Newbie Reloading Questions: Updated with range session

[JPeters218]

So I’m going to get into reloading. I have a tikka .223 and 6 creed. Been shooting factory black hills 77 TMK, and Hornady 108 Eld-M’s.

1) From my research it seems like IMR 8208 is kinda the easy button for .223. I’m good with easy. Don’t need crazy speed out of it. Mostly just going to be an MN whitetail gun.

2) The 6 creed hasn’t been as easy to find a formula for. Going to shoot the 107 TMK’s I think. That will be my antelope and elk gun. IMR 4350 seems to be the most common powder I’ve seen mentioned.

3) As for primers i saw the fed GMM 205m’s a lot for .223 .

4) And CCI 450’s for 6 creed. Do those sound about right?

And as for brass, I unfortunately haven’t been keeping it so I don’t have any to start with.

5) I grabbed a bag of Starline .223 today, but my local stores also carry Hornady. I’m completely open to other ideas as well

6) As for 6 creed, my only local option is Hornady. Open to suggestions for ordering as well. The thought of paying over $1 apiece for just brass for some brands seems a little crazy to me, but if that’s the thing to do, I’m open to it.

I don’t expect to get deep into the reloading weeds. Just want to be able to load whatever bullet I want.

 

[huntsd]

When I started loading my tikka 223 I was a newb. Couldn’t get it to shoot over varget. Tried xbr/ 77tmk as recommended on here and it hammered. It doesn’t produce great es/sd but I don’t care. Here is 500 yards the other day

 

[Taudisio]

So I’m going to get into reloading. I have a tikka .223 and 6 creed. Been shooting factory black hills 77 TMK, and Hornady 108 Eld-M’s.

1) From my research it seems like IMR 8208 is kinda the easy button for .223. I’m good with easy. Don’t need crazy speed out of it. Mostly just going to be an MN whitetail gun.

2) The 6 creed hasn’t been as easy to find a formula for. Going to shoot the 107 TMK’s I think. That will be my antelope and elk gun. IMR 4350 seems to be the most common powder I’ve seen mentioned.

3) As for primers i saw the fed GMM 205m’s a lot for .223 .

4) And CCI 450’s for 6 creed. Do those sound about right?

And as for brass, I unfortunately haven’t been keeping it so I don’t have any to start with.

5) I grabbed a bag of Starline .223 today, but my local stores also carry Hornady. I’m completely open to other ideas as well

6) As for 6 creed, my only local option is Hornady. Open to suggestions for ordering as well. The thought of paying over $1 apiece for just brass for some brands seems a little crazy to me, but if that’s the thing to do, I’m open to it.

I don’t expect to get deep into the reloading weeds. Just want to be able to load whatever bullet I want.

1.) IMR 8208xbr with the gold label, yes
2.) Hodgedon H4350 is the powder of choice for creedmoor cases. Slightly different.
3/4.) Primers are pretty close and difficult to differentiate, I would stick with anything from CCI or Federal. I have used Winchester with no issues, haven’t tried Remington, but I’m sure they are fine too.
5/6.) Brass is very subjective. Depending who you ask, but generally you have the “high end” lapua/alpha, “medium” Peterson/adg/others I can’t remember, and “low end” Hornady/federal/winchester/starline/nosler.
Depending on the person you ask each brand can move spot to spot, in reality all the brands can make mistakes, all of the brands can put out a perfect batch. Some can be softer than others, some have more case capacity, some have longer brass life. I wouldn’t worry about it. I’ve shot itty bitty groups with Hornady brass in my 6creed.

Just find a safe and repeatable routine with reloading, and know that you are making more consistent ammo than factory stuff can achieve. It’s time consuming, you need to pay attention, but I find it very meditative.

 

[JPeters218]

1.) IMR 8208xbr with the gold label, yes
2.) Hodgedon H4350 is the powder of choice for creedmoor cases. Slightly different.
3/4.) Primers are pretty close and difficult to differentiate, I would stick with anything from CCI or Federal. I have used Winchester with no issues, haven’t tried Remington, but I’m sure they are fine too.
5/6.) Brass is very subjective. Depending who you ask, but generally you have the “high end” lapua/alpha, “medium” Peterson/adg/others I can’t remember, and “low end” Hornady/federal/winchester/starline/nosler.
Depending on the person you ask each brand can move spot to spot, in reality all the brands can make mistakes, all of the brands can put out a perfect batch. Some can be softer than others, some have more case capacity, some have longer brass life. I wouldn’t worry about it. I’ve shot itty bitty groups with Hornady brass in my 6creed.

Just find a safe and repeatable routine with reloading, and know that you are making more consistent ammo than factory stuff can achieve. It’s time consuming, you need to pay attention, but I find it very meditative.

Well I know my rifle can shoot the Hornady brass. Its shot plenty of MOA groups with the Hornady ELD Match ammo. That stuff just varies in speed so much. My current stash is like 150 fps slower than the last. So maybe that answers my question about which brass to use for the 6…

 

[Taudisio]

Well I know my rifle can shoot the Hornady brass. Its shot plenty of MOA groups with the Hornady ELD Match ammo. That stuff just varies in speed so much. My current stash is like 150 fps slower than the last. So maybe that answers my question about which brass to use for the 6…

Yea, just get 3 boxes of the match ammo it likes, practice with it and save the brass, you have 60 pieces to reload.

 

[MCGHeel]

I had UM load the “rokslide special” 223 8208 xbr and 77 tmks. 2.5” and larger groups from my t3x. I started reloading, threw in Staball match, longer coal and groups now at 1” for 10+ shots. Point is, if combo doesn’t work right off the bat, change one component at a time to find something that does. For me, it was powder. Happy happy now


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[JPeters218]

Update time:

.223
-I loaded 25 rd of 23.5gr of XBR 8208 at 2.264” with 77 TMK’s in Starline .223 brass, GM205m primer
-Avg of 2702 fps (16” barrel)
-SD of 22
-ES of 75
- 10 rd group of 1.8” (bot left on pic)

I also shot up the rest of my black hills loaded 77 TMK’s (5.56)
- 35 shot avg of 2724
- SD of 24
- ES of 112 (Min 2656, max 2768)
- Shot a 10 rd group starting with cool barrel that measured 0.9”, and a 10 rd group on a hot barrel (shots 26-35 in a row) that measured 0.87” (top right)

My thoughts: Do I just find another box of the same lot Black hills ammo and use that for my hunting ammo? And just load practice ammo myself?
Open to suggestions here of course


6 creed
There wasn’t as much of a common recipe for this. So I researched as best as a I could.
Book max was 41.3gr of h4350

I loaded 10 at book max at .030 off the lands (as best as I could measure at least lol) 2.874” Coal, 107 TMK, CCI Br-2 primer, Hornady brass
-Avg of 2839 (18” barrel)
- SD of 23
- ES of 67
- No pressure signs that I could tell. Easy bolt lift, no extractor marks
- 10rd group size of 1.3”. Mostly vertical dispersion (middle group)


Also loaded
1 at 41.6gr, 2843 fps
1 at 41.9gr, 2901 fps. Also no pressure signs.

For reference the last 4 factory 108 EldM’s I had averaged 2741, with an ES of 120. Didn’t shoot a group with it but historically it’ll shoot an MOA 10 shot group

Open to suggestions here. Not super happy with that group but it measures a little better than it looks


Summary: Happy nothing blew up, but not super happy with groups. I’m using the Lee challenger press kit, with their powder dispenser and beam scale