Thread: Hunting and fishing .223 ammo

Anyone used the bulk ammo pack you can get? 50 rounds for $50
Just wondering if it is even worth it, or will it be all over the show? Mostly shooting wallabies, goats and the occasional fallow. I bought a pack today as it was clearly the most cost effectiv e solution, however now rethinking the purchase.

Originally Posted by CamFlatt

Anyone used the bulk ammo pack you can get? 50 rounds for $50
Just wondering if it is even worth it, or will it be all over the show? Mostly shooting wallabies, goats and the occasional fallow. I bought a pack today as it was clearly the most cost effectiv e solution, however now rethinking the purchase.

You bought from them..................

Originally Posted by 257weatherby

You bought from them..................

Ha yeah was given a voucher for Christmas

Originally Posted by CamFlatt

Ha yeah was given a voucher for Christmas

You are excused!

Originally Posted by CamFlatt

Ha yeah was given a voucher for Christmas

I got one of those bloody things too!

Originally Posted by 257weatherby

You bought from them..................

Oh My son, how could you? ......The Lord will forgive you but say 10 Hail Mary's and put $50 n the plate next Sunday.

Originally Posted by Kiwi Sapper

Oh My son, how could you? ......The Lord will forgive you but say 10 Hail Mary's and put $50 n the plate next Sunday.

Attachment 131585

@Kiwi Sapper Moonlighting as a minister of the Church hmm?

Lightning bolt in, Three, Two, One.

Glad I wasn't standing beside you.

You smell burnt.

I got a 250 pack off them.....before they threw us under the bus.

Go ok in my premium rifle.....Savage Axis. Inch at a hundy is good enough for me.
They go bang, Wally falls over. Bambi drops on the spot.

You'll need to compare your 223's twist rate with the weight of the projectile, and see whether they're a good match.

Ultimately the decider is how they work in you rifle.

Originally Posted by Max Headroom

You'll need to compare your 223's twist rate with the weight of the projectile, and see whether they're a good match.

Ultimately the decider is how they work in you rifle.

55s should suit any twist rate. Overstabilisation is a myth nowadays with modern bullet manafucturing. I shoot a 1 in 8 twist 308. It likes anything from 155s to 225s. Have had a 155 load shoot at. 75moa a 225 load shoot the same. And a factory 168 load shoot 1 moa. I'm sure I could get 110s to group but don't see the need. So while heaviest may not shoot in a slow twist lighter bullets may shoot in a fast twist.

More specifically the h and f rounds are Belmont produced and known for case head separation. My ar used to rip case heads of regularly even when gased right down And had two case heads removed by a ruger m77 along with quite a few cracked cases.
I gave the last 100 away.

Originally Posted by Stocky

More specifically the h and f rounds are Belmont produced and known for case head separation. My ar used to rip case heads of regularly even when gased right down And had two case heads removed by a ruger m77 along with quite a few cracked cases.
I gave the last 100 away.

@Stocky - this is a bit of a revelation to me. I've been reloading ADI cases for the last 18 months or so and now that some of them are getting into their 4th or 5th cycle I've started to get fatigue failures. I was wondering what I was doing wrong but it sounds like this is a well-known "thing". I had a couple of early case failures on my AR too... not that I blamed the AR for that... but thinking more about it I can understand how the AR was a little harsh when compared to the bolt action.

This photo shows the various degrees of failures, from just the faintest of line on the case to complete separation:



As you can imagine I've become a lot more fussy with rejections and after reading your comment on this thread I think I might retire the ADI brass after 3 cycles.

Aside from that the Belmont loads shoot very well. I've been emulating the Belmont factory ammo by reloading these with the Belmont 747 Action Rifle Powder (26.6 gr) and the Hornady 55gr SP pills to a COL of 2.230" and getting excellent results in all rifles.

Originally Posted by planenutz

@Stocky - this is a bit of a revelation to me. I've been reloading ADI cases for the last 18 months or so and now that some of them are getting into their 4th or 5th cycle I've started to get fatigue failures...................

Out of interest, when you anneal do you do full or neck case?

Originally Posted by Kiwi Sapper

Out of interest, when you anneal do you do full or neck case?

Good question @Kiwi_Sapper I have only been annealing the necks. When I first started on the .223 I wasn't annealing them at all... too many to do... didn't think there was too much of a need etc., but after researching things a bit more saw there might be some value and it might add longevity. To be fair I never had a neck split on any of the .223 brass I used - and to date (either with our without the annealing) I still haven't had a neck split. I'm not running hot loads at all, just a direct copy of the factory stuff.

I still wonder why these fatigue cracks occur consistently in the same location. I have had a couple of PPU cases let go too (again after 5 or 6 cycles... they seem to last longer than the ADI brass) and like the ADI the PPU was in the same location. I put it down to this being the normal fatigue point for the .223 rounds but haven't researched it any further. I was also wondering if this was a "hot point" - the location of concentrated heat as a result of the Primer plasma hitting the wall of the case or something super-technical like that. I have no idea but I would love to hear from anybody else who can shed some light on it for me. Learning is a fun part of reloading.

Originally Posted by planenutz

@Stocky - this is a bit of a revelation to me. I've been reloading ADI cases for the last 18 months or so and now that some of them are getting into their 4th or 5th cycle I've started to get fatigue failures. I was wondering what I was doing wrong but it sounds like this is a well-known "thing". I had a couple of early case failures on my AR too... not that I blamed the AR for that... but thinking more about it I can understand how the AR was a little harsh when compared to the bolt action.

This photo shows the various degrees of failures, from just the faintest of line on the case to complete separation:

Attachment 131584

As you can imagine I've become a lot more fussy with rejections and after reading your comment on this thread I think I might retire the ADI brass after 3 cycles.

Aside from that the Belmont loads shoot very well. I've been emulating the Belmont factory ammo by reloading these with the Belmont 747 Action Rifle Powder (26.6 gr) and the Hornady 55gr SP pills to a COL of 2.230" and getting excellent results in all rifles.

In all fairness I gave my brass away with a warning. I blamed the AR but after a bolt action had a separation I called it. Only takes that one time it manages to close up with the front half of the last bit of brass still in the chamber and your "savings" go out the window.

To be completely fair it shot well in both and although I only shot a few goats and a fallow it performed fine.

I use to use it in my tikka, but noticed in one batch that a couple of cases had a ring around it half way down between the neck and base after firing so I gave it a bit of a bend and it snapped in half at the mark. Stopped using it after that.

Switched to hornady 50 packs which are about $58 from memory from farmlands with a shareholder discount. Good stuff for the price.

Going to switch to Belmont tho as I want to use the 62grain sp projectiles.

My 2c.