I think I may have stumbled into a pretty good deal....fella that I'm getting it from says he's just got too many barrels (wish I had that problem) and this one has taken a backseat to some other calibers for too long.

Here's what I've got coming;

1. New (fired just 15 times with factory 223 ammo) 14" blue TC factory Contender barrel chmabered in 223 A.I.

2. New / unused Lee dies.

3. 100 pcs of brand new bagged Winch. 223 brass.

4. 200 Hornady 55 gr. bullets.

5. New mounted Burris base and rings.

All for $235.00 shipped.

Anyone have or ever had a 223 A.I. and if so what were your impressions ?

I'm going to give the 55 gr. Hornadys a try first, any "must try" powders come to mind ?

I've never owned a set of Lee dies simply because I heard many, many moons ago that they were inferior to RCBS and Redding....that true ?

Ike

I have a scoped 223 AI barrel for my contender also 14 inches long. Well under 1 inch 3 shot groups off the bench at 100 yards is easy with it.

Lee dies work fine however, unlike RCBS & Reddng dies which I prefer and have lifetime warranties, Lee dies only have a 2 year warranty.

Well Ike, I have fired a grand total of 3 rounds through a .223 AI. Those were my handloads using Military LC Brass, 55gr. Nosler Ballistic Tips with 25.5grs. H-4895 Powder (the same load I use in my Super 14 .223 & my Bushmaster AR).

For some reason the cases weren't forming completely but yet stuck in the chamber. Yep like an idiot I bent the extractor (which T/C replaced). After I put the new extractor in my buddy that owns the barrel put in the safe and it hasn't been out since.

As per the dies, I much prefer RCBS or Redding myself but have loaded a lot of ammo over the years with Lee Dies with excellent results. They do not have the nice finish on them as do RCBS or Redding but I loaded a lot of good accurate ammo with them.

I did have one set of Lee .223 Dies that I wore out. After I had used them to load 2000 to 5000 rounds per year for 10 years or more they no longer sized the necks small enough to properly grip / hold the bullets.

Sounds to me like you got a pretty good buy.

Larry

quote:

Originally posted by IKE:
I think I may have stumbled into a pretty good deal....fella that I'm getting it from says he's just got too many barrels (wish I had that problem) and this one has taken a backseat to some other calibers for too long.

Here's what I've got coming;

1. New (fired just 15 times with factory 223 ammo) 14" blue TC factory Contender barrel chmabered in 223 A.I.

2. New / unused Lee dies.

3. 100 pcs of brand new bagged Winch. 223 brass.

4. 200 Hornady 55 gr. bullets.

5. New mounted Burris base and rings.

All for $235.00 shipped.

Anyone have or ever had a 223 A.I. and if so what were your impressions ?

I'm going to give the 55 gr. Hornadys a try first, any "must try" powders come to mind ?

I've never owned a set of Lee dies simply because I heard many, many moons ago that they were inferior to RCBS and Redding....that true ?

Ike

Ike,

take the mask off before you go outdoors. You stole that setup. You'll love the AI. I got a bunch of PMC stuff and fire-formed all the cases in my AI Encore barrel. Prairie dogs hate the darn thing.