Newbie Reloading Questions

[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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