Repeatability is the most important aspect of good down range performance.
By Vernon Smith
Well I was asked by Rob Behr at Ramshot to write an article about reloading for varmints and invasive species is the southern United States. This means coyotes and feral pigs to me. A little history first. I loaded my first shell in 1976 for the brand new 243 Winchester Weatherby Vanguard, my father had given me for Christmas. One of my buddies, Dave Calvert, worked at the local sporting goods store and was an accomplished hand loader. He helped me get set up. I had granddad’s old RCBS “A2” press and Lyman 55 powder measure. I bought a scale, dies, shell holder, bullets, powder, Lyman Cartridge Length Gauge and a Lyman Manual.
I was off and making very accurate ammo with a very minimal set up. How could this be done without calipers, micrometers, run-out tools you ask. By being very consistent in how I loaded my shells. In other words loading my ammo in a very repeatable fashion. Repeatability is the most important aspect of good down range performance.
I don’t load for shooting contests I load for hunting and as such the best accuracy you can obtain is important but ammo that will cycle in your gun is a very important consideration. My guess is most hand loaders that really get out to the field have had at least one issue where their hand loaded ammunition would not function properly in their gun because they were striving for the ultimate accuracy. I had an issue a while back where I seated bullets very close to the lands and grooves of the barrel. At the range I loaded them in the magazine and they functioned properly. However, because of slight differences in manufacturing tolerance the ogive of the bullets varied a few thousandth’s and on my first hunt I got a bullet stuck in the barrel when I was ejecting live rounds at the truck . I have been with friends that have had other problems like neck sizing and not verifying the rounds would chamber. This screws up a hunt quick. After my issue I started measuring factory ammo and found that it is generally much shorter than the recommended maximum length (COL) shown in loading manuals. I guess they know some things we don’t. Cycle the ammunition you plan to hunt with before the big day.
Another issue for me these days is that my three daughters have all married outdoorsman who hunt and fish with my son and me. One of my goals recently is to get a dedicated turret for 223 ammunition set up on my Redding T-7. This is to support the guns in my family by speeding up the loading process. Up to now I have been using one of my single stage presses for this but I am loading for three AR’s, one Mini-14, three bolt actions, and a Handi rifle. Monthly I am loading 250 to 400 rounds. Most of them are shot at paper but all are designed for hunting.
Another concern has been the numbers and types of components that I am purchasing to support everybody’s habit. I purchased some X-Terminator about 5 years ago to try because it is a very fine spherical powder, would feed consistently through my powder measures, and was cost effective. X-Terminator also has a burn rate that produces a high performance load for bullets weighing from 40 grains to 70 grains in 223/5.56 rifles . After a year of testing I was convinced that “X-Terminator” fit my hunting needs and I have settled on it as the “Smith Family” standard 223 powder.
I went through the same process with bullets but when you have the number of hunters in one family that I have, zeroing in on one or two different bullets is hard to do. We have as a group settled in on the 22 caliber Sierra 65 grain Game King as the standard for all our 1 in 9” twist guns. Our bolt guns all have 1 in 12” twist barrels and we are using either 40 grain or 50 grain Nosler Ballistic Tips. All the 1 in 9” twist guns we have are automatics with the exception of one Handi Rifle and I am using Remington 7 ½ primers for all of them. I am using CCI 400’s for the bolt guns. There is no good technical reason for this other than I have large quantities of both and I am trying to cycle them through the inventory. My opinion is that X-Terminator doesn’t really need a magnum primer like a 7 1/2 but you may want one for cold weather applications or for use in automatic rifles.
The loading process for the 223 Remington is straight forward but I do have some thoughts on tailoring you loads for hunting. First I keep all the brass for each gun separated and I keep records for each batch. Of course anybody that has an auto knows that you lose some every time you go out and this is a real problem with the Mini-14. I use loading dies from all the manufacturers and they are all excellent. RCBS and Lee are the most common on my bench. Lee has some very innovative products that I use a lot and deserve some comment.
First, for my bolt guns I use the Lee Collet Neck Sizing die. I can usually neck size twice before I go through a full length resize and I can get at least seven loadings through this brass without having any issues. I am also a proponent of crimping hunting rounds. I prefer the “Lee Factory Crimp Die” to others because it is easy to adjust and is very reasonably priced. It has the advantage working with any bullet not just bullets that have a cannelure.Using Lee Factory Crimp Dies
Finally, I use the Lee Charging die in conjunction with a Lee Disc powder measure to drop charges on my high volume loads. It is very easy to open up the plastic discs with some sand paper to drop the exact charge you need. This really speeds up your loading process because your measure is permanently set up and ready to go .One of the things I do to the disc measure is to remove the return spring and push the measure down manually to recharge the chamber. The spring in the disc measure is set up for use with heavier pistol brass. The die mouth can damage the mouth of the brass on cases with thin brass like the 22 Hornet and 223 Remington. I have found that the variation in charge weight is less than 0.20 grains. All of the 1 in 9” twist guns I am loading for shoot very accurately with a 24 grain charge of Ramshot X-Terminator and are loaded in this fashion. The attached photograph shows my T-7 set up with the charging die and disc measure. You can also see the same arrangement set of on my “Lee Classic Cast Turret Press “set up for 44 magnums.
I personally have four rifles chambered in 223. Two have 1 in 12” twists and two have 1 in 9” twists. My Handi rifle and my AR have the 1 in 9” barrels. I have had both guns for years but have shot the AR very little. I decided to fix that problem because my son-in-law’s property has been invaded by feral pigs in the last few years .This past spring I put a “1- 4X” Bushnell AR Scope on my Bushmaster. I made this selection specifically because most of my coyote hunting gives me shots at less than a hundred yards and this is also true for the feral pigs I have been killing. I have been loading my handy rifle and my son-in-law’s Mini-14 and AR’s for years with the following components:
Sierra 65 grain Game King
Remington 7 1/2 primers
24 grains of Ramshot X-Terminator
I decided to start with this load in my AR and luckily it shot groups around an inch at 100 yards. As you can see my AR is a basic M-4 configuration Bushmaster with no special accouterments on it and 1 MOA groups are probably as good as it or I can shoot. As you can see from the picture I killed about a 40 pound piglet at about 50 steps. I was able to slip right up to the field and take my pick. There were some very large pigs out there but it was very hot and I wanted to shoot something I could easily carry back. I put the Game King right through the right side of the head and as you can see it came out behind the left ear. Bullet performance was perfect exiting with about a ¾” wound. The pig dropped in his tracks and shook his back leg. This pig was killed near Brookhaven Mississippi so you can have an idea of where we are hunting. However, the delta area “up and down” the Mississippi River is the best place in state if you have the opportunity to come this way.
One of my best friends is always talking about the five “P’s”, “Prior Planning Prevents Poor Performance”. This is always true when hunting and allowed me to have a very successful afternoon hunt in late April of 2015. Be consistent with your loading, practice your shooting, speak the truth, love your family and you will be rewarded. My oldest grandson is eight and this past Christmas I had the pleasure of giving him a brand new Marlin Model 60 “22” for Christmas. Considering the ammo he has expended in the last few months the squirrels in Arkansas will have no chance next fall.
Vernon Smith
Collierville,Tennessee
vernon.smithtech@gmail.com