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Reloading For The AR-15: Hornady 75 Grain BTHP

Molon

Gunny Sergeant
Minuteman
Feb 26, 2020
870
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Reloading For The AR-15: Hornady 75 Grain BTHP



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Hornady produces three different versions of their 75 grain open-tip-match bullet in 22 caliber (0.224”). For this article, we’ll be looking at the projectile that is colloquially referred to as the “T1”.



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The T1 is available as a reloading component, with a product number of #2279 for the 100 count boxes. It’s also available in 600 and 4000 count boxes.



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I use the Hornady 75 grain BTHP bullet to load match-grade hand-loads for my semi-automatic AR-15s chambered in 5.56mm/223 Remington. According to Ballistic Performance of Rifle Bullets by Bryan Litz, the Hornady 75 grain BTHP has an average G1 ballistic coefficient of 0.356 and an average G7 ballistic coefficient of 0.183.

The lot of T1 projectiles used for this article have a nominal length of 0.988” and I load them to a nominal COAL of 2.245”. When fired from a Colt SOCOM barrel with a 5.56mm NATO chamber, this COAL will create a jump to the lands of 178 thousandths of an inch. When fired from a Larue Stealth barrel with a 223 Wylde chamber, this COAL will create a jump to the lands of 115 thousandths of an inch and when fired from a Krieger barrel with a 223 Remington chamber, this COAL will create a jump to the lands of 78 thousandths of an inch.

The jump to the lands figures stated above where obtained using a Sinclair bullet seating depth gauge and a Forster 223 Remington 1.4636” head-space gauge. These figures are contingent upon a variety of variables, such as the particular chamber reamer that was used for your barrel, the number of rounds that have been fired through your barrel when the measurement is obtained, the particular lot of bullets used and whether you use a virgin case, a fired case, a resized case or a head-space gauge to obtain this measurement.




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WARNING!
Reloading is an inherently dangerous activity. The information provided here is for educational purposes only. It is not intended to be used for the actual loading of ammunition by the reader. No warranty, guarantee or assurance that these loads are safe is stated, suggested or implied nor should any be inferred. Usage of this information for the actual loading of ammunition may result in malfunctions, damage and destruction of property and grave injury or death to beings human in nature or otherwise. Don't even view this information in the presence of children or small animals.





For this hand-load of the Hornady 75 grain BTHP bullet, I use virgin Lake City brass that has been weight-sorted, match-prepped and neck-sized. The cases are primed with Federal GM205M primers and charged with VihtaVuori N140 powder and as mentioned above, the T1 projectile is seated to a COAL of 2.245”. This process is conducted in a semi-progressive manner on a Dillon XL-650 press using a Pact Digital electronic powder dispenser and scale to dispense a powder charge of 24.1 grains of the VihtaVuori N140.





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When chronographed from a 20” Colt A2 barrel, a 10-shot string of this hand-load fired over an Oehler 35P produced a muzzle velocity of 2638 FPS with a standard deviation of 4 FPS and a coefficient of variation of 0.15%. (The muzzle velocity was calculated from the instrumental velocity using Oehler Ballistic Explorer.) A 10-shot group fired from one of my Krieger barreled AR-15s, at distance of 100 yards using my bench-rest set-up, had an extreme spread of 0.526 MOA.




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No canines were harmed during the testing of this ammunition.


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I am working through a 4K box...t hey deliver guy hated me that day.

for the money and features I think it’s the best ar bulletin if You are shooting any sort of distance
 
How did they do in the other barrels? I’ve found the 75 hpbt to be more finicky than the 77smk’s across multiple guns.
 
thats odd I found it the other way around...the 75 was more forgiving. That may be a function of the powder and not the bullet

I was thinking it was due to the Secant ogive of the 75hpbt’s being more sensitive to jump than the tangent Ogive of the 77smk.
 
I recently gave up the 77TMK in favor of these mainly for price. The nodes for my 77TMK seemed small, and the best powder I used with them was TAC, but was too temp. sensitive in my gun.

Currently working through load development and so far 23.5gr of XBR 8208 seems to be the ticket. About to do a seating depth test with them. I had a theory that with the TMK's my rifle shot them better seated at 2.245 over 2.26.

Is there a reason you chose 2.245" OP?
 
FWIW.. one of my 20"AR's with a Krieger barrel also loves the 75gr Hornady.

The Hornady Steel Match 75gr load is sorely missed by me.... it was inexpensive and very precise , one of my favorite combinations.
 
How did they do in the other barrels? I’ve found the 75 hpbt to be more finicky than the 77smk’s across multiple guns.


as you know I’ve had a barrel that wouldn’t shoot them under and 1.5”. Then again, that barrel wouldn’t shoot consistently well with anything that I tried. These with 8208 loaded to mag length seem to be the ticket in the Ranier Ultramatch that you talked me into buying. I still need to do a bit more evaluation as I’ve only shot 20rds for groups and that was not over a chronograph. Out of the old barrel they held an SD of 5 over 10 rds but accuracy was not there.
 
I have had lot to lot consistency issues with them, but they always print under 1MOA for me out of my Centurion Arms Douglas barrel. I had two good lots of the 600 round boxes that were 1/4 MOA loads. Needless to say I was really impressed with them and the barrel. I thought I found the perfect load for this barrel (23.5 8208 in LC brass). The next lots I noticed the ogive length was about .020" longer. I could never get those to go better than .75 MOA. I played with seating depth and it didn't make a difference. I still load these and shoot them and for the price I am very satisfied for my needs. They seem to like 2680-2700 fps for me.

With the Sierra I get .5-1 MOA depending on the lot. Typically .6-.8. So for me they shoot about the same, but the deal I get on the Hornady makes it an easy choice.
 
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I have $5,000 of these bullets and none of my 6 LMT CL'd barrels shoot them worth a shit with either Varget or Tac.

Still pisses me off to this day!
 
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Are you guys using any kind of crimp on the necks? I've found that 77gr FGMM loads shoot consistent .5 MOA 10-shot groups out of 20" Kreiger/Wylde chamber, but any factory 75 gr load seems to shoot like shit. Would like to find a less costly alternative to FGM but still accurate load if possible.
 
I have $5,000 of these bullets and none of my 6 LMT CL'd barrels shoot them worth a shit with either Varget or Tac.

Still pisses me off to this day!

You still have those? I’ll take some off your hands lol
 
This bullet was designed to be fired from a mag length AR. Of course there will be rifles that don’t like this bullet, but most will shoot it reasonably well. Actually talked to a tech at Hornady about this bullet last week. I couldn’t get the 80 gr eldm to shoot worth a hoot, and the tech told me to try some of these 75s. He said if the 75s wouldn’t shoot I had problems. This 22 Grendel has me scratching my head.
 
Is there any appreciable deviation in these and the 75s with a cannelure?
 
Interesting Hornady's website states G1 as .395, pretty big difference. I would trust Litz's numbers more.
 
I run these in my .223 trainer barrel on my bolt gun as they shoot nice and tight (1/2 moa and less) and they're a great compromise between decent BC (for .223) and cheap cost. Great for practice 600 yards and in. Load won't fit in an AR though (bullet seated at 1.955 BTO with 25.0gr Varget in Rem cases with CCI 400s). I'm almost at 8000 rounds in the past year. Have another order of bullets inbounds and will most likely work up a load for my 16" AR as well, probably with 8208XBR since Varget has become unobtainium since this Covid-19 shit started.
 
I run these in my .223 trainer barrel on my bolt gun as they shoot nice and tight (1/2 moa and less) and they're a great compromise between decent BC (for .223) and cheap cost. Great for practice 600 yards and in. Load won't fit in an AR though (bullet seated at 1.955 BTO with 25.0gr Varget in Rem cases with CCI 400s). I'm almost at 8000 rounds in the past year. Have another order of bullets inbounds and will most likely work up a load for my 16" AR as well, probably with 8208XBR since Varget has become unobtainium since this Covid-19 shit started.

Really happy I snagged 10lbs when I did. A local place had 8208 for $170 for a keg. Picked up H4350 for $190 a keg at the same time.
 
Really happy I snagged 10lbs when I did. A local place had 8208 for $170 for a keg. Picked up H4350 for $190 a keg at the same time.

Yeah, my smith just snagged me 16lbs of H4350 which is great since I was dry. Gonna order some 8208 today.
 
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I’ve been shooting the 75 for quite a while, still have a couple thousand of them.
23.4 of 8208XBR in LC brass with a #450 primer
 
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The Hornady 75's don't shoot in my 20" WOA, but the 18" Rainier super match likes the Hornady 75's with H-4895, AR Comp and Varget. For some reason, the Rainier didn't shoot as well with 8208XBR with the 75's, but both rifle's shoot the Sierra 77 OTM well with23.5 Grs. of 8208.
 
I've not had much luck with the Hornady 75gr bullets but I did have one rifle with a 20" Shilen barrel that did pretty good with them however, it did a helluva lot better with the 77gr SMK. As a matter of fact every AR I've owned has shot the 77 SMK better than anything else.
 
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Still shooting the T1C I got in bulk as blems a few years back. I use 23.6 gr 8208 xbr. I just stuffed them on my 77 gr smk load and found that I get about 2700 fps out of a 16" DDM4V5. The 77 gr load moves at ~2660 fps. Both very accurate from 5 different ar's (others are bcm and criterion barrels). ETA 2.245" OAL for both projectiles.
 
I have $5,000 of these bullets and none of my 6 LMT CL'd barrels shoot them worth a shit with either Varget or Tac.

Still pisses me off to this day!

Maybe not helpful but I’ve had really good luck with these using CFE223, I shoot everyting out of LMT’s also. 10.5”, 14”, 16” and 20”, all chrome lined and all shoot these really well. I also switched to Federal Small Rifle AR Match primers, not sure that really made a huge difference but at the time I bought them they were all I could find. Good luck!
 
Maybe not helpful but I’ve had really good luck with these using CFE223, I shoot everyting out of LMT’s also. 10.5”, 14”, 16” and 20”, all chrome lined and all shoot these really well. I also switched to Federal Small Rifle AR Match primers, not sure that really made a huge difference but at the time I bought them they were all I could find. Good luck!
Thanks for the input! i'll have to give some CFE223 a shot.
 
Interesting Hornady's website states G1 as .395, pretty big difference. I would trust Litz's numbers more.


Ditto, particularly since field testing conducted by Rick Jamison demonstrated an average G1 ballistic coefficient of .353 for this projectile.
 
I shoot the Hornady factory 75's out of a Rock River Predator Pursuit (20" .223 Wylde chamber) and get an SD of 11ish and make 3/4" 5 round groups at 100 yards off of a bipod and shooting mat. I need to order some unloaded bullets and see if I can squeeze a lower SD with Varget but honestly they shoot well enough for the rifles intended purpose.
 
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Is there any appreciable deviation in these and the 75s with a cannelure?


According to Ballistic Performance of Rifle Bullets by Bryan Litz (2nd addition), the Hornady T1 has an average G1 ballistic coefficient of 0.356. The third edition of Ballistic Performance of Rifle Bullets has some conflicting information on the T1C (the version with the cannelure.)

On page 58 of the book, the T1C is referred to as “75 grain BTHP pointed”. On page 63 of the book, the T1C is referred to as “75 grain TapFPD”. Both of these references show identical dimensions for the projectile, yet have different ballistic coefficients listed. The 75 grain BTHP pointed, has an average G1 ballistic coefficient of 0.353, while the 75 grain TapFPD, has an average G1 ballistic coefficient of 0.344.


I haven’t spent any appreciable time hand-loading the T1C projectile, but I have done a fair amount of shooting with the factory loaded versions of this bullet.


T1C factory loads . . .



Hornady’s 75 grain TAP FPD produced three 10-shot groups fired in a row at a distance of 100 yards from a 20” Colt HBAR that had an average extreme spread of 1.14” with a 30-shot composite group that had a mean radius of 0.37”.



Hornady’s 75 grain 223 TAP load produced three 10-shot groups fired in a row at a distance of 100 yards from a Krieger barreled AR-15 that had an average extreme spread of 1.03” with a 30-shot composite group that had a mean radius of 0.32”.
 
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How did they do in the other barrels? I’ve found the 75 hpbt to be more finicky than the 77smk’s across multiple guns.

The Hornady 75 grain BTHP doesn't cost as much as the Sierra 77 grain MatchKing so I don't have expectations that it will shoot as preceisely as the Sierra MatchKing. However, the Hornady 75 grain BTHP has shot at least decently in almost every AR-15 barrel that I've fired it from.
 
The 75 BTHPs have ran well for me. I used them in a local Gas Gun PRS match (targets out to 500y) and placed in the top quarter of around 30 folks. Using Varget I have only been able to squeeze out ~2450 before getting pressure signs. This is out of a 16" bull barrel DPMS AR... nothing special. Litz's BC lined up perfectly with my measured drop values. Ultimately I switched to the 69 SMKs because I can run those at 2700 without pressure signs. My suspicion is that I can safely get much higher velocities out of those because the bullet length is shorter and I can load them further out. Attached is a small portion of some load development I did to give yall an idea of what an amateur can do with these in a $500 AR.
 

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I did some max velocity testing with this bullet some time ago to get a baseline of how fast one can safely push a 75 gr bullet through an M4 16" barrel. Tested CFE223, IMR 8208 and TAC. 25.8 gr of TAC got me 2864 fps for 5 shot group averages. Can't speak to accuracy side of the equation.
 
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The Hornady 75gr HPBT Match (T1 and T1c) bullet has been my goto projectile for my 24" guns; two AR;'s and a bolt gun. I have used them in comp at 200, 300, and 600yd.

They are a constant. I treat my loads as generics for the three rifles. The economies in fabrication outweigh the small differences in accuracy, and they can all hold the nine ring, and nearly all go into the ten, good Lord willing and the driver's awake.

I use Winchester and more recently Starline brass, CCI BR-4, the Hornady HPBT at magazine length, and depending on whim, 23.5gr of Varget or 23.7gr (Which I treat as a Max, do not exceed, charge weight) of Varget.

They both seem to work the same in all three rifles.

Some years back, I arbitrarily set the seater to the length of the PPU 75gr Match load (1/2moa, mostly, in my Stag Model 6), and it hasn't been changed since.

The IMI 75 load has also pleased me.

Greg
 
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Are you guys using any kind of crimp on the necks?


I don't crimp the case mouth on my match-grade hand-lands. The testing that I've done on the subject matter using statistically significant shot-groups has shown that crimping the case mouth degrades the accuracy/precision of match-grade hand-loads when fired from my semi-automatic precision AR-15s.


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....
 
Molon, what kind of crimp, & relatively, how much crimp did you use in that test?

Thanks.

MM
 
I did some max velocity testing with this bullet some time ago to get a baseline of how fast one can safely push a 75 gr bullet through an M4 16" barrel. Tested CFE223, IMR 8208 and TAC. 25.8 gr of TAC got me 2864 fps for 5 shot group averages. Can't speak to accuracy side of the equation.
2864 FPS with a 75 gr boolit out of a 16" barrel is smoking hot, no matter what powder & even if you added some nitro to it, & is almost very surely to be well over recognized safe pressure, ever for NATO spec rounds.

MM
 
I like the 75 hpbt a lot, especially considering the cost. The accuracy starts to fall off compared to a Sierra 77 or 69 at 300 a bit however. Why, I don’t know, but with thousands of rounds of practice for high power I found it to be the case across every barrel I’ve used. At 200 yards they are excellent. 23.5 8208 is an easy go to powder charge. 22.5 gr of ar comp is great too.
 
just noticed this thread. What twist rate range are you guys using?
 
For my barrels (24" length) They work in 1:8" and 1:9" twists. I have a 16" 1:7"; but have yet to test my generic 75gr load in it. I expect it to work fine.

Greg
 
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Nice write up, and outstanding shooting. That 10 round group is extremely impressive especially out of a semi. I think the 75bthp from them is pretty hard to beat out of the mag loaded options. I dont have any vit 140, but ive got a ton of h335. I might try to work up a load and see how it shoots in my jp 18" .223 wylde.