5.7 Accuracy Loads

[Mike Brantley 0]

After trying 7 different powders and more than 50 loads of 3 to 5 rounds each, I have come upon one powder that seems to work perfectly.  Not only does it deliver accuracy and speed, it functions well in my Postal Meter 5.7.

I will share the best loads for you to try:  Accurate 1680 powder; 40 grain hornet style, both soft point and hollow point; 45 grain hornet sp and hp; 45 HP "BEE".  This a limited production Hornady bullet, number 2229.  Midway carries them, but you have to get on the list, as they are not currently in stock.  I also got some good results with 50 spire points and 52 match hollow points.  There is also an excellent little 35 grain half jacket HP, much like the BEE, that is a good shooter and a 46 grain FLAT NOSE Half Jacket that I have not yet tried, but it ought to be a killer.  .224 of course.  These shots were from a rest at 50 yards....I'm moving to 100 next and will let you know how I do at that distance.

14 grains, 36 hp grenade ~ .90 group @ 2,615 fps///14 grains 45 Bee HP .65 group @ 2,565fps///13 grains 50 spire pt 1.20 @ 2,310fps///15 grains , 40 Hornet Sft Pt ~ .73 @ 2,771///

15 grains 45 Bee ~2,775 fps @ .88///15grains ~ 45 Hornet HP 1.58 group @ 2,726 fps///14.5 Hornet SP no speed, (It was here that I shot my Chrony) 1.09// 14 grains ~ 45 HP Bee ~

.65 and 15 grains at .88///14 grains 45 Hornet HP @ .42///15 grains ~ 40 Hornet HP @ .73. ( I also got 1.09 with 52 grain match hollow points on top of 15 grains>)

Lessons learned:  don't shake powder out of the case when moving from measurer to bullet seater.  I lost up to 3 grains and it drove me nuts until I figured out what was wrong.

The optimum load for 40 grain anythings is 15 grains; the optimum load for 45 grain anything is 14 grains.  You can go up 1/2 in either case, but don't gain much.  These are maximum loads for the 218 Bee Cartgridge and work very well in the 5.7    TRY IT, YOU'LL LIKE IT.  NO SIGNS OF PRESSURE AND NO SPLITS.  GRAF BRASS LOADED 6 TIMES WITH ONLY 2 CASES SHOWING BEGINNING OF A SIGN THAT A SPLIT WAS IN THE NEXT FIRING.

[Ed Johnson 0]

I do try to encourage folks not to use loads that are too "hot" and also to make sure that the bullets being used are not too large for the bore of the carbine being used. We had problems briefly back in the 1960's with this. As for the loads themselves, we used Dupont IMR 4227 powder with 11.5 grains, a 40 grain speer soft-point or sisk fmj, #6.5 primer caps and .30 caliber M1 Carbine Brass which we necked down to a .223. Some other folks used .224. My last bullets were .2235 flat nose from Winchester.

Everybody who handloads has their own concept of what's best. Just be careful, use gloves and safety glasses if you aren't sure.

[hdwhit 0]

I had the bore on my Iver Johnson Carbine chambered in 5.7mm Johnson slugged and it was essentially 0.2235.  Different carbine manufacturers got their barrels from different barrel manufacturers so I don't count on all 5.7 rifles behaving the same way.  In my case, 224 bullets generated obvious signs of excessive pressure when used with any powder charge heavy enough to operate the action.  223 bullets solved the pressure problem, but did not prove very accurate.  I assume this is because they didn't engage the rifling well enough.  I special ordered from Lee a custom bullet sizing die.  I run my .224 bullets through it and they come out almost exactly 0.2235 and work well.  The loads I worked up using these resized 40 grain Sierra soft point bullets used IMR-4227 powder with charge weights in the neighborhood Ed Johnson reported in his post.  I'm somewhere between a 3 and 4 moa shooter, and these loads easily shoot groups that size.  And since it always seems to come up when I talk about resizing jacketed bullets, I feel I should mention that I have never had any problems with jacketed bullets resized with the Lee die coming apart in flight or shedding their jacket.  

[Kracker327 0]

Mike, Midsouth has your Hornady 2229 on sale now.

https://www.midsouthshooterssupply.com/item/000032229/22-caliber-point224-diameter-(218-bee)-45-grain-hollow-point-with-cannelure-100-count