223/223A Loads Less Common Powders and Varmint Bullets

[urbanrifleman]

UR, no love for H-322? With Bart's Ultras it seems to place'um close together in my .223's...

I simply forgot to include that one!!! H322 is slightly faster so you can more easily load light bullet charges in a progressive without spillage.

 

[urbanrifleman]

If you want some extra speed AA2200 is the velocity king with the lightweight varmint bullets.

Have you tried the latest version? It is supposed to be made in Florida now.

 

[urbanrifleman]

ALLIANT 1200-R would be good to test too.

 

[Gary in MD]

I’m using TAC in my 223ai with 50 -55 grain varmint bullets. Getting decent accuracy but have not run them over a chrono.
Gary

 

[Gary in MD]

Just shot a few loads today to check velocities in my 223ai Cooper. It is very windy out today, I didn’t even set up a target. The old style 55 grain SX Hornadys shoot very well in my rifle and are used for ground hogs in areas that I don’t want the loud crack of my Swift. Those SX bullets are meant for these velocities and live up to their name- super explosive.

55 grain Hornady SX, 28.5 grains of TAC, CCI primer in Hornady cases yielded an average of 3418 fps 10 feet from the muzzle.
52 grain Bergers, 29.0 grains of TAC, Rem 7 1/2 primer yielded 3433 fps.

52 grain Berger, 28.5 grains of AR Comp, Rem 7 1/2 primer yielded an average of 3524 fps.

***These loads were safe and showed no signs of pressure in my rifle.
Please work up to these loads in each individual rifle.
Gary

 

[urbanrifleman]

Just shot a few loads today to check velocities in my 223ai Cooper. It is very windy out today, I didn’t even set up a target. The old style 55 grain SX Hornadys shoot very well in my rifle and are used for ground hogs in areas that I don’t want the loud crack of my Swift. Those SX bullets are meant for these velocities and live up to their name- super explosive.

55 grain Hornady SX, 28.5 grains of TAC, CCI primer in Hornady cases yielded an average of 3418 fps 10 feet from the muzzle.
52 grain Bergers, 29.0 grains of TAC, Rem 7 1/2 primer yielded 3433 fps.

52 grain Berger, 28.5 grains of AR Comp, Rem 7 1/2 primer yielded an average of 3524 fps.

***These loads were safe and showed no signs of pressure in my rifle.
Please work up to these loads in each individual rifle.
Gary

Great stuff.

 

[urbanrifleman]

I have my 223a brass processed

 

[urbanrifleman]

Ok, this is a simple speed test 233a and 50 tnt. Top speed was 3825 fps. Never really hit pressure.

 

[Gary in MD]

That’s some pretty good speed for 50s.
What rifle and barrel length? ( sorry if you already mentioned it above)
Gary

 

[urbanrifleman]

That’s some pretty good speed for 50s.
What rifle and barrel length? ( sorry if you already mentioned it above)
Gary

26 inch 14 twist kreiger

 

[urbanrifleman]

Here is the seating depth test and charge grid for lt32 and 50 tnt . It appears the best seating depth was 35 jump, from three targets. I decided that I would use 26.7 grains as the node. I could go to a higher node but I would not be able to load that on my progressive as it would spill.

 

[AckleymanII]

55's in a 14T, lapua brass, N135, Rem 700, McMillen Hunter class stock, muzzle break

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H335 around 28g with a thick cup primer with a 50g what ever is awesome. Best barrel life with H335 on red hot dog towns

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28.5 opened up a little

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27.5 ok, 27 not hot enough

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ON red hot dog towns, I cleaned every 125 rounds with AA2015 and H322, every 300 rounds with H335

I deemed the N 133 and N135 as special purpose powders as they burned very, very hot. The node with N133 is at 3800-3850 in my 14 and 12 twist barrels with 50g Noslers.

In a good barrel, the 55g Sierra lead tip blitz at 3600 really makes a mess of a coyote with very, very good acrobatics on p. dogs and chucks.

I had my bolts bushed by Jerry (Carlsbad), on this site, can't say enough good about his work.

40g slide along at nearly 4200, but acrobatics diminish around 300 yards.

Notice how the wind is changing the positions of the groups on that top target.

 

[GrocMax]

I know WC844 has tin dioxide in it, haven't shot enough H335 to tell (apparently so), but same deal WC844 is good for at least that many rounds without scrubbing. And it shoots well. My lot of WC844 is slower than H335.

Did I mention scrubbing barrels every 50-100 rounds when they're a-comin' right at ya is not my idea of a good time? Makes a difference to me. Temp sensitivity is pretty linear and predictable, not an issue really.

 

[Oso]

Favorite powders for 223: H322, H335, TAC, CFE 223, XBR 8208

 

[urbanrifleman]

Just got Terry 16 lbs of WC844 (H335) to test.

 

[AckleymanII]

A few years back, we shot 600-1200 centerfires per day on p. dog towns.

223 and a.i. we shot a lot of various powders. We used high power scopes and "placed" our shots for maximum air time.

Shot strings varied per powder choice in each of these two calibers.

125 round shot strings with all but H335, which was 250-300. With all but 335, powder fouling ruined precise shot placement.

JB on good brushes got the powder fouling out, cleaning in the trucks headlights at the motel.

Later on, we found some very top end velocity with extremes in accuracy with N133, but throat was shot out in 1200 rounds.

Urban, I would expect you to have great luck with aa2230, which has come to be my go to powder in the 6BR, 6BRX, and 6 Dasher with light bullets in slow twist, used BR barrels.

 

[AckleymanII]

Urban, wc844 is awesome, use thick cup primers, put the petal to the metal...hammer down, touch the lands

Upside to 844....long barrel life...shoot their heads off at 300

 

[centershot]

The best luck that I had with 53 vmax was with x terminator in an AI. Had a 1.182" five shot group at 300 meters. Could I do it again? Good thing was that I did not get tight shorts. Could not see the group until I went down range.

 

[miningshawn]

I shoot the heavy-for-caliber 77gr Bergers and TMK's in 223AI. My best results have come from CFE223.
Using the recipe below nets 3110fps at 85F, 45% humidity, and 5200 feet elevation. Results were great out to 1000yd.
Starline brass
Berger 77gr OTM
26.4gr CFE223
CCI BR4
2.265" COAL

This load just got me through a snipercentral course when a load for my RPR fell apart. The 223AI carried the day and stayed in there with a class full of 6.5C, 6C, and 308 in windy conditions.