that already had been fired in other guns using full-power loads. IMI and Federal conversion cases are fully six grains heavier than normal Remington 221 cases or converted 5.56x45mm cases (the military version of the 223). Con- verted Remington 223 cases are about two grains heavier than Remington Fireball cases. Evidently for “long-neck” case
Fireball loads, as discussed in this study, left-to-right: Hornady 35 NTX (properly moly-plated using the aqueous method); Nosler 35 BT-LF; Barnes 36 VG; Hornady 40 V-Max; Nosler 40 BT; and, Sierra 40 BK (in the longer-necked case, as I will use it in the field). Note that I moly-plated all tested bullets. It is unfortunate that Remington standardized such a short neck on The Fireball. Similarly, it is unfortunate that the reamer used for chambering this gun, as is typical, cut a far-too-long chamber neck; and, too bad that case conversion is so time consuming because, ideally, all cases for this gun would have the same length neck as this conversion case has.
nificant case head expansion occurred. Such a load likely would be safe for use in most 221 Fireball chambered guns but only after verification through stan- dard load development and proof test- ing as I discuss elsewhere in this text. All data resulted from testing
with properly moly-plated bullets; for naked-bullet loads reduce all starting and maximum charges by one-half grain. For load development, start with a charge that is at least three grains less than listed charge; to maintain standard Fireball maximum-load pressure, do not exceed a charge that is one full grain
Primer Test:
2400, 40-Grain Sierra BK, 1.981-Inch Overall Length
Charge Generating 0.8/1000-Inch
Primer Case Head Expansion
CCI-400 14.4 Federal 205 Federal 205M Remington 6½ Winchester WSR
15.6 15.4 15.4 14.9
Page 52 Winter 2013
below listed charge. And, note that lot- to-lot variation in case-head hardness does occur and that the cases in some lots might not tolerate the listed charges without the occurrence of undue case head expansion. I tested for accuracy and velocity
with A1680, IMR4227A, and 300-MP but I tested those combinations with both the Federal 200 (small pistol mag- num) and the Federal 205M (small rifle Match). A new generation of fragment-
ing bullets includes: Hornady 35-grain NTX, Nosler 35-grain Ballistic Tip Lead Free, and Barnes 36-grain Varmint Grenade. These were the focus of my testing this time around. I revisited conventional bullet choices by testing 40-grain plastic-tipped bullets (Sierra BK, Hornady V-Max, and Nosler BT). I have no varminting interest in testing any bullet heavier than 40 grains in any 221 Fireball. Because I believed this could im-
prove accuracy potential, I also have created about 200 cases with longer necks (refer to Part I). I used Roger’s trim die to convert various 223 cases
conversion from 223 to 221, military cases are the way to go as those produce converted cases that weigh essentially the same as R-P factory 221 cases weigh. This is what I will do if I ever create more cases with longer necks. And, with a five-gallon bucket of military 223s taking up room in my shop, I certainly should have sorted through those and selected several hundred from the same lot for making these conversion cases. I trimmed necks on these conver-
sion cases to 1.440-inch. This gives ¹⁰⁄₁₀₀₀- inch endwise case-neck to chamber- neck clearance in The Fireball. Because full-length resizing is never necessary with normal 221 loads used in this gun, these cases will not stretch much, if at all, and ¹⁰⁄₁₀₀₀-inch is plenty of clearance between case-neck and chamber-throat to assure safety when using neck-sized cases in the same gun. When using full- length resized cases, if the die drives the case shoulder far enough rearward it is possible that the striker impact and primer ignition could drive the case neck into the neck-to-throat transition in the chamber. If this happens, the case neck can crimp into the bullet and thereby retard bullet release. This can cause chamber pressure to skyrocket, perhaps dangerously so. Therefore, for such cases a bit shorter neck (with more endwise case-neck to chamber-neck clearance) is likely prudent. I will use these long-necked cases
for my maximum-effort loads because I believe that the longer neck will reduce bullet deformation during firing and therefore improve accuracy. It is a well- proven scientific fact that what I believe will influence my results and therefore, even if this does not actually matter, I will therefore shoot better when using these loads! For the original load tests using
2400, I reasoned that a mild primer was in order. Hence, I began that test- ing with what is, to my knowledge, the mildest of all primers that are available
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