New to Reloading question

[zeus50]

Greetings,

i finally bought all the tools need for reloading. only thing left is primers/powders/bullets.

I'm going to start on .223 loads for my stevens .223.

The other day i shot hornady varmint express 55gr vmax loads throught it and was able to get all my shots through the same hole.

So my question:

How do I find the load for these? I obviously know to start with 55gr vmax bullets. What about primers and powder?

Thanks,

Z

[Flash]

Greetings,

i finally bought all the tools need for reloading. only thing left is primers/powders/bullets.

I'm going to start on .223 loads for my stevens .223.

The other day i shot hornady varmint express 55gr vmax loads throught it and was able to get all my shots through the same hole.

So my question:

How do I find the load for these? I obviously know to start with 55gr vmax bullets. What about primers and powder?

Thanks,

Z

Well, IN THEORY, if you were able to pull a bullet from a factory load, examine and PROPERLY IDENTIFY the powder, and ascertain the charge weight, you would be well on your way to establishing some starting point. If you have chronograph data of that very accurate load, it would be an advantage, also. You would want to duplicate that velocity, if you could.

Weighing the powder would not be much of a stretch, but proper identification of the powder will likely be your most difficult task, as many powders look just like a lot of the others. Most of the "experts" cannot tell one ball powder from another simply by looking at them.

But if you are certain of the powder's identity, back off the charge weight by about 10%, then check about three or four different loading manuals for that bullet and powder combination to verify that you really are at a safe stating point before you even throw the first charge.

Primers will not be too much of an issue, as the loading manuals will all specify primer relating to your powder and bullet choice, especially noting the difference between magnum and standard primers.

But that is "IN THEORY". Practical experience suggests that you should just start with the bullet, a couple of loading manuals, and probably start with VARGET, Hornady's very popular powder for that cartridge, and do the work-up for your gun/load combo in the usual manner. Begin at the recommended starting load. Keep accurate records, and if possible, use a chronograph. (See paragraph #1) and when you duplicate the velocities of the good factory load you likely will be duplicating the accuracy, too.

Flash

[RobW]

I'd start by calling Hornady tech support.

--RobW

[Posit]

Don't think you can duplicate the factory load - they usually won't disclose the recipe.

However - you have one important piece of information in the length of the factory cartridge... use that for your reloads. Agree Varget is the powder of choice, and I use Fed primers in my .223 (with 55g V-max).