.227 Hornady bullets in .223 AR 15

My buddy loaded the .227 70gr. Hornadys and shot a bunch of these in his .223 AR 15, and they really shot well! He just realized the mistake and is now working on a load for it with using the proper .224 bullets. So far the best group he has been able to come up with is around 3" at 100 yds.
He's now wondering if he messed up the barrel and needs to re barrel, I'm wondering if it's heavily copper fouled or if he just needs to keep playing around with different loads, or if damage was possibly done due to high pressure.
It's a Colt AR 15 with a 1:7 twist, any input on this would be appreciated, thanks!
BTW, it seems he's not the first to do this.
 
That wont cause any damage, the bullet will be the first to give. I would definitely clean the crap out of it before doing any more load development. It has to have some heavy copper fouling.

Didnt he notice how hard the bullets were to seat? Had to be shaving some jacket.
 
He didn't mention anything about that. Just like him I had no idea there were .227 bullets listed under .22 cal. bullets, and if I had made the same mistake I may not have caught it.
If he chamfered the inside of the necks it may not have been that noticeable as he was seating them??????
Thanks for the reply, I don't know what he uses to clean the bore but I also though heavy copper fouling, clean the crap out of it, and go from there.
 
One old cartridge that uses a .227 is a 5.6x52mmR. Not a norm today. With a .003 bigger bullet And a press fit with good neck tension it had to feel different seating them. This is why you always double check the box! LOL.

I wouldn't recommend anyone else try this for good reasons, thats a lot of bullet squeeze, and yes it will raise pressures. If he loaded to HOT levels for that particular gun bad things could of happened.
 
He did say he checked the primers and saw no signs of pressure????
He's had the gun for a long time, worked up that load, and said it clover leafed with those bullets, now with the correct .224 bullets he's at 3-5" groups and sick that his "baby" has opened up that far.
The good thing, he didn't give me any of his accurate loads to try in mine, which could have easily happened!
Another thing just came to mind, wonder if the semi could have messed up the scope, need to remind him of that after the cleaning session.
 
high velocity swaging isnt unheard of, and can work to some degree - but i'd never recommend it.

i know of a few folks who are using .310 ak bullets in their blackouts without resizing them first, but i'd say its more of an exception than the rule.



there are a bunch of us using them resized though, myself included. i just prefer to size them in a die instead of my barrel :X
 
Originally Posted By: Plant.Onehigh velocity swaging isnt unheard of, and can work to some degree - but i'd never recommend it.

i know of a few folks who are using .310 ak bullets in their blackouts without resizing them first, but i'd say its more of an exception than the rule.



there are a bunch of us using them resized though, myself included. i just prefer to size them in a die instead of my barrel :X

Yes Big difference !!

 
Just got back from doing a barrel cleaning with him. Lots of black after using ISSO bore paste, only a couple patches with green on them. ISSO, sweets, butches bore shine, Hoppes copper solvent, kroil, regular Hoppes, used a bore brush and a ton of wet and dry patches, something should have worked out of that!
At least the patches were clean after that session, hopefully it helped.
 
I went through the same thing several years ago,what a mess to clean but it all went good. Mine was with a model 7 and it broke the extractor. Didn't notice any difference while loading them which is strange.
 
To a very rookie reloader, this seems dangerous. But then again, what do I know... I guess it's doable. Just not sure I understand the why you would continue trying to push a .227 down a .224 hole once you discovered the error.
 
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Originally Posted By: MatlockTo a very rookie reloader, this seems dangerous. But then again, what do I know... I guess it's doable. Just not sure I understand the why you would continue trying to push a .227 down a .224 hole once you discovered the error.

if done improperly - it could be quite dangerous. especially if used accidently in a developed load for another projectile at or near max charges.

when you put a projectile inside the neck of a piece of brass that's larger than the standard size, even by as little as .002 - .003, that will increase the OD of the neck in your loaded cartridge. if you have a tight neck chamber, or brass that has a thick walled neck on it you could potentially have chambering issues with it (this is common in the 300 blk world, even with normal .308 bullets and there is a specific go/nogo list of brass that can be used without an initial neck turning to thin the material).


additionally if you do successfully chamber a round like that, you could potentially crimp your bullet into the neck of the brass, quite possibly way to much - causing a pressure spike and an unsafe situation there.



the other way this could be quite dangerous is if the projectile is loaded to OAL spec for another bullet, but the profile difference causes the OGIVE of the bullet to jam into the lands. Another good way to have a potential pressure spike.

This can also potentially cause chambering issues as well if that ogive is soo far out that it wont even let the round fully seat. This can happen even in the freebore area before the lands, depending on the bullet and chamber design.

as well as causing chambering issues, ogive contact with the chamber can also cause bullet setback, which again can cause pressure spike issues depending how severe it is. Move the bullet back, case volume loweres in relation to powder charge = pressure increases.


any of these situations could be dangerous, and potentially seriously damaging to your firearm or you and those around you. the closer you are to a max charge, the potentially more dangerous it could be.




in the blackout as mentioned earlier, the experimentation with .310 and .311 bullets happened during the component shortage after sandy hook when you just couldn't find stuff so we had to use whatever was available. as mentioned folks were successful both in resizing these through a lee .308 push through bullet sizing die (like would be used for cast) and for folks using them as-is. The hornady .310 "zmax" or .310 sst bullet worked wonderful when paired with proper load development and understanding of what was going on with the projectile, loaded cartridge and the chamber of the firearm they were being used in. my resized ones are some of my favorite bullets to shoot.
 
Originally Posted By: MatlockTo a very rookie reloader, this seems dangerous. But then again, what do I know... I guess it's doable. Just not sure I understand the why you would continue trying to push a .227 down a .224 hole once you discovered the error.

He just discovered/realized the error. He had loaded the 70gr bullets to hunt deer in Maine with it, but never took it up there, probably 20 yrs ago.
He recently started looking at different tips to hunt coyotes and happened to notice the .227 listing.
He didn't mail order or pick the bullets off a shelf, he got them from a local sporting goods store across the counter and apparently the owner didn't know they were a different diameter either.
Like I said, from reading other posts on other forums, he's not the only one that made the same mistake of either buying them or loading them. Something very easy to overlook.
 
Originally Posted By: SixsixtyMags
Like I said, from reading other posts on other forums, he's not the only one that made the same mistake of either buying them or loading them. Something very easy to overlook.

Actually it is a mistake that shouldn't be made. Saying it would be very easy to overlook is incorrect. Every one that reloads should be looking at what they are buying and what they are loading.
 
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