everyone will have a lot of advice. A lot of it will be good stuff; some, not so much. Your best start will be to get a good load book and read the the "intro to reloading" section a couple or three times.

I have allways said if you want to ruin a good shooting rifle. Crony it.

There is too much emphasis on velocity and long range shooting. Yeah if that your sole interest have fun.
Standard ballistics are suitable for most people that actually shoot as opposed than the "magazine shooters" that celebrate the last 10fps.

i doubt the army munition sheet is gonna do you much good.
they are using a completly different lot of components than you will be getting.
all is not lost though.
the reloading manuals,are full of data tested with components you can get.
h-335 powder is real close to what the military is using right now in thier 223 loads.
winchester and hornady make 55-62gr fmj bullets quite similar to what they use.
cci makes a milspec primer [if you can find it,if not, use their regular one]
pick the velocity the manual shows in whatever bbl length they use to get it.
then look for data that gives you similar results without high pressure.
then work some loads up from 10% lower powder amounts untill you see acceptable accuracy, then stop doing load development.

Mullins, YOU ABSOLUTLY NEED TO START LOW, AND WORK UP WITH THIS DATA.

I tried to duplicate the 5.56 loads in that manual and had excessive pressure way before I reached the listed load.

DO NOT ASSUME THESE LOADS WILL BE SAFE IN YOUR RIFLE.

quote:

Originally posted by B Mullins:
I recently downloaded Army Tech Manual 43-0001027
ARMY AMMUNITION DATA SHEETS
SMALL CALIBER AMMUNITION
FSC 1305

I am looking to manufacture my own ammunitiion but am not interested in optimizing it for MY rifle. I just want usable, reliable, general purpose ammunition - "duty" ammunition if you will.

Assume for the sake of the question that I follow the data in the TM exactly. I use projectiles of the specified type/weight. I load powder of the specified type (or civilian equivalent) to the specified weight. I make sure everything (cartridge length/weight) is per the TM within the variances I measured when I disassembled and weighed/calipered 50 rounds of German-made milsurp NATO ammo. If I do all that, then do I need to do any chrony testing or is it a safe assumption that the ammo will be safe in my rifle?

I don't have the eyes or steady enough hands to be a true long-range shooter. I am completely happy to be able to aim CoM and make torso shots @ 400 yards. I would just like to be able to make usable general purpose ammo.

What do you, the experts, say to me? And if you tell me I still need to confirm conformity with test shots through a chrony, I am, of course, willing. You guys in this forum hand load all the time. I trust your judgement implicitly.

Thanks in advance.

I've been reloading for several decades, I'm equipped to load over 30 different cartridges, I DO have a chronograph and I have NEVER used a chronograph to determine how safe a load is or what a load should be. I use the chronograph ONLY to satisfy my curiosity as to how fast my bullets are going and to aid in the use of long range ballistic tables.

As to your question about using a load from the Army Tech Manual, you would probably be OK but I would recommend starting a bit below the published load and working up watching for pressure signs.

What I have found to be safe is to start in the lower third to half of a load published in the Speer, Hornady or Nosler reloading manuals. Barnes manual loads can be a bit hot. I have never encountered any overpressure signs in those load ranges. Those loads would usable but maybe not optimal accuracy wise.

Like mentioned above, start low and work up no matter the caliber or components used.

That said, I did a similar thing as well. I have had a copy of that manual for quite a while and got to reading through it one weekend. Growing up we more or less always shot surplus 30-06 ball or AP ammo for target practice, simply because we had plenty of it to shoot. When hunting season rolled around we pulled the ball bullets, neck sized the cases and seated a 150gr Sierra spitzer in them and went hunting. For all practical purposes, and within the ranges we hunted, there was no noticeable differences between the two.

Having done that for years, I had a decent supply of the ball bullets sitting in an ammo can, and decided to use them up for general practice loads like we had done years before. Using the manual, I found the powder noted as used for the .308 version was available as surplus from several sources. I purchased a jug of it from one of the online vendors. Knowing this would not be the same lot and possibly not even in the ball park I started several grains lower than the manuals listed load. Since most of my cases were also surplus, I felt this was prudent due to internal variations as well.

My resulting rounds are by no means target grade, but they did hold within MOA spec out to 200yds which is as far as I use them for practice. My .308 is a Ruger Compact and hardly up to much more than the accuracy I get in the first place. I simply loaded up until I got my best group without noting pressure, or exceeding the listed data.

I have since loaded a few rounds up for practice with the '06 as well using canister grade IMR-4895 and current listed data, and again I simply loaded for accuracy and once it was acceptable I stopped below the listed max.

For all practical purposes as long as you stay within established safety guidelines, and within the parameters of the listed load data for the particular components your using, you should be as safe, as you would be loading any other caliber or powder combination.

I have been reloading since about 1982, have never chronographed a load. You can get close to what you want by going to a range and shooting two or three distances. Record your points of impact, then go to the computer and match the trajectory with a muzzle velocity. The best of it is a range with longer distances, most of them are 100 yards and it's a little hard to do trajectory with just 100 yards and under.

Army Ammunition data sheets are useful for only one or two things only. To find out about the military bullet itself and possibly to compare overall loaded round length. The powder type often not available and especially the charge weights which most often are dangerously high with the surplus powder available to the public. Don't use the charge data in the Army data sheets!!!! WC844 listed data for .223/5.56 for 55 and 62 grain bullets is at least 2 grains over maximum and not safe!! Same thing applies for 50 BMG. Military surplus powder loaded to data sheet charges would be way over maximum. I've used several lots of WC 844 for .223 and military surplus WC 860 and 5010 in the 50 BMG and all of the lots could never be loaded safely at data sheet charges.

I found a copy of this document and gave it a quick scan. I have worked with military engineering documents since 1977. This document identifies the major ammo types. This information is useful for getting to the real document that defines the pressures, testing, case and bullet designs. However other than the identification it contains little information that would help the preparation of good hand loads. The powder charges are for non-canister powders. Even if you have the same powder differences in burning rates from lot to lot means you have to work up the loads. You are much better off to get several good commercial manuals and use a load known to match shooters.

quote:

WC844 listed data for .223/5.56 for 55 and 62 grain bullets is at least 2 grains over maximum and not safe!!

Ditto.

It is not safe.