Re: What's the best powder to use in a short AR15?

On Mar 20, 12:35 pm, "Jeff" <handwi...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
# On Mar 19, 3:12 pm, sta...@xxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
# # On Mar 19, 6:05 am, "Jeff" <handwi...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
# # # I have a Bushy M4 carbine. What's the best powder to use to get good
# # # velocity and still give the rifle the pressure curve it needs to work
# # # right and last a long time? I will PROBABLY be loading bullets on the
# # # heavier side- say 55-60 grains, but I may also load some lighter stuff
# # # to blast with.
# # #
# # # Thanks!
# # #
# # # -jeff
# # #
# # 55 grs is hardly heavy in .223 and a lot depends on what your barrel
# # twist is. Got a chronograph yet?
#
# I do have a chrony, have had one for years. Great tools! Mess with
# your head, though, if you aren't careful.
#
# I'll be curious to see how fast the 50's I just loaded up are going,
# as well as how fast the cheap (not!) Black HIlls stuff I bought when I
# bought the rifle... my last AR had a long barrel and had good speed,
# but was cumbersome and too much rifle to be spittin' out such a little
# pill! I bet this one puts out quite a fireball, especially with ball
# powders like H335 or H322 or what I just used, W748.
#
# One neat thing is that as long as I don't have to worry about hurting
# the rifle with an improper burn rate, I have 6 or 8 pounds of powder
# I've bought to try for various things, that my books all say should
# work well with 223. It'll be great to use them up and will make for
# some cheap shooting. I do know that you can bend the op-rod on an M1
# Garand or M1a using powders that are not the right pressure curve- too
# much pressure at the gas port- but nobody seems to think that's a
# problem with an AR. Maybe 'cause there's no op rod? :-)
#
# -jeff
#
There's a couple of lengths of gas tubes on shorty ARs out there, if
you've got a longer one, it taps gas off at a lower pressure and won't
beat the innards up as much as the true "M4" version. I usually use
4895 in .223 AR loads just because it burns cleaner than H335. I'm
not running 1000s through at one sitting in full-auto so the all the
objections about "crap being blown back into the action" really don't
apply. If you can duplicate G.I ball ballistics out of that short
barrel and have good functioning and accuracy, I'd say you were done.

See the pics on The Gun Zone site for .223/.5.56 muzzle flash with
various loads and barrel lengths.

Stan


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