Just a collection of observations from my latest tinkering.
I am looking to load some subsonic .223 rounds, for no other reason than, I don't have a .22LR but suddenly do have a lot of rabbits.
Now i know the easiest thing to do would be just get a .22LR but thought this could be some fun as well.
I have some Lovex D060 which is designed for reduced loads so thought I would start with this. Lovex do not list a reduced load for the .223 but seemingly Lovex D060 is the same as Accurate 5744 and Speer do list a load for the 5744 with a 55gn Sierra SP.
So I started at the lowest load specified and worked down in 0.5gn steps.
Using Federal 205 primers all rounds fired and stabilised down to 7grains (which was as low as I went) but all loads below 10-11 grains leave a good few unburnt kernels of powder in the case and throat of the chamber. This is unaffected by using Magnum primers so suspect it is simply too low a load density.
This would tally with the fact that the bulk density of D060 is 860g/l which waaay above other powders which have been used for Sub loads in the .223 (usually around 320g/l-420g/l) so the case fill is really really low. Now ordinarily this is warned against as theoretically detonation is a possibility but D060 is seemingly designed to be position insensitive to ignition and even making an effort to shake the powder horizontal allowed safe ignition.
Now I think I am going to explore this powder a bit higher, between the 11 and 14 grain range to try to find a functional reduced velocity load but as far as subsonic goes, its a no go (which is not really a surprise)
Next stop is to try to find some RS14 or possibly some Clays which should work better as a subsonic option.
If anyone has a proven subsonic recipes please do feel free to share.
