223 Powder Choice

[Alguapo]

Just for giggles you may want to try some 53 Grn Vmax's . Man , they hit hard.

 

[DGP4]

Of the ones you list N133. My favorite is Ramshot TAC.

 

[BradY]

8208 with 53vmax works brilliant in my 12 twist krieger.

 

[10XSHOOTER]

28.0 of 748 with 50-55gr bullets

 

[skeeljc]

++ on N133. It is temperature stable, has a copper reducer and is accurate with 50 to 55 grain bullets.

 

[searcher]

Just put on a new Hart 223 1:12 twist barrel. This is the first 1:12 I’ve had as I mostly shot heavy bullets in other 223 1:8’s. I plan to use 52-55 grain bullets.

I picked up a pound of LT-32, what about N133, AA2015 or RE7, etc? Looking for easy and accurate metering from a powder measure. Any powder rise above the others in terms of accuracy, performance and barrel life?

That LT32 is awesome with those 50-55 bullets. I also use a lot of the Reloader 7. Depends on the rifle. Probably the best metering is something like TAC, but all three of those you listed meter pretty well. Of the three you mention, Rel 7 meters best, and is most accurate in two. The LT32 wins overall for me. I have several barrels that have many thousands of rounds down the tubes with the LT32 and Rel 7 - but not enough to retire them yet. The barrel life is so long with any of those powders - I'd just pick which one shoots best in your rig. For some reason, none of my rifles favored the AA2015, though the speed is roughly the same as LT32 as I recall.

 

[std7mag]

AR-Comp, H4895, N133, N135, Benchmark.

I saw some AR-Comp at a local store yesterday.
Thought I might try it as I've heard good about it.
When the guy told me $60 a pound, I told him it will continue to look good on HIS shelf!!!

 

[Bronsin]

I saw some AR-Comp at a local store yesterday.
Thought I might try it as I've heard good about it.
When the guy told me $60 a pound, I told him it will continue to look good on HIS shelf!!!

Yeah the price on it is ridiculous. It is a great new powder but Alliant is really overplayong their hand with it as well as RL15.5

 

[3Ackleys]

I’m using Ramshot TAC. I use heavier bullets. 75 grain ELD in an 8 twist 26 inch barrel with a long freebore. I’m using 24.3 grains with cci 250 primers Lapua brass and getting 2980 fps. My COL is 2.565.

The cci 250's won't fit in my 223 brass.

 

[William Vogel]

The cci 250's won't fit in my 223 brass.

450’s. Small rifle magnum primers. Sorry

 

[rockhound78]

I use AA2230(X-Terminator) with 50-55's for my gas gun and in my bolt gun only loads, I use TAC. For the bolt gun only loads, I use ramshot/accurate 5.56 nato load data. Get some eye opening speeds from the TAC along with great accuracy. My bolt gun is a stock(except for trigger) Rem XR100. Primers are CCI #41's. Really like the 55 BK's and the 53vmax in the bolt gun

 

[Ackman]

Just put on a new Hart 223 1:12 twist barrel. This is the first 1:12 I’ve had as I mostly shot heavy bullets in other 223 1:8’s. I plan to use 52-55 grain bullets.

I picked up a pound of LT-32, what about N133, AA2015 or RE7, etc? Looking for easy and accurate metering from a powder measure. Any powder rise above the others in terms of accuracy, performance and barrel life?

Pretty easy to make a 223 work. Lots of powders are good, some better than others depending on your barrel and chamber. In standard 223, VV133 with 40's/50's, VV135 better with 55's.....again, that's my barrel. IMI brass, 7-1/2 primer. Can't find any 2015 targets for the std. 223 but it's good and also in the AI. Your results may differ.....again, different gun, different chamber, brass, etc.

The loads I've chosen to use. Not benchrest groups but they do the job nicely on varmints. The 55BK load on left was shot with a1:14 Shilen, tight chamber......that bullet was said to not work in a 14tw, but it does in that barrel.
The 50gr./ 133 load is with a Rem. Varmint 1:12, stock chamber. Haven't tried 55's in that one.

 

[B23]

Pretty easy to make a 223 work. Lots of powders are good, some better than others

X2 on that!

As has already been mentioned, the list of powders that work well in 223's is very long and it's not a finicky cartridge to load for at all.

Longtrain said: "Just put on a new Hart 223 1:12 twist barrel. This is the first 1:12 I’ve had as I mostly shot heavy bullets in other 223 1:8’s. I plan to use 52-55 grain bullets.

I picked up a pound of LT-32, what about N133, AA2015 or RE7, etc? Looking for easy and accurate metering from a powder measure. Any powder rise above the others in terms of accuracy, performance and barrel life?"

Well, Hart makes one of the best button rifled barrels you can buy, I have a few of them, so you're certainly off to a great start.

With the powders you already have you'll likely be able to work up a load that serves you well. I haven't used any in awhile but one that I used to use a lot of in different 223's and it worked with a very wide range of bullet weights was Win 748. Win 748 has been around for a long time and as new powders have been developed it doesn't get used as much but that doesn't mean it still doesn't work extremely well in 223's and it's typically easy to find on the shelf and for less than the crazy 50 bucks a pound that a lot of powders are selling for now days. Also, Win 748 flows like water through a powder measure/dispenser. I use a lot of Hodgdon Benchmark with 53's in 223's and it too meters very consistently and shoots well but I don't know that it shoots any better then 748 and 748 always produced a little faster velocities.

My first 223 was a heavy barrel Olympic Arms AR I bought in 1986. It wasn't anything special but it shot the mid 50's really well with 748 and I loaded for it on a progressive. I have AR's now that are much fancier and cost way more but I don't know that any of them shoot any better then that HB Oly Arms AR did, go figure....

 

[COLT45SA]

Do any of you have a Ruger 77 in .223 with a Zytel stock and 1:12 twist barrel that really shoots well~? If you do, tell me what bullet and powder combo to try~!

 

[Bottom Fodder]

Shot some 80 gr. SMK Using H322 it looked good enough that I’m going play with it a little more if no other reason I have 6 pounds and I really don’t us it for anything else

 

[FoxTales]

Another vote for N133 , CCI450 combo .

 

[spaniel]

Shot some 80 gr. SMK Using H322 it looked good enough that I’m going play with it a little more if no other reason I have 6 pounds and I really don’t us it for anything else

H322 has been my go-to powder in 223 for many years, I have a recipe which seems to shoot well in every gun I’ve tried it in. Even as powders are coming back I still haven’t seen H322 in a long time, I’m going to run low in another 6-12 months. CFE223 has been gangbusters in my 223AI, I’ll probably try it in regular 223. H322 has found MANY uses, my wildcat 358, 458 SOCOM…I’m sure I’ll always want to keep some in stock.

 

[Bottom Fodder]

H322 has been my go-to powder in 223 for many years, I have a recipe which seems to shoot well in every gun I’ve tried it in. Even as powders are coming back I still haven’t seen H322 in a long time, I’m going to run low in another 6-12 months. CFE223 has been gangbusters in my 223AI, I’ll probably try it in regular 223. H322 has found MANY uses, my wildcat 358, 458 SOCOM…I’m sure I’ll always want to keep some in stock

what weigh bullet, primer are you using

 

[searcher]

I saw some AR-Comp at a local store yesterday.
Thought I might try it as I've heard good about it.
When the guy told me $60 a pound, I told him it will continue to look good on HIS shelf!!!

Yikes!!!

 

[qldreloader]

I have a lot of CCI 400 primers and they don't handle high pressures well. I found Benchmark would get me 3000fps out of a Howa Mini Action .223 without pressure signs on the CCI 400s. Accuracy is right around 1/2MOA. The only problem with Benchmark is it doesn't meter as accurately as a ball powder so I still weigh each charge.