Thread: Best brass?

Going to reload for my tikka 223 fully suppressed, 16inch barrel 8" was planning on starting with hornady amax 75gr with cci small rifle primers no400 ar2206h powder starting load of 20gr max of 21.8 will only be loading to MAG length. Have hornady or federal brass not sure which would be best.

As a side note, took suppressor off for a good clean and fit a new scope and its black on the barrel, cleaned that off but unsure how to clean the insdie of the suppressor, its a hushpwoer fbs aluminium I think

Any thoughts will be great

I've only ever used Norma cases for my Savage Model 12 .233 26" 1:7 twist barrel.
Loads are 80gr A-Max, 24.7 gr ADI2208 with Winchester small rifle primers.
Some cases have be fired 7 times with only cleaning and neck sizing before reloading.

Bottom line I can recommend Norma cases as that's all I've used.

Originally Posted by 223nut

Going to reload for my tikka 223 fully suppressed, 16inch barrel 8" was planning on starting with hornady amax 75gr with cci small rifle primers no400 ar2206h powder starting load of 20gr max of 21.8 will only be loading to MAG length. Have hornady or federal brass not sure which would be best.

As a side note, took suppressor off for a good clean and fit a new scope and its black on the barrel, cleaned that off but unsure how to clean the insdie of the suppressor, its a hushpwoer fbs aluminium I think

Any thoughts will be great

Federal is one of the lowest rated brass.
Lots of work required to tidy it up and quite stiff, even when annealed.

Hornady is good, but if you want to go even better, get Lapua, Nosler or Norma brass.

PPU (Privi Partisan, also sold as Highland) brass is actually quite good too. Even if the factory ammo is dirt cheap.

Just note, stick with one type of brass, don't mix them up.

Clean the suppressor with hot water and dishwashing liquid and a bottle brush (hard to do with a 223 hole though).
Dry it out and store. Don't oil it if its alloy, otherwise it forms crud with the carbon.

Don't store the suppressor on the rifle, take it off when not in use, even overnight at a hut.

Cheers for advice, will use hornady as I have it.
Have never taken sup. Off and been 100-200 through it..... Woops something to change

The fully suppressed rifles like your are especially prone to corrosion caused by the full length can and carbon build up, as the barrel in older model cans isn't isolated from the inside of the can.
If you haven't fired a shot while hunting, you are prob okay to leave it on overnight.
I take my cans off by habit each night.

I despise hornady brass. It seems to vary hugely from OK to complete and utter garbage depending on the batch. Go and buy some Lapua or Norma and save yourself a huge amount of headaches. I would prefer most ex mil brass to either hornady or federal!

Re Hornaday brass - I have some .308 and it would appear that the factory primers are crimped.
When I try to reprime the primers wont even start to enter the pocket.
Anyone else have this problem

Originally Posted by BobGibson

Re Hornaday brass - I have some .308 and it would appear that the factory primers are crimped.
When I try to reprime the primers wont even start to enter the pocket.
Anyone else have this problem

The Hornady match brass tends to be crimped, just remove it with the crimp removal tool, or a countersunk drill bit. A few spins by hand it all that is required, don't use the drill.

Originally Posted by BobGibson

Re Hornaday brass - I have some .308 and it would appear that the factory primers are crimped.
When I try to reprime the primers wont even start to enter the pocket.
Anyone else have this problem

I used my deburring tool and it works well.

Originally Posted by 7x64

I despise hornady brass. It seems to vary hugely from OK to complete and utter garbage depending on the batch. Go and buy some Lapua or Norma and save yourself a huge amount of headaches. I would prefer most ex mil brass to either hornady or federal!

I used lapua and norma exclusively in the past. Started loading hornady for the 7RM and its mean. Your just a hater

Originally Posted by 7x64

I despise hornady brass. It seems to vary hugely from OK to complete and utter garbage depending on the batch. Go and buy some Lapua or Norma and save yourself a huge amount of headaches. I would prefer most ex mil brass to either hornady or federal!

Hornady is absolute garbage. Rate Federal. Had some very good brass with it. All annealed though.

For your setup I'd suggest any brass is Ok as paying for expensive lapua at $170/100 seems pointless.

For a hunting rifle just get what you can afford to use and loose you will get good enough grouping with out busting the bank

Ok guys, finally pulled my finger out and got the press sorted today, reloading for my tikka 223 1 in 8 twist cant remember length and havent got tape handy, with hornady brass 75gr amax projectiles cci small primers 22.5 to 24.5 grains of 2206h going 5 rounds at 0.5 intervals to start with.

Question I have is crimp or not to crimp???

Make that 6 rounds of eachsince I now have 30cases cleaned and primed. Other question is oal, paperwork says 1.760-2.260 mag length is 2.3 should I just load to the langth of mag or play it safe? Only going to be using it for bunnies out to 350-400m and any goats I happen to see. Will prob work on a whitetail load at some point