Your brass is a little short, but that will not hurt a thing, you won’t have to trim for a long while.
Get a factory load with the same 55 grain bullet, and use it to set your dies. When your die gently touches the factory round, lock it down and run a reloaded round. You reload should be with 1 or 2 thousands of the length of the factory round.
I also use a Lee crimp die and have never had a problem with 10,000 plus rounds of .223 through it.
Lastly, I have found major and minor errors in the Hornady 8th Reloading manual. Use mostly the powder manufacturers loading data.
Somewhere around 25 grains of H335 should be your sweet spot. Let us know how you make out.
And yes, I have been reading here for a year, but this is my first post. Enjoy the site immensely.
Jesus!
Accurate Powder shows a range of 21.4 - 23.8 for 55gr HDY SPSX, and a highest max of 25.0 for VNE FMJ.
I have loads in .2gr increments made up but not been able to crono and check for accuracy yet (LC brass, 55gr HDY SPSX ~FMJ Spire Point~, AA2230) with a COAL of 2.190-2.205.
Very true. The Hornady manual lists the maximum cartridge overall length for the 5.56 as 2.250 which is incorrect.
At what OAL are you using for your reloads?
I’m not sure “incorrect” is correct. 
A military COL specification for 5.56 pressure ammo is not necessarily the same as SAAMI .223 maximum COL (which they list as 2.260"). That’s not to say you cannot load longer, as we all know you can.
BASE LOAD- THIS IS MOST IMPORTANT-if you want to hand load-ya gotta have a base line-if your rifle or pistol is not capible of minute of angle shooting or close to it,you will not be able to improve on your handload grouping as compared to match commerical loadings-last year I bought a Rock-River 308 after waiting for them to come out for a year–YES-it shot like a SKS !!!-back to the factory-ohh but there is nothing wrong with it…
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Actually, my Accurate Arms loading manuals from 1996 & 1997 show max load as 26.0 grains and 3216 fps. I worked up to the 25.8 in .2 grain increments and actually found that the tightest group was found with that load. I stopped right there since I wasn’t showing any pressure signs in either my Colt HBar or the LWRC. Obviously, if I purchased additional 2230 powder I would go back to square one and work up the load again.
Federal brass is funky.
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It’s not properly annealed for reloading. Works great from the factory, but I only get one reload out of it, then it goes into the scrap bucket. Neck tension can be iffy, primer pockets expand inconsistently. Try reloading with better brass: Lake City, R-P, Winchester.
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It also varies in neck length more than the other brands, even in the same lot. This could cause inconsistencies.
You also might buy a chronograph–decent ones are $100-- and see what you get for avg. velocity and standard deviation. You can learn a lot from a chronograph.
Well after reading the post on here and other forums I loaded up some rounds and went to the range. I had my chrono but forgot my stand so I did not chrono my loads.
Conditions:
75*
Variable 7-10 mph winds
Not idea for load development but my time is running out of time as these loads will be used for my 2 gun competition on 2/19/12. Another thing that I considered was that since the winds were this strong a calm day would provide better results.
First I had some federal factory 223 so i loaded up 5 rounds to see how they would do at 100 yards. I put a 3 inch orange sticker on a paper plate and fired the 5 rounds.
Then I shot 10 55gr Vmax bullets at 100 yards
Then I decided to load 5 rounds each 24, 24.3, 24.6, 24.9, and 25.2 of H335. I kept the same length of 2.200 but I did not crimp these rounds. I found that 24.9 and 25.2 was my best loads but I am not sure what happened with the fliers in each one of these targets.
24gr
24.3
24.6
24.9
25.2
I will continue to fine tune these load and work with my OAL to see if i can tighten up the groups. I only need to be able to shoot a 8" plate at 100 yards so these loads will more than work. I would like to thank everyone for their input and help.
It sounds like not using the LFC die may have made a difference.
24.0 of the H335 looks like the best to me. Considering it’s still above the Hornady book .223 maximum - for that specific bullet, even something lower would be worth checking. I would load 20 or more each at 23.2 and 24.0 and go shoot 'em. A 10 round group will give a better indication.
My go to plinking load uses 25gr H335/WC844, Remington 7 1/2 or Wolf SRM, Hornady 55gr FMJBT, and mixed brass. I seat to the cannelure and use a Lee FCD. This load typically prints a tad under 2" at 100yds from my 11.5" BCM which is good enough for me.
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+1
Or load 15 rounds each at 23.2, 23.6, and 24.0. Shoot three five-shot groups of each.
Im not sure why you guys are saying 24gr of h335 looks the best. Would you care to elaborate?
24.0 appears to the the smallest extreme spread. However, 24.9 might be best if looking at ATC. One sample of 5 shot groups is a poor indicator, so nothing is established.
Is that Del-Ton chambered for .223 or 5.56 NATO? You are loading a hotter primer than standard and over book “.223” maximum, which should be a cause for concern. Hopefully you are checking carefully for pressure signs…
This is not right at all. Your saying if rifle x won’t shoot factory ammo to Moa then a handload will do no better?
The chamber is 5.56 nato. Yes i am looking for signs of pressure. Just have not seen any.
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Exactly.
Of all the groups you shot, the 24gr group looked the best to me.
The 24.9 and 25.2 groups weren’t that good, assuming that you didn’t call the flyers — you’re shooting “five-shot groups,” not “best-four-out-of-five-shot groups”!
Well since the last time to the range i have figured some things out, both good and bad. On 2/21/12 I took 15 rounds of 24.4, 24.8 and 25.3 of h335. I had about 50 piece of prepped brass and i figured that 24.8 was my load, i loaded up the 50.
Got to the range by 0715 and has the entire range to my self. Loaded up three magazine with the different loads and started firing. By the time i finished with the 24.4 and 24.8 charge weights the range started getting more people. I load up the 25.3 and slowly shot round robin at three targets until my mag was empty. Results… 5-6 inch grouping…WTF! I figured it was me so i would go to the 50 yard range and try 5 rounds with my scope. Results…
Im not a happy camper. Was not sure what was going on so i did another 10 rounds with similar results. I had my 3moa red dot with me so i decided to load up 5 rounds and see what i get.
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I had two more targets up so i decided to ten rounds and see if my first shots were luck or indeed my plinking load. Did not get to pull the targets because of time and a lot more people at the range. When i finished i had a bitter sweet moment. My rifle did pretty good with what i had a feeling was my plinking load (24.8-24.9). Now this being the case, this means there is something wrong with my 2-7 vortex viper scope. I will put my scope back on my 6.8 and see what is up. Worse case, i get a new scope from vortex.
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Inconsistent cheek weld and eye relief on the scope, or your mounts are ever so slightly loose would be my bet.