ELD-VT in 5.56 AR

T

thebogwalker

New member
howdy everyone, my first post on here and figured I’d try to share some knowledge and maybe save someone an afternoon of time trying to reload 62 grain ELD-VTs into a .223/5.56 AR-15.

So I started by measuring the bullets and of the first box I measured 50 of the 100 and they averaged 1.052”. My current “most accurate” load in my AR uses 73gr ELD-Ms which I also measured 50 of in the most recent box I opened and they averaged 1.035”. I figured pretty close so let’s give it a try, the ogive and bullet shape is very different and there would be no mistaking if you loaded an ELD-VT into a batch of ELD-Ms. I’m sure the jump to the lands onto the bearing surface of the bullets is just too great to shoot these accurately in a 5.56 chambered AR-15 but I was still curious so I went ahead anyway.
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So I loaded up 20 at around the same charge of varget and primer I’m using for my 73s
5 @ 23g
5 @ 23.2
5 @ 23.5
5 @ 23.7

All loaded to 2.260” with federal 205 primers in lake city brass.

Below and attached are groups shot at 100 yards.

62s
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Just to make sure my rifle wasn’t now a 5 MOA rifle I shot 5 of my 73s

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So just here to say I would NOT reccomend trying 62gr ELD-VTs in a 5.56 AR-15. I was hopeful but my dreams were dashed very quickly. In other news if anyone wants 280 62gr ELD-VTs I’ll give you a smoking deal lol

Have a good week everyone!
 

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Dang! Those are some LONG bullets for 62gr!

I have not tried the 73gr ELD M's. Do they shoot well in your rifles?

NATO chambers can be SOB's with certain bullets.

I have one rifle with a Wylde chamber that shoots very well with a host of different bullets that did not shoot good at all in my hyper accurate NATO chambered rifles.
 
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arlaunch said:
Dang! Those are some LONG bullets for 62gr!

I have not tried the 73gr ELD M's. Do they shoot well in your rifles?

NATO chambers can be SOB's with certain bullets.

I have one rifle with a Wylde chamber that shoots very well with a host of different bullets that did not shoot good at all in my hyper accurate NATO chambered rifles.
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Yeah they’re crazy long, I’ve had great luck with the 73s and varget but there’s not enough luck finding powder to try around here. Yeah the wylde chamber is solid too, I should say the ones I’ve seen.
 
Odd that it hates the 62 that much. My WOA Service Rifle shoots the even longer 77TMKs & 80.5 Bergers very well. I have been thinking about trying the 62s just to see.
 
Jerryrigged said:
Odd that it hates the 62 that much. My WOA Service Rifle shoots the even longer 77TMKs & 80.5 Bergers very well. I have been thinking about trying the 62s just to see.
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If you want I can send some of these along to you, I have less interest in attempting to work up a load with them at this time. I’ll revisit when I can do some more testing with a different barrel. I don’t think it’s the length as much as the ogive seems to be a good deal closer to the tail of the bullet and I think that’s creating a larger jump to the lands than most other .224 bullets. Of course I don’t have a comparator for these but I’ve also always just set my .223/5.56 to mag length for seating anyway.
 
I tried em in a 1:8 ruger 223. Was pretty bad. My theory is not enough velocity for the twist rate. Hope something shoots em, i bought a bunch of them.
 
Update on my trials. Running em 2850-3000 with 3 different powders, oal 2.34-2.35", out of a WOA 1/7 gun that shoots the even longer 77TMK & 80.5 Berger great. Best groups only about 3" @ 200. Next step will either be load em longer yet, or try 2 of the best candidates so far in my Krieger barreled AR.
 
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