I think it is later in the day here lebbenB. I already had my coffee . What do you use to throw charges? I am using a digital scale that I check every 5 rounds or so. I had some guys tell me they don't use a scale except to set it up then they use a volume thrower. That's always been a question in my mind. Is going by weight or volume better?
I use a scale and check my charge every 5 rounds as well(I'm totally paranoid about charge weight.) I go by weight in grains since that's what my load data is expressed in.
While I am on here, I am looking for a good powder to load 5.56 with the xm855 62 gr bullet. I am not looking to match the mil spec performance, just to give a consistent round for my AR15. Anybody have any advice?
There's a lot of good powders out there. From Hodgdon there's H335, H4895, and Varget. Winchester makes W748. IMR has 4895, 4064 and XBR8208. Alliant makes AR-Comp and Reloader 15. The best thing about these powders is they can be used for both .223 AND .308.
Others have had good luck with VitaVuori powders, but I've never used any of their products.
I am picking reloader 15 more because I found a reloading store that has a good stock of it. I am thinking along the lines of starting with a 24.5 grain charge, maybe even a 24 gr. if point of impact is off from my milspec xm855 I am not too worried, once I get the differential in my notebook I can adjust. Any thoughts?
Rule of thumb for load development is to take the given charge weight and subtract 10% to get the starting load. Then add .05-.10 grain until you find the sweet spot for your rifle/handgun. If you're just making plinking ammo, obviously you don't have to be as persnickety as long as the rounds aren't showing any over-pressure signs.
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