Does anyone have any source for reloading data on the 60 grain Hornady TAP bullets?
Has anyone reloaded them before?
I have found generic 60 gr. data, but none specific to the Hornady TAP bullet.
Any help would be appreciated. Thank you in advance.
Use data for the 60 grain Hornady V-Max bullet. It is quite accurate in my HBar Elite Colt with 24 inch barrel. I use 26 grains of Winchester 748 in Winchester brass for 3050 ft/sec., so a carbine will likely run 2750-2800 ft/sec. It’s just a guess. You need to run the bullets through a chronograph, as barrels are individuals.
The bullet used in 60 grain TAP ammunition is the 60 grain V-MAX, so as mentioned by JStor use the load data for a 60 grain V-MAX. There’s plenty of it in the Hornady reloading manual and the Lyman manual. Factory 60 grain TAP ammunition had a muzzle velocity of 2927 fps from a 20” Colt barrel and 2790 fps from a 16” Colt barrel.
The 60 grain V-MAX is capable of some fine accuracy from an AR-15 even with minimal load development. The sub-MOA 10-shot group pictured below was fired from an AR-15 at 100 yards with the very first load I tried for the 60 grain V-MAX.
Thanks for your responses, I appreciate the info.
Hornady answered my email today and their response mirrored yours.
I asked:
“I would like to know if I can use the same load data as your other 60 grain .223 bullets when loading for the 60 grain TAP bullets?”
They said:
“Yes you can use the 60 gr vmax data to load the tap rounds.”
Now, I just have to get busy loading 'em up!
For a 60gr TAP alternative, especially if you don’t or don’t want to reload for it, try the Black Hills 60gr V-Max. Exceptionally accurate from every gun I’ve tried it in. A great value if you buy the reman seconds.
I bought these 60 gr. TAP bullets in 2004 from Midsouth Shooters Supply and I am loading them now because I finally have an AR-15 again as of this year. I’ve been reloading for a while now and used to reload .223 for a DCM Service Rifle when I used to shoot Highpower (had to give it up due to a bad back). Once these 60 gr. bullets are gone, I don’t know if I’ll be using this weight bullet again.
But thanks for the tip on the Black Hills ammo, I’ve used their stuff before with great success.