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After reviewing a multitude of threads from this forum and collecting load data suggestions from prominent members I loaded two bullets the Hornady ELD-X 143 gr and the A-max 123 gr with CFE 223. Yesterday morning I was at the range and tested the load and her is my report.
Note that I use my posts on forums as my handloading notes for future reference so they might be tediously detailed some times.
Some preliminary data:
All the cases I use for the following data are new Hornady brass. The reason for this is that I just got a new Grendel and thus I don't have enough fired brass yet.
Case length: I use the Lee case trimmer to trim brass to 1.512 inch.
Case resizing: I use the Lee full length resizing dies and I always full length resize new and old brass. I check the result with the Wilson gauge for QA. I have an AR style rifle.
Case capacity: the case capacity of a once fired Hornady case that was not resized or deprimed is 36.3 grains of water. Note that the case capacity is almost identical to my measurements for my 6.8 SPC which for Hornady was 36.6 grains of water. I don't know if this was intentional.
Distance to lands COAL: 143 ELD-X is 2.4345 inch and 123 A-max is 2.358 inch for comparison.
COAL I ways like to load to magazine length to maximize case capacity and reduce pressure, and some time I load longer than mag length but I try to stay at least 0.031-0.05 inch away from the lands. The Berger bullets website has a good explanation for this practice. For this session the A-max was loaded to COALs between 2.301 to 2.305 inch while the ELD-X was loaded to 2.301-2.305 from 28 to 30 grains while for 30.5 and 31 grains it was loaded at 2.405 inch. The latter distance leaves the bullet to 0.034 inch off the lands and allows more powder without excessive compression. Also for my rifle and the PRI magazines I used it allow loading one long round in the magazine and feeding it that way. The PRI and ASC magazines allow loading 2.305 inch COAL rounds comfortably.
Bullet information:
Hornady ELD-X 143 gr, 1.440 inch long with 0.625 BC. Distance to lands COAL 2.434 inch
Hornady A-max 123 gr, 1.234 inch long with 0.510 BC. Distance to lands COAL 2.354 inch
Crimp: because I load for the AR I always put a light crimp on my bullets using the Lee factory crimp. Since I always load to mag length crimping is even more important.
Rifle information: AR15 style with 24 inch Brownells/Satern barrel with Grendel II chamber, medium profile, rifle gas and 1:8 inch twist. If I understand correctly the Grendel II chamber does not have the SAAMI Grendel compound throat. Muzzle has thread protector until I can save for a silencer.
Load data:
Primers: CCI41. These are magnum military style primers with thick walls. They are brass color as opposed to silver.
143 ELD-X: powder CFE 223 from 28 to 30 grains 0.5 grains increment 3 rounds each at COAL 2.302 to 2.305 inch. At 29.5 grains the powder begins to be compressed. From 30.5 to 31 grains I increased COAL to 2.405 inch. At this COAL the powder only lightly compressed. Note that I didn't adjust the seating die when plodder was compressed that's why the COAL increased from 2.302 to 2.305.
123 A-max: powder CFE 223 from 31 to 32.5 grains at COAL from 2.301. The fact that COAL didn't change also shows that the powder is not compressed. For each powder weight I loaded 4 rounds.
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This last picture shows the portion of the neck that touches the bullet when loaded to 2.305 inches long.
Range report:
Weather: 82F, 88% humidity, 29.83 inch Hg, no wind
Chronograph: Caldwell chrono connected with iPhone app 10 feet from muzzle.
Range: 100 yards
Targets: custom target with 1 inch diameter circle increments.
Results: I will post results as charts of powder weight vs. velocity and group size. I ll include some older results with XBR and Benchmark powders.
Note that I use my posts on forums as my handloading notes for future reference so they might be tediously detailed some times.
Some preliminary data:
All the cases I use for the following data are new Hornady brass. The reason for this is that I just got a new Grendel and thus I don't have enough fired brass yet.
Case length: I use the Lee case trimmer to trim brass to 1.512 inch.
Case resizing: I use the Lee full length resizing dies and I always full length resize new and old brass. I check the result with the Wilson gauge for QA. I have an AR style rifle.
Case capacity: the case capacity of a once fired Hornady case that was not resized or deprimed is 36.3 grains of water. Note that the case capacity is almost identical to my measurements for my 6.8 SPC which for Hornady was 36.6 grains of water. I don't know if this was intentional.
Distance to lands COAL: 143 ELD-X is 2.4345 inch and 123 A-max is 2.358 inch for comparison.
COAL I ways like to load to magazine length to maximize case capacity and reduce pressure, and some time I load longer than mag length but I try to stay at least 0.031-0.05 inch away from the lands. The Berger bullets website has a good explanation for this practice. For this session the A-max was loaded to COALs between 2.301 to 2.305 inch while the ELD-X was loaded to 2.301-2.305 from 28 to 30 grains while for 30.5 and 31 grains it was loaded at 2.405 inch. The latter distance leaves the bullet to 0.034 inch off the lands and allows more powder without excessive compression. Also for my rifle and the PRI magazines I used it allow loading one long round in the magazine and feeding it that way. The PRI and ASC magazines allow loading 2.305 inch COAL rounds comfortably.
Bullet information:
Hornady ELD-X 143 gr, 1.440 inch long with 0.625 BC. Distance to lands COAL 2.434 inch
Hornady A-max 123 gr, 1.234 inch long with 0.510 BC. Distance to lands COAL 2.354 inch
Crimp: because I load for the AR I always put a light crimp on my bullets using the Lee factory crimp. Since I always load to mag length crimping is even more important.
Rifle information: AR15 style with 24 inch Brownells/Satern barrel with Grendel II chamber, medium profile, rifle gas and 1:8 inch twist. If I understand correctly the Grendel II chamber does not have the SAAMI Grendel compound throat. Muzzle has thread protector until I can save for a silencer.
Load data:
Primers: CCI41. These are magnum military style primers with thick walls. They are brass color as opposed to silver.
143 ELD-X: powder CFE 223 from 28 to 30 grains 0.5 grains increment 3 rounds each at COAL 2.302 to 2.305 inch. At 29.5 grains the powder begins to be compressed. From 30.5 to 31 grains I increased COAL to 2.405 inch. At this COAL the powder only lightly compressed. Note that I didn't adjust the seating die when plodder was compressed that's why the COAL increased from 2.302 to 2.305.
123 A-max: powder CFE 223 from 31 to 32.5 grains at COAL from 2.301. The fact that COAL didn't change also shows that the powder is not compressed. For each powder weight I loaded 4 rounds.
image.jpeg
image.jpeg
image.jpeg
image.jpeg
This last picture shows the portion of the neck that touches the bullet when loaded to 2.305 inches long.
Range report:
Weather: 82F, 88% humidity, 29.83 inch Hg, no wind
Chronograph: Caldwell chrono connected with iPhone app 10 feet from muzzle.
Range: 100 yards
Targets: custom target with 1 inch diameter circle increments.
Results: I will post results as charts of powder weight vs. velocity and group size. I ll include some older results with XBR and Benchmark powders.
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