[fireman091]

I know this will sound a little foolish on my part and is definitely a newbie mistake, but I bought a bulk bag of 500 Copper jacketed 180gr 40cal target rounds at the last gun show “about a month ago”. I did not notice at the time that there was no brand name written on the bag. Do any of you have any suggestions on what I should do, or how to identify them so I can find a recipe in my manuals that is safe? I see there are different recipes for this round per manufacture. I bought 500 22 cal 55gr rounds of copper jacketed for the AR-15 at the same time that are Winchester. I just did not look closely enough at the 40Cal bulk bag that just said 180gr copper jacketed.

[fireman091]

The same guy threw in some tracers for the SKS / AK-47 7.62 x 39 and the AR-15.223 which I have no idea how to load and I do not believe I will find these in any of my reloading manuals. I weighed the 7.62x36 rounds and they are 144gr. I thought I would rather use my SKS as a guinea pig rather than the AR but want to do it safley. Do any of you guys have any loading info for these? I would rather ask for help than an ambulance. 

[Jay]

Do any of you have any suggestions on what I should do, or how to identify them so I can find a recipe in my manuals that is safe?

Greetings Sir,

I'm guessing that you're referring to reloading these bullets. If that's correct, just use your powder scale to weigh the bullets, and measure the OD with an accurate tool...... micrometers, or accurate calipers. If the weight and diameter is what you want, the scrape the coating and find out if the bullets are plated, or actually jacketed. At that point, you'll have the bullet weight, diameter, and composition. The manufacturer doesn't matter all that much once you know the bullet specs.

I have no experience loading tracers, so I'll have to defer to those who have......

If I missed something, give me a bit more info and I'll try it again.

[robocop10mm]

Pretty much any data for starting loads for the .40 cal bullets. Work up a load but approach max loads with caution.

Tracers are a little different animal. The US tracer rounds use a different powder than the ball rounds. The powder for the ball rounds is specially formulated to burn cooler to prevent excessive heat build up in full auto weapons. The tracer requires a hotter powder to ignite. I have had good luck using W-748 with 5.56 and 7.62 X 39 tracers. Fairly consistent ignition of the trace compound.

Work up tracer loads just like any other load. Start with the recommended starting load and work up to the desired result.

[anm2_man]

Originally Posted by fireman091

The same guy threw in some tracers for the SKS / AK-47 7.62 x 39 and the AR-15.223 which I have no idea how to load and I do not believe I will find these in any of my reloading manuals. I weighed the 7.62x36 rounds and they are 144gr. I thought I would rather use my SKS as a guinea pig rather than the AR but want to do it safley. Do any of you guys have any loading info for these? I would rather ask for help than an ambulance. 

I can't help you with the 7.62x39 tracers (never reloaded them), but I sure can help you with the M196's. Double check, but what you probably have are 54gr Red tip .223 tracers. I've loaded thousands of these and shot them in my AR15, my Mini-14, my AC556 and my son's M16 FA. You do not need any special powder. I have been using 25.5gr of H335 and they light up with no problems.

Asl long as there weight is 54gr you should be good to go.