What are your handloading techniques for AR rifles used in service rifle matches?

I've been wanting to get into these matches for awhile and am wondering how handloading for these competitions and rifles differs from loading for hunting, plinking, and benchrest competition rounds. With magazine length restricted, shooting with just a sling, and having to stay within certain operating pressures, how does one crack this nut?

I'm looking to use Sierra Match Kings, probably either the 69 or 77 grain type. Since magazine length is pretty restrictive, how much do you all worry about adjusting seating depth?

Any preferences for brass and primers? Powders? Can you reload match grade ammo off of a progressive press?

Thanks for any input and suggestions

You might check with slamfire. He is a service rifle shooter and seems to know his stuff really well.

Because function of a gas gun is so dependent on ammunition, the first and most important thing is to reload for safety and function. Accuracy is a secondary consideration. So keep in mind this fundamental piece of advice for function: “the cartridge must be smaller than the chamber.”

So for function and safety:

• Full length resize your brass. Small base dies preferred.
• Purchase a cartridge headspace gauge, I am using a Wilson/Compass Lake, and size to the minimum headspace of the gauge.
• Always check brass length, or just trim each time you resize your brass.
• Toss out cases with evidence of case head separation. Use a bent paper clip to feel for a ridge, about 1/8” from the bottom, inside the case.
• Clean out your primer pockets
• Use the CCI #41 “Mil Spec” primers. These less likely to slamfire than more sensitive commercial primers in a gas gun.
• Toss out cases with loose primer pockets. If you can push the primer in with your thumb, the pocket is too loose.
• Examine each case to verify that all primers are .001”-.003” below the case head.
• For magazine fed cartridges, seat bullets to 2.25” - .005”
• I do not seat bullets in to the lands. If you do, one day you will extract an unfired round, but the bullet and all the powder will stay in the action.

For Accuracy:

• Use the same lot, make of brass
• Use the same lot of powder
• Use the same lot of primers
• Use match bullets
• Weigh long range powder charges
• Try to minimize bullet run outs to less than .003”
• Ask a good shooter what he does. And they all do it differently.

Powder choice is basically anything close to IMR 4895 in burn rate. IMR 4064 is as slow as I will go. I prefer stick powders to ball powders. The better throwing capabilities of ball powders does not mean better accuracy, stick powders are cleaner and seem to have wider “sweet spots”. The last is very subjective. Short grained stick powders meter better than longer, so while IMR 4064 is a good powder, it is long grained and is something that is better used if you weigh powder charges. Varget has been a very popular powder in 223 service rifles. For Varget, maximum loads are inbetween 24 grains and 25.0 grains for the 77 or 80 gr non-moly coated bullets. Maximum load for the 69 Sierra will be about one grain higher. You will find for the 223, powders such as IMR 4895, AA2495 (a copy of 4895) and H4895, the best charges for 69’s, 77’s will be around 24.0 grains to a max of 24.5 grains.


I kept my 69 grain bullets at or less than 2800 fps in my service rifles. The 75 Hornady’s, around 2700 fps. If velocities were much faster, I blew primers. If you have leaking or blown primers, cut the load by ½ grain, and continue cutting until the primers stay put. Barrels make a huge difference, I had to cut my loads by at least 1.5 grains going from Wilson match barrels to Krieger barrels. Krieger barrels are tight.

If you plan to shoot good match scores you will have to shoot good match bullets. Currently, most shooters are using 77 SMK’s, many using this bullet out to 600 yards. I still have ammo cans of 68 Hornady’s, 69 SMK’s and 75 Hornady’s, and I shoot HM scores with all of these bullets out to 300 yards. At 600 yards I still shoot HM scores with the 75 H or 80 SMK’s. If we shot in a vacuum, I think the 69’s would be the most accurate all the way out to 600 yards, but at that distacne they are so wind sensitive, the slightest puff of wind and they are sailing to a berth out in the white. I choose bullets that are jump insensitive and all of these are. Jump sensitive bullets are a plague, are to be avoided, as you don’t know just when throat erosion makes them unstable. So for 68’s, 69’s, 75’s, 77’s, load to magazine depth. I am still seating my 80’s off the lands, these are so long they can only be used single shot. I am getting to be of the opinion that the 80’s are not worth the bother at long range. Surplus military bullets are in a word, horrible, and it is not worth wasting the time driving, gas money, to shoot in a match with military bullets.


As for cases, I prefer Lake City out to 300 yards. Lake City cases are excellent cases, hold up well. Look for production over runs of new LC brass. I have been using Winchester cases at Long Range, they are good. I have not seen IMI 223 brass for some time, but it was great. Federal is about the poorest brass to use in a service rifle, the case heads are soft and you will have to junk them in 2 to 3 reloads.


Benchrest reloading techniques are basically a waste in service rifle shooting. Your target is a two MOA thing, if your ammunition shoots 1 MOA, you could potentially shoot perfect scores with all X counts. Trust me, even with sub MOA ammunition, you won’t.

For all my rifle ammunition I size on a Redding T7 turret press. I usually have my case gage on the deck and periodically check case headspace with the gage. I always trim after sizing, I trim to 1.750” plus or minus a bit. I always prime my brass by hand and inspect each case to see the primer is below the case head. For short range ammunition, (out to 300 yards) dump the powder and seat the bullet on my Dillion 550B progressive. I have won medals at Camp Perry with this ammunition. For long range, because the loads are maximum charges, I weigh each charge, then seat the bullet using my Dillion 550 B.

I have been squadded with National Champions whose reloading practices were basically barbaric. You simply have to reload to your psychological level of comfort. If you shoot enough service rifle you will learn that you, not your rifle or your ammunition, you are the greatest source of error in the system. You cannot compensate for poor shooting skills with reloading gimmicks, benchrest reloading practices, even though that is what you read in the popular press and on many forums. Given that everyone at a rifle match will be shooting a match rifle with match bullets, what separates the top shooters from the bottom is shooting skills.

To be totally redundant, I highly recommend the use of cartridge headspace gages for gas guns. One type that I use quite often is the Wilson gage. This web site shows good pictures on how to use Wilson Gages.

http://www.realguns.com/Commentary/comar46.htm

The midsection of the Wilson gage is cut big. It only measures headspace. What the Wilson type gage and the other functionally equivalent gages do not measure is "fatness". This is an important measurement for gas guns and should be controlled. You do not want any resistance to bolt closure due to overlong cases or over fat cases. It is a safety consideration for gas rifles with free floating firing pins, it is a reliability consideration for the other few actions. I have a number of AR 15 match rifles. Match rifles chambers are cut by gunsmiths using commercial reamers. These tend to be much tighter than military, and a little tighter than what is used by major manufacturers. To ensure that I have enough cartridge reduction, I measure headspace and "fatness" using a gage cut with a chamber reamer. Frank White of Compass Lake www.compasslake.com/ cut me a .223 one last year. It was around $35.00. It was cut with the same reamer that cut my match Space gun chamber. Frank and Family are just great people to do business. If sized brass won't drop in, under gravity, I know I have a problem. I also have cut chambers in 30-06 and 308. I use them all the time.

IMR 4895 is my choice also. I use 69 and 77 grain Sierras. Many of the guys I shoot with use Varget. I bought a new barrel a while back, and as Slamfire has said, you have to watch pressures. With my normal 223 loads, I was blowing primers, and tearing off rims. Seems I got a very tight barrel, and wound up 1.5 grains below minimum, before I reached published book velocities. After that perfect function and good accuracy. If I was to make a couple suggestions, establish an OAL, that will fit your "shortest" magazine. Oh you say, they aren't all the same, some are a little shorter. Then load a few rounds with the bullet and powder of your choice, and shoot over a chronograph. Compare your velocities to the book, and work up or down from there. Once I found these two baselines, I put a scope on the rifle and started shooting groups from the bench looking for the best load that functioned properly. Now, that's the way I do it. Most of the other guys usually load what most others are shooting, and go for it. I also use IMR4895 in the 30-06 for Garand and Springfield. 48 grains with a 150-155 bullet, is what guys have been using for I think 100 years. Good Luck, Have Fun and shoot good scores.

Jerry

Great info, thanks!

It's too bad about the Federal brass, I have a pile of once fired Federals on hand. Guess I'll just have to load those up for the bolt action and shoot more groundhogs.

When working with a powder, do you all use a ladder test, start in that 24-25 grain window a shoot a few groups, or throw chicken bones to find the best charge weight?

Thanks again.

quote:

When working with a powder, do you all use a ladder test, start in that 24-25 grain window a shoot a few groups, or throw chicken bones to find the best charge weight?

I simply test in half grain increments and pick the combination that gives me the best accuracy within my velocity criteria.

If it blows primers in hot weather, I cut the load by a half grain. With good bullets, good brass, and a good barrel, the 223 does not seem to be that picky about whether the charge is 24.5 grains or 24.2, 24.3, 24.4, etc. I am certain my dumped charges are plus or minus 0.25 grains or more, and yet, they will stay within the ten ring at 600 yards. If I get my wind and hold right, they stay within the X ring.

As for your Federal brass, shoot it up. I picked up big baggies of once fired Federals from the Marine and AMU shooters at Camp Perry. Once the pockets feel loose, I write on the load data slip, "last firing". Then I shoot and toss.

quote:

As for your Federal brass, shoot it up. I picked up big baggies of once fired Federals from the Marine and AMU shooters at Camp Perry. Once the pockets feel loose, I write on the load data slip, "last firing". Then I shoot and toss.

I might add throw all in a 5 gallon bucket when your done with it sell it for scrap.