Looking for subsonic .223 data for 80-100g bullets

[sharky47]

First of all, if your going to post back and tell me to "just get a .22 conversion, it's the same thing", do me a favor and stick your tongue in a pencil sharpener. It's about as intelligent as comparing a 40 grain lead .22 to a 80+ grain jacketed bullet. I do already own a .22 conversion.....

Ok, I will be shooting these out of an AR-15. Yes, I know they will not cycle and I am ok with that, I have a .300 Whisper upper for that. I am looking for data to use some kind of fast powder to safely launch a very heavy .223 bullet downrange at around 1050 FPS. The two pistol powders I keep on hand are H-110 and Bullesey - if I could use either of those, that would be awesome, but I don't mind going out and buying what I need.

 

[Bullseye Shooter]

I did some checking and all the cast bullet loads I have start at a minimum of around 1600 fps and that's with around 5.4 grains of Red Dot and slightly more of Unique. No loads with Bullseye and I can see why since the charge would be even less and you might run in to a "flash-over" problem. I'll keep looking.

 

[sharky47]

Thanks, from what I can tell - Red Dot seems to be the powder of choice. I have also heard of people using Trail Boss as well.

 

[Texas1911]

Thanks, from what I can tell - Red Dot seems to be the powder of choice. I have also heard of people using Trail Boss as well.

We used Trail Boss in our .308 Subs and they are very quiet. Drop like a rock, but they are quiet as hell.

 

[sharky47]

"Drop like a rock, but they are quiet as hell."

Heh heh, can you say "fin stabilized"?

 

[Texas1911]

"Drop like a rock, but they are quiet as hell."

Heh heh, can you say "fin stabilized"?

Hells yeah.

Doesn't help that we are using 200 - 220 gr. bullets either, LOL. Lead pencil bullet of doom.

 

[sharky47]

Personally, I LOVE messing with the subsonic stuff - got a 16" .300W upper I built last year. Ordered the barrel without a gasport, chucked it up on the lathe and moved the shoulder back to the pistol position and drilled a port - cycles like a dream and the lopro gas block is hidden under the carbine length free float tube.

But yeah, been turning my own solid bullets for over a year now, going to try some fin-stabilized stuff so it will stabilize regardless of barrel twist. Life is good when you have a CNC machine shop at your disposal.....

 

[Texas1911]

Awesome dude. You should post up some of your work.

I like recoil and noise, it's fun, but listening to the awkward pause between shooting something sub-sonic and it hitting the target is hilarious. I shot a "road sign" in "Mexico" one day with a .22 LR sub-sonic bullet, it took about half a second to get there, but it was audible ... pop ... ding. I wasn't more than 50 yards away from it either, haha.

 

[sharky47]

Was shooting my buddies .300W AR the other day with a F1 can, lobbing them to 500 yards.

The elevation was insane, but honest-to-god - the grouping wasn't half-bad! I also plan on doing some supersonic .223 fin-stabilized projos, I want to know what/if any effect it will have on the bullet when it drops below supersonic.

I will put a bunch of stuff about my bullets on my website very soon, talked to my web design guy last night - can't wait to go live with TGT sponsorship!

 

[Texas1911]

I think with a round nosed bullet you will have decent sub-sonic performance. The problem is when the bullet sheds the shock waves and the flow pattern switches, and the resulting buffeting. The rifle bullets are designed for transonic flight, so when they hit sub-sonic velocities they become unstable. It's the reversal of the old compressibility problem for P51s and P38s in a dive.

 

[iratollah]

Intriguing application you have. With my limited understanding, the 80+gr .223 are used primarily for medium to long range match competition, 600 yards or more. In competition the bullet must remain supersonic at the target, so it will be difficult to find reloading data for subsonic as most using this bullet weight will be loading them on the hot side. Sounds like you need a chronograph and a lot of patience.

OAL for >80gr is longer than magazine length and we try to match seating depth to the particular rifle to achieve max accuracy with the rifle/load.

I had to start reloading the 80gr because commercial ammo was about $1/round and the accuracy and OAL was inconsistent. I used a recipe given to me by one of the top competitors in the state and it worked very well.

 

[baboon]

If I was looking to reload a subsonic .223 I would buy some of Engles & then try & duplicate them.
Engel Ballistic Research