Reloading for the M1A

[Bruce_in_Oz]

CCI primers are allegedly "harder" than the rest, though I have use Remington 9 1/2, Winchester WLR, Brand X Russian stuff, RWS and sundry others with equal reliability.

Here in Oz , the "magic" 7.62 x 51 load for many of us was 42.5 gn of Mulwex (ADI) AR2201, a now LONG discontinued powder, topped with the Mil-spec Oz 144gn BTFMJ ball bullet.

The old AR-2201 was just a tiny bit "faster" than 3031. General "rule of thumb", pre affordable chronographs; was whatever was listed for 3031, knock it back one or two grains and head for the range. It was replaced in service by AR2206, which is very close to BLC2. This seemed to occur with the change of 7.62 NATO ammo from the eclectic L2A2 stuff to the "closer to NATO spec" F4.

The latest (known) update is AR-2206H, which is pretty much the same as, if nor identical to, H4895 and/or IMR 4895. The interesting thing was that the earlier AR-2201 was definitely graphite coated and the later "equivalents" were not. Some years after the introduction of AR-2206, I had several cans of the stuff go "off", to the point where the degraded powder rotted out the cans and had a VERY nasty "vinegar" smell and a "gooey" consistency. Straight on the garden as VERY EXPENSIVE fertilizer.