223 Powder Choices 77 SMK

[Belton45]

Going to try and find decent load that will shoot in a few of my AR’s. I have LC brass and WSR primers. I will be loading 77SMK because I have 6-700 of them. What powder would be your first choice to try? Thanks.

Powders I have on hand
N133
N140
Varget
H4895
8208 XBR
Benchmark
Reloader 15

 

[Jeff Porter]

23.2 8208 or 23.4 H4895 are my go to 77 loads for SMK or Lapua Scenar -L bullets.

23.5-24.0 of Varget is a known good load too.

 

[Ned Ludd]

Benchmark, 8208 XBR, or H4895 - take your pick. In fairness, the RL15, N140, N133, and Varget powders you have should also work well. Given that all of those powders fall within a reasonable burn rate region for what you're trying to do, I might well just load up a few rounds with each powder and shoot a group or two to determine whether there appears any obvious difference in precision, even with non-optimized/undeveloped loads. At that point, you can make a more informed decision about which one to continue load development based on precision, velocity from a known charge weigh, and how much of each powder you have on hand.

 

[Belton45]

Appreciate the information. I do have 6-7 lbs of 8208xbr. Would be great to find a load with that powder.

 

[jelenko]

As Jeff mentioned, 23.2 of 8208 and 77 SMK's in a 20 inch barrel is a know good load.
With a match grade barrel, groups usually are 1/2 MOA +/-

 

[darkangel_r2]

Going to try and find decent load that will shoot in a few of my AR’s. I have LC brass and WSR primers. I will be loading 77SMK because I have 6-700 of them. What powder would be your first choice to try? Thanks.

Powders I have on hand
N133
N140
Varget
H4895
8208 XBR
Benchmark
Reloader 15

Measuring each or throwing?

If measuring each varget and 4895 are really hard to beat.

If trying to throw charges xbr and benchmark.

 

[CADDIE5]

Going to try and find decent load that will shoot in a few of my AR’s. I have LC brass and WSR primers. I will be loading 77SMK because I have 6-700 of them. What powder would be your first choice to try? Thanks.

Powders I have on hand
N133
N140
Varget
H4895
8208 XBR
Benchmark
Reloader 15

24 gr re15 for 77smk or 80.5 berger with ISRA team

 

[NickB1075]

Varget and RL15

 

[Tireguy]

H4895 is what you seek

 

[Belton45]

Sounds like I have all the right powders for the job.

 

[Billy 30-06]

Any of the powders you listed are good except n-133 and benchmark may be a bit fast for 77gr. You may want to be careful with the WSR primers in the AR. AA-2520 and N-540 are excellent powders for 77-80.5gr. You'll have to find what your barrel likes. A good start would be N-140.

 

[Belton45]

Any of the powders you listed are good except n-133 and benchmark may be a bit fast for 77gr. You may want to be careful with the WSR primers in the AR. AA-2520 and N-540 are excellent powders for 77-80.5gr. You'll have to find what your barrel likes. A good start would be N-140.

I am all ears on the WSR primers. Not a good application for the AR? I have a bunch…

 

[Billy 30-06]

Winchester small rifle primers have thin cups that could cause a slam fire in some ARs with heavy buffer springs. I have shot the older silver colored primers without any problem.

 

[jelenko]

They are are known to pierce at times. The metal on the primer cup is a bit thinner than others.
At the same time, I've seen some report that they've used WSR's for years in their AR and never had a pierced primer.

Personally, I've seen enough reports that it's clear that they are much more likely to pierce than others.

 

[Belton45]

Well crap. Glad I asked.

 

[Woofie]

I have found RE15 and N140 to work very well for me in 20-24" .223 or 5,56mm rifles, B/A and AR15 w/77SMKs. If I had to pick one it would be RE15.
As to primer piercing.... there can be a lot more going on beyond the primer, such as the face of your firing pin, pin protrusion, etc.
Give your WSR primers a go. They may be fine.
PS: FWIW, I have found over-sized firin pin holes to be wayyyyy more of a contributor to pierced primers than any other single factor.

 

[Belton45]

Thanks for info.

 

[drop_point]

8208XBR has served me well with that bullet.

 

[Intell]

H335 may be worth a look.
I recently worked up a load using H335 and 77 SMKs for a new 20” barrel, light weight AR.
I had a large bag of mixed brass, 3 brands that I didn’t want to sort. I actually got it to shoot 1” and sometimes under. I can’t remember the load without looking, but I want to say it’s 2850 FPS range.
I shot it out to 650 on steel plates last week in some pretty tough wind. I didn’t hit everything but it was a good enough load to play with.
It held close to 1 MOA to 400. Good plinking load. The next batch may not be so friendly being mixed brass.

 

[Dgd6mm]

I'm not a gas gun shooter but in my bolt guns anything from 75-80 grains I like H4895 or 8208.