Lee 309-230 and the Little Rifle.

[STIHL]

Finally got around to staring my load development for my little suppressed 300 shorty. Has an 8 inch barrel. Started with a plethora of mixed cases. Sized and deprimed, trimmed all to 2.355-2.360. Pried them up and loaded a test run with 8.0 grains H108, they wouldn’t quite cycle the bolt, bumped the charge up to 8.8 grains and we are in the money now. Bolt cycles and locks, suppressed or not, and they are going down range at what I think is about 1000-1050 FPS I’ll verify this on another day. It’s like standing in a sauna here today. 100% humidity, you can see the steam in the air, anyway. I shot a test batch of 25 rounds this afternoon 10 for function and 15 for accuracy tests. A beer can at 20 yards is child’s play free handed.

So the rifle is a built by me 300 blackout, it is stamped as an SBR and the suppressor is also stamped, but due to my own judgement I won’t post a pic of it. It is built off of a Anderson lower and upper it has a magpul grip and stock, the lower has a 3.5 pound CMC trigger in it which actually breaks at 3. It has a Aero precision hand surf and I went with an 8” CMMG barrel pistol length gas system of course. The bolt carrier group is a spikes tactical. It is topped off with a bushnell red dot and a set of magpul flip up irons and an inforce 800 lumen light. The suppressor is a silencerco hybrid, used as a direct thread. It is an armadillo eradicating machine.

The load worked out to this.
Case: mixed
primer: Win SR
Powder: H108 surplus
Bullet: Lee 309-230 powder coated and sized to .309
Charge weight 8.8gr.
COAL 2.200-2.210 probably powder thickness on nose for the variation.

The H108 is some of the best metering powder I have ever used. They drop from 8.0-8.08 in the Honrnady AP.
I was on a nit so stable rest and the sun has fell to my front and I lost my cheek weld on the left group. The right group I believe the flyer was the 5th round off the follower of the mag. I have noticed the last round in the mag always has a different point of impact out of any AR style rifle I have. Guess it’s the difference in the drag of the follower in the mag than a brass case.
All in all I am happy with the load, going to load 225 five or take more and we will see what they do at 50 yards.

 

[popper]

Same powder as AA#9?

 

[STIHL]

It’s really close, it’s actually a Hodgdon surplus powder, there is no data much except a data sheet I have found referenced and the data cross referenced with data in printed manuals comes out dang near dead nuts with AA#9 data. I’ve used AA#9 data in 357 and it follows to what I would expect from the loadings. I started at 8 grains which is also jacketed data with a 225grainer, with lead and PC my pressures should be substantially lower, but these bullets have age hardened to around 25 BHN. 9.2 grains is the book max for a jacketed bullet with AA#9 behind it. They cycle great and are still subsonic. Very quiet out of the can, these casts shoot just as good or better than the 220 plated I have shot in the past.

I am excited to see why the 50 yard results are.

 

[fiver]

I use data-9 powder with the RCBS 165gr. silhouette in my bolt gun at more like 1500 fps.
it's a sweet little load. [and right at the upper limit, IMO, but accurate]
good to know I can lower it if I need to.

 

[STIHL]

What are you calling data 9 powder? @fiver

 

[fiver]

white jug of powder with the words data-9 on it.

accurate used to release powder like that, and they'd also send out commercial powders with different numbers on them.
for instance C-1380 was basically bulk AA-4100.
data-9 was a powder super similar to AA-9 [but some different] so you'd basically have to work your own loads using number-9 data from a book.
each lot might be slightly faster or slightly slower than canister number-9, but it was certainly a lot cheaper.

 

[Spindrift]

Good results, @STIHL !

 

[STIHL]

Gotcha, this is similar, it came with a data sheet for several loads, 357,44, a 410 load and something else, but all it gave was max loads with 3-4 bullet weights. That was all. You basically have to do the same thing. From all the info I found on it talking to several folks on the reloading forum it all comes out to AA 9 data. I did my due diligence and came to the conclusion myself. It’s a bit scary wading off into the unknown with no published data on it. I finally settle on the 8 grains as a start point. I’m not going to lie, the first round I turned loose I did it single handed into the bank with my face turned away from it just in case I made a miscalculation. It all went fine and sticking to the back down and work up mentality got me to a safe working load. The load is very mild, I know primers aren’t a good way to see pressure signs, but I’ve loaded enough to know they do tell part of the story, these primes all looked perfect, still have round cup edges and a nice firing pin strike so I’m not concerned with any pressure issues. The recoil falls within what I know the rifle does with a plated bullet and H110, so I’m not concerned with it at all. Also the fact the bolt wouldn't cycle at 8 grains also says it was under charged, not generating enough gas pressure, that I knew I was safe to jump it up. 8.8 came out to be 5% under max book so that’s where I decided to land on my next attempt. Fortunately it all seems to function fine. The next 200 rounds will tell the tale and I’ll know if it will function reliably. 50 yard accuracy tests should give me a very clear picture of what the load is capable of. If I can rig a 8 or 10 inch plate at 100 yards with it. It is minute of critter for me and an armadillo or a beaver doesn’t stand a chance at that range if I do my part.

 

[fiver]

yeah,,, now I wish I'd have sucked it up and bought a bunch of their data powders back when it was almost at giveaway prices.

 

[STIHL]

I missed the days of the almost free prices. Im glad I stocked up when powder was cheaper and I dont have to worry about it for a while. Give me time to see if its going to come down anytime soom.

 

[RBHarter]

Im still working Dad's 12# can of Unique before I dig into the other newer 8# jugs .

I wish I had bought more of the W857 , and a couple of jugs of I4350 .......
I did buy enough H322 and H4198 to hold me a while . I do have a full jug of the former 2 .