good day folks,
with the lack of availability of certain powders and exorbitant prices of what is in stock, i want to ask what powder
you would purchase for the following 2 calibers and bullets i like to use.
i have a 20in bbl ar15 that i like to use only 55gr & 62gr fmjbt`s ( i load these using nato brass )
& an 18in LR308 using 150gr fmjbt`s and a 24in dpms GEN 2 that i only use sierra 168gr match bullets. ( also using nato brass )
if you had only one powder to load with these what would you elect to use?
4 powders i have been told that would satisfy each with decent ( not best ) results are: W748, V135, CFE223 & A2520
open to other ideas. thank you for any help!
With today's availability and prices I'd be looking only at Vhita powders. In your list of requirements you have four specific needs, if I am reading it correctly. I think you will want to list those needs by priority. Meaning which one do you shoot 75% of the time or which one do you want close to optimal burn and velocity with? Or which do you need to have a tight tune with the most?
I mention this because a ballistically efficient 55gr 223 load and and a ballistically efficient 308 168gr load are are going to be at odds with just one power. Doable, probably. But tricky at least.
However your 55gr, 62gr, and 150gr loads might be able to find a powder that does pretty well with all 3. And that could mean your 168gr load ends up with slightly less velocity because the pressure maxes out early.
Or the opposite. Prioritize the 165gr load and you may end up with more unburnt powder in your 55gr load and that would mean cleaning more often. If cleaning more often is possible, then that would be fine, but if you are doing some sort of shooting format where it is not convenient to clean after just 40 rounds, that's something to take into consideration.
My advice. Get the Vhita equivalent of H4895 for 223 and 308 cartridges if that is possible. There are conflicting views if this is N135 or N140. I have searched alot on this and the experienced guys recommended one or the other as a H4895 burn equivalent. I get the feeling it's based on the cartridge they use.
If forced to choose, I'd go with N140. but that is from research not actual use. All the Vhita charts say one thing about their burn rate equivalents, but nearly everyone agrees Vhita N135/140/150 burns faster than their charts. I expect N135 to act like close to benchmark burn rate and 140 close to H4895.
So depending on your priority rank of your loads 135 may be better of you focus on the 223 55/62 grain. Or 140 might be better if your priority is that 168gr load.
Others are going to give your grief for wanting just one powder, but I get why you would want to do that. Everyone has different situations. My situation changed and I bought 16lbs each of 135/140/150/160 this spring. Last year my situation was different and if I were buying it would have been 32lbs of 140.
