"Elvis" 61 grain in the AR 15 thread

Mitty38

Mitty38

Well-Known Member
Bad news...Been fighting with the powder coat bake destroying the bullets.
Good news...thing is I have the mould figured out and am getting better with casting.
Better news... I have about 70 near perfect, very consistent, 59 grain bullets ready to work up the load with.
 
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Spindrift

Spindrift

Well-Known Member
I just placed an order with Arsenal molds myself, today. Decided I wanted to try the little .22cal 45grs slick-sided bullet, primarily for my .222rem. It will probably take a while, these days.
 
Mitty38

Mitty38

Well-Known Member
They are a smaller company and not a lot of people have been getting past the "where can I get primers thing" so you might get lucky. Mine did not take to long.
I am new and do not have a lot to compare too besides Lee. But so far the Quality has impressed me.

Been cleaning on my Bear creek barrel. Getting my AR ready for lead. Assembled an upper with a Faxon Barrel, but decided to go with the old Bear Creek for

thisproject. It having proved itself and being bear steel inside, I thought I might best start a load with an upper I know.
Think the Faxon might be best suited for my hunting upper.

Got a lot of copper fouling out of the Bear Creek. Plus there was a lot of carbon built up in the
chamber, and locking lug area. Want to start with nice fresh clean steel.
 
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Mitty38

Mitty38

Well-Known Member
Ok not a lot of time today but got out to check function.
So basically Elvis 61 grain. Lyman #2 alloy, powder coated and sized to. 224.
16 inch Bear Creek . 223 wild chamber, bare steel barrel, 1 in 8 twist. Genuine colt bolt and carrier. Standard carbine buffer.

At 18 grains of H335, getting a sloppy ker clunk with an occasional hang up. Primers were showing low pressure a bit of unburnt powder in the barrel.
Ran back home and loaded up 6 more at 18.5 throwing the brass to the back but with complete function, a little incomplete burned powder but no un burnt. Nice smooth cycle.
Here are the primers looking good for pressure signs. Which is what others were having issues with under faster powders and bigger harder bullets, as soon as Good function started with this bullet.
IMG_20210414_134143068~2.jpg
So now to load up some more at 18.5 and check accuracy. Plus try and capture a few, to see what they look like.
 
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fiver

fiver

Well-Known Member
relying on powder coat and square bases.

Emmett:
your working in that area where it matters, it all matters.
cases, anneal, neck tension,,, especially the consistency in those areas.
 
Mitty38

Mitty38

Well-Known Member
I was just using any thing I had laying around with a primer in it, till I got to this point.
To get good function. Also make sure I could get some where close to jacket speeds, without pressure problems, in this bullet, with no load data. Basically, just developing a starting point. For an unknown bullet, with no published load data.

But now I am using all Lake City Brass, from this point on. I have several hundred once fired lake city back with the Winchester primers. Primers all the same lot. All weighing very close to each other, and all trimmed the same length.
Have no clue how to anneal proper yet. Have watched videos, but figure I am better off going with same brand once fired for now. Then trying to learn another trade right now.

Still would like to try and figure out how to catch a few of these fired bullets, without much deformation. Want to look them over real good, before I proceed. Any Ideas or suggestions welcome.
 
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Mitty38

Mitty38

Well-Known Member
Will keep you in mind. Thanks.
Kinda been hoping to find someone local to give me a hands on old school pan anneal demonstration.
At the moment I have all my consistent lake city primed, and trimmed, flared already. Like 400 or 500 Lake City alone. Got bored when I ran out of bullets, while waiting on this mould .
The current stock of Brass I am working from may or may not have been annealed. They defiantly have the rainbow.
I got them from Lamar a long, long, time ago when I first started loading for the AR15.
He had sent me quite a bit.
I used and used again, close to 80 of them. But never touched the rest till this project.
I had put the rest back, because I started picking up msc. range brass for my Jacketed loads and was doing well enough with it.
 
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Mitty38

Mitty38

Well-Known Member
Tomme boy said:
Plain base gas check is going to be your friend with that bullet.
Click to expand...
May just well be my end all.

I am doing this to refine my skill more then anything else, so for now seeing how far I can get with the plain base, my alloy, my whits and powder coat alone.

Will defiantly be considering gas checks as an option, for better consistency-groups without pulling out my hair, after I reach my limit with what I have going on now.
Thanks. I much appreciate your input.
 
fiver

fiver

Well-Known Member
everything I sent you was once fired, so your good for a few loads.
the trick is when I say 'things matter' is to observe and observe again.
you know your slightly hardening the cases each time you use them and there will be a point in there where your at the optimum hardness.
fresh annealed usually isn't it, but something like annealed and worked then fired,,, and the second loading,,, is.
your doing what I call sneaking up on it.
first you work a decent load , and then you 'sneak up' on the tension, anneal, case fit etc. just a bit at a time until you have functioning, alloy, feeding, and case fitment just about to the too much side of things but stop just short, or step back after it don't/makes a difference, or it makes a sudden change.

Brad would call it being fiddly, I call it finding my way through the problems.
 
Ian

Ian

Notorious member
Just when those little necks get in the sweet zone, the very next firing the seating pressure and groups are all over the map. Compared with other .22 center-fires, the 5.56x45 is finicky as all get out with anneal and tension.
 
Dimner

Dimner

Named Man
Mitty38 said:
Will keep you in mind. Thanks.
Kinda been hoping to find someone local to give me a hands on old school pan anneal demonstration.
At the moment I have all my consistent lake city primed, and trimmed, flared already. Like 400 or 500 Lake City alone. Got bored when I ran out of bullets, while waiting on this mould .
The current stock of Brass I am working from may or may not have been annealed. They defiantly have the rainbow.
I got them from Lamar a long, long, time ago when I first started loading for the AR15.
He had sent me quite a bit.
I used and used again, close to 80 of them. But never touched the rest till this project.
I had put the rest back, because I started picking up msc. range brass for my Jacketed loads and was doing well enough with it.
Click to expand...
No fancy equipment or process needed.

A candle flame is all you need for basic annealing. I personally use a spirit lamp on all my brass. That way I do not get soot on the necks. Denatured alcholol is what I use for fuel, and my first setup was a small glass raspberry jelly jar. With a cotton string for wick.

I've been doing it this way for 3-4 years.

Here is an article that describes it.

Annealing Rifle Brass | Handloader Magazine

www.handloadermagazine.com www.handloadermagazine.com

This way of annealing has done me very well for my purposes. I'm not doing any benchrest or anything like that, but it works for the results I'm looking for.

Of course, I'd rather have a fancy annealing machine, but with this method I can anneal a couple hundred 556 cases in an evening while watching the tube.
 
CWLONGSHOT

CWLONGSHOT

Well-Known Member
Mitty38 said:
Have no clue how to anneal proper yet. Have watched videos, but figure I am better off going with same brand once fired for now. Then trying to learn another trade right now.
Click to expand...

I posted a video short time back on one way for small volume quick annealing. Simple as a water source and a stand alone propane tank with torch tip. There are other ways this is just one easy one.

 
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