Best powder for .223/5.56

[NZ_Fclass]

WHAT! No Reloader 15 or 4064 fanboys here today?

 

[SeabeeKen]

Best ive used is H-335, cfe-223, n-135, n-133, xterminator, n-530

 

[searcher]

imr8208xbr

 

[JLT]

H335, W760, Varget...

You meant W748, right?

 

[Leo_B]

I maybe should have included it's for an AR not a bolt gun.

 

[TheOtherZilla]

You meant W748, right?

Probly. I didn't look. Geezer memory.
Edit.. Went and checked my notes, Yeah W748 and a 65 Sierra SP for my AR.

 

[KMW 1954]

Benchmark. 60 to 69gr bullets.

 

[SecondsCount]

N 133.

Ditto and N135.

 

[Leo_B]

1075fps from a .223? Checking the Hodgdon online load calculator they list loads with TiteGroup, Trail Boss and AA No. 2 that all give around 1075fps. I'm sure those must be in bolt action only as I don't see how they'd cycle the action of an AR. Kind of wild.

 

[chop house]

It works very well and it was CHEAP when I bought it. $40/pound, if I remember correctly.

Now josh, cheap is $4 a pound, not $40. You must be younger than I imagined.

 

[chop house]

I thought I did fairly well with blc-2, until I found this site.....

 

[jk80]

Hard to beat 335. Works great in the ar platforms.

 

[TOObuilder]

I've spent a bunch of time this winter trying to narrow down my powder and bullet choice for my prairie dog AR's. These are 8 or 9 twist 20" uppers. In the past I had different loads for 5 or 6 different rifles shooting 50, 55 and 60 Vmax with Benchmarck, TAC, Varget, and IMR 3031. All the loads shot well but a pain to keep everything separate. I had ordered some Midsouth 55gr tipped bullets to try and was real happy with how they were shooting. I ended up with TAC as my powder choice. Meters great out of my RCBS measure and got good velocities and accuracy.

 

[K22]

As can see, there are a lot of powders that work well with this caliber for a wide range of bullet weights and bullet types.

I'll add my "2 cents", Varget, IMR/H 4895, Benchmark, H335 are powders that I had considerable success with using bullet weights 50 to 60 grain, 8" to 12" twists, bolt rifles.

In my experience, this is along with the 308 Win are two of the easiest calibers to find a high-performance load in a quality shooting system (rifle/stock/scope).

 

[joshb]

Now josh, cheap is $4 a pound, not $40. You must be younger than I imagined.

Oh well, relatively speaking, of course. Talk of $4 a pound is like telling the “walked to school in the snow uphill both ways” stories.

 

[Kracken McGraw]

Ramshot X-terminator has been economical for the lighter ones.

 

[Toms]

Is there a single powder really good for both .223 and 5.56 when loading 55gr. and 62gr. bullets?

I use rl 15 with 77 and 80 grain bullets. Shoots very accurately in three of my 223’s.

 

[JTO]

I'm using up the last of some RL10X with 52grn Speer Varmint bullets.
I found VV N140 to be accurate with 80grn A-Max.
Tikka 24 inch varmint barrel, 1-in-8inch twist.
We are limited in the UK with powders, VV N133 is a favourite for a lot of people.

 

[Toms]

I’ve used H335 for years but tried CFE223 a couple years ago. It works very well and it was CHEAP when I bought it. $40/pound, if I remember correctly.

Cheep powder was in the 60’s when I started loading. Gibsons in Riverton sold 4831 from 100# keg. Was .35 a pound. They weighed it into a paper bag. Primers were .39 a hundred and 270 bullets were 2.00 a hundred. Those were the days. Cost .26 to load most cartridges. Now my 6 bra runs 1.30 a round to load. He’ll to get old. Toms

 

[DDRanch]

H335 or W748!