Which powder for .223 & heavy bullets??

P

Paul Fielder

Guest
Gonna start loading....partial to the Vit line but open to suggestions.

65gr-77gr pills

Thanks!!

pf
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H-4895, Varget, and RL-15 all work, but give differing accuracy in differing rifles. N140 is in the same burning rate range, and should work well too. N135 might work better with 65's or not. There's not enough room in the case for anything much slower than any of these, although some ball type powders that are a bit slower might work too.
 
Paul ...

Paul Fielder said:
Gonna start loading....partial to the Vit line but open to suggestions. 65gr-77gr pills Thanks!!
Click to expand...

I got excellent results with my 223 using Lapua brass, VARGET powder, CCI BR4 primers and Ronnie Cheeks 63 grain custom made bullets. I was also using a Douglas XX air gauged barrel with a 1-8 twist and some Sierra MatchKing 69 grain BTHPs.
 
Varget and RL-15 are THE powders for Service Rifle shooters with the 77-80 grain bullets, pretty much like 4895 used to be the only powder used M14/M1A relaoding. Both are good, and the adherants to each seem pretty evenly split.

I might go to something just a tad faster for the 65 grainers, but V arget and RL-15 would be worth a try there first.

Hope it helps,
Kevin Thomas
 
Paul Fielder said:
Gonna start loading....partial to the Vit line but open to suggestions.

65gr-77gr pills

Thanks!!

pf
<><
Click to expand...



what barrel & twist, I have a Savage 223 model 12 bvss single shot with a 9 twist, it loves the 75Amax, 450 primer and 25 gr Varget, excellent load for this gun, many a groundhog feel to this bullet out to 711 yds

Chet
 
Mine is 1/8...I have some RL15 & N140.

My gun REALLY likes the factory Federal Premiums with the 77gr Sierras. I was thinking of trying the 75gr Hornady w/ a couple different powders.

It also shoots the Winchester Law Enforcement Ranger 64's under moa too....I would assume they are using one of the ball powders from WW??

Anyway, appreciate the help gang and still cranking out the case prep work at this point.

pf
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TAC with 69gr Sierra MK's Rem 71/2 primer. My load is 24.7gr start a little lower even thought that is not a max load. Excellant metering qualities, burns clean for a ball powder and is very accurate.
 
.223 Heavy bullet load

Paul, if your using a service rifle of the AR-15 type, I use Vit 135, Winchester cases and primers. 23.5 grains using either the 77 SMK's or the 80 SMK's. Use the same load for both. My rifle has a Krieger 1 in 8 twist and shoots both loads into an inch at 200 meters. Made the mistake at Perry one year and used my 77 mag length loads by accident in the 600 yard match. Switched back half way through and there was no difference in elevation. Good luck.
 
Thanks...it's a Les Baer super varmint.

Just loading to mag oal. Dad has an ar too and hoping to find one load for both guns.

Got some great places to start and will begin to test asap.

pf
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Paul,
I have a Savage LRPV in 223Rem, 1 in 7 twist. Was using AR2208 (ADI) for 77grn and started to develope a load for 80grn Sierra MK using AR2208. A friend reccommended AR2219 which I believe is near to H-322. Still developing the load using AR2219, just playing around with the seating depth but so far it looks very promising. So much so that I'm going to develope loads using lighter projectiles (69grn and 77grn) 21.5grns AR2219, range 100yds, Average velocity 2,642.43fps, 5 shots 0.655", 4 shots 0.289". Seating depth was 0.005" off the lands. Being a single shot I don't have to worry about the mag length.
 
Gang....any consideration need to be taken when using 5.56 brass vs. .223??

pf
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Military brass....I find the faster powder to generally work better because of case capacity. I use a lot of VV133 or VV135 in 5.56 brass. Used to be...several in Service Rifle used N540 I believe with heavy bullets.

Hovis
 
Thanks Hovis,

I was thinking I better cut back my starting loads compared to what .223 loads say due to the case capacity??

pf
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Paul,
I learned this the hard way (and lucky) many years ago. I have a XP100 in 223 remington. I bought some Federal brass and started low (actually very low) in the loading manual for a 50gr bullet. I had never shot a XP pistol before but thought....man this thing has some recoil. Well, it didn't shoot for crap so I kept going up in the powder charge and things just got worse. I was about 2 grns below max in the book and I had to forcefully tap the bolt open. I was scratching my head and got the chrono out. I backed the charge down .5 grns and I believe I was around 24.8 grns with VV135 and getting over 3500fps out of a 14inch barrel...Oh Sh*t !!!! Anyway, when I got back down in normal pressure and velocity range...the gun shot great and I mean great. But I guess I got an unusual lot of federal brass because it have three grains less capacity than LC 5.56 brass I had. It has been the best shooting 223 brass I ever had and still use it today. Sizes great after about two dozen reloadings. Lucky I didn't wear that action in my skull though. To compound things. I never slugged it but the barrel seems to have a tighter bore than usual.

Hovis
 
Thanks Hovis...gonna start testing pretty soon. I'm gonna be messing with mostly pick-up M855 brass made by Winchester.

pf
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Don't be afraid to try lighter bullets. I remember when my unit first got the M16A2's. I was a platoon leader and shot Service rifle and pistol comps. We took five of the new A2's to the range and cleaned them up. We didn't have M855 ammo yet but the every gun off of sand bags on a beautiful day shot three shot groups at 100meter of around .5 inch. I've never shot a Les Bear but have a AR built on a DPMS with shaw varmit barrel, etc and a Rock River arms upper with old bushmaster barrel and lower. Both shoot three shot groups with all the rounds touching. The one thing I have learn to be a rule of thumb....AR actions shoot better after a few thousand rounds (as long as they are cared for properly). Aberdeen Proving grounds released a test a decade or so ago on A2's and I believe the test number were 10 rifles, military issue. Every one of them didn't reach full accurarcy potential until after 30,000 rds. I believed they were cleaned after 200rd intervals. The worst issued rifles I ever shot were the FN's....and guess who is the biggest supplier now. During my last tour..I was issued a brand new M4 made by FN. It wouldn't hold 1.5 inch groups at 25yds. Of the six hundred issued in that lot...everyone was sent back. The rifles were not lot tested or the the accuracy tests were fudged. The rifle are not supposed to be issued it they can not shot a 1.5 inch three shot group out of a cold barrel at 100m. The only thing worse than the rifle were the mags they gave us. Can't remember the manufacture now but you could only load about 25 in a 30 round mag or when you slapped them up in the rifle, sometimes the rounds would shoot out of the bottom of the mad....really gave us a warm fuzzy feeling. After a couple of weeks...we got good mags.

Hovis
 
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