Question on reloading 223 Remington

[R81]

If reloading data for .223 Remington is done with a 24" barrel, do I need to adjust the powder charge
weights (min/max) if my rifle has a 16" barrel? Or do I just use the loading data as written? Thanks.

 

[85MikeTPI]

You won’t get the same performance the published load reports, but you shouldn’t have to adjust it

If the data is for a bolt gun and you’re using an AR, there may be other specs of the load (COAL, etc) that you need to pay attention to. Always start on the low side and work towards the max

 

[spoon059]

If you are attempting to get the same performance in terms of fps velocity, then you need to adjust.

 

[outrider58]

A lot of .223 Rem data uses older specs such as 1:12" rifling etc. If you are working up loads, start low and ladder up. Watch for the usual signs of over pressure and chrono as you go.

 

[brianns]

If you are attempting to get the same performance in terms of fps velocity, then you need to adjust.

Just to add: Be careful if you want to get the performance in a 16" barrel that you see in an upper range of data tested in a 24" barrel you might be unable to do that safely. You can't just think to add powder to push it harder, especially if you are looking at the upper regions of data tested in a longer barrel than what you have.

 

[KRC]

If by "performance" you mean muzzle velocity only, then the above info is good. However, if you are hand-loading, you may want to consider loading for improved precision rather than speed. If optimizing precision is your goal, while staying within published powder specs is strongly advised, you will want to adjust your powder load to whatever gives you optimum precision in YOUR rifle. FYI - my .223's all show maximum precision well within published ranges, with none at maximum charges for 55, 69 or 77 gr. bullets.

As you are likely aware, other loading factors such as powder and bullet type, seating depth and neck tension are also parameters to be attenuated to achieve optimum precision.

 

[MTplinker]

I’ll really blow your mind. One might say you can “adjust” for shorter barrel length with your powder selection. After you’ve decided on a bullet grain weight, you can consider which of the useful powders is faster or slower on the burn rate charts.

If you’re using a short barrel (pistol or carbine length), maybe stick to powders that will burn up efficiently vs slower ones? In your rifle, a 16 inch barrel, I think you’d end up just picking the powder to generally work well with the bullet weight; slower powder for heavier bullets and little faster powders for light 55 gr.

Agree with all the above posts. Performance has many aspects. If you just consider velocity, then yes, I’d expect your loads out of 16 in bbl will have lower muzzle velocity vs the published data. You can work up increasing charge weights up to the published data’s max while observing for pressure signs in hope of approaching the published velocity.

 

[lazarus]

I’ll really blow your mind. One might say you can “adjust” for shorter barrel length with your powder selection. After you’ve decided on a bullet grain weight, you can consider which of the useful powders is faster or slower on the burn rate charts.

If you’re using a short barrel (pistol or carbine length), maybe stick to powders that will burn up efficiently vs slower ones? In your rifle, a 16 inch barrel, I think you’d end up just picking the powder to generally work well with the bullet weight; slower powder for heavier bullets and little faster powders for light 55 gr.

Agree with all the above posts. Performance has many aspects. If you just consider velocity, then yes, I’d expect your loads out of 16 in bbl will have lower muzzle velocity vs the published data. You can work up increasing charge weights up to the published data’s max while observing for pressure signs in hope of approaching the published velocity.

Some of that, yeah. Switching to a faster powder with the shorter barrel might get you a higher velocity than a slower powder in the manual.

Often times you might see something like X slow powder develops 2900fps with a 69gr bullet (but that's with a 24" barrel). And Y faster powder is only 2750fps with said 69gr bullet out of that 24" barrel. So you'd think, let me go with the slower powder because I get a lot more velocity. But then out of the 16" barrel you see 2600fps from powder X, but powder Y generates 2650fps. Wait, what? Its FASTER than the other powder? The manual shows that X powder gets you a lot more velocity.

Not so once you start changing barrel lengths.

But to OP, if you are shooting it out of a 16", you should expect to see around 200-300fps lower velocities than the published figures in reloading manuals. Most say the test platform, and most are 24" fixed barrel assemblies. Not 16" semi-automatic.