.223 Powder Opinions

[JarheadAZ]

My rifle is a factory Savage 11VT (Dick's Sporting exclusive) 24", 1:9" twist. I shoot the Hornady 75gr HPBT-Match (no canellure) at 2.260. Brass is Winchester, Primer is CCI BR-4, charge is 24.4gr of Varget. It's good enough for 9's and 10's at 600yd shooting F T/R, most of the 9's are me being me. Hodgdon lists a 24.6gr max with this bullet weight.

Same load is also a good one in my Stag Model 6 Super Varminter 24" 1:8" barrel at the same distance, same competition.

Greg

 

[Kracken McGraw]

Thanks again for all the feedback. Will visit with Gunsmith about throat chambering, also have a pretty good stash of factory Australian Outback 69SMK ammo that I want to make work too. Just got the Hornady bullets in, look really nice for.17 cents.

 

[dickn52]

Pushing the 52 gn ELD I use N133 for 2950 fps. But if I decide to go out past 250 yds that will change.

 

[Liven The Dream]

2015 BR N 135 AR Comp.
The Ski is the Limit .

If it was me Varget or R-15

 

[Jackal2016]

I tried Varget with 68 grain Hornady BTHP for my Rem 700 223 5R milspec, And the results were okay. But then I tried 69g SMK with CFE-223 with better results. There's more powders for me to try out yet though. But I am happy with the CFE-223 so far. So far for that weight range of bullets I have actually used were factory Fed 77 GMM, but I do have some 75g Hornady BTHP and 77g SMK to do some testing with.

 

[Bamboolongbow]

I second the idea of Ramshot TAC. TAC worked great shooting 77SMK and 77gr Noslers.

 

[Kracken McGraw]

I have still been studying on all these powders, after all of your good suggestions. Gstaylorg suggested that some of my choies might be a little to of a slow burn rate for the 75 bullets and the longer barrel bolt action. Looking at hodgdon powder burn rates from fastest to slowest, I see these powders in numerical ratings. Examples #82 ram shot tac,#83 h4895,#89 imr4166, #94 reloder15,#95 n140, #96 varget,#100 cfe223, and so on. I'm new to the .223 case so I think I see that some of you are saying that powders like h4895 and imr 4166 would give less case fill and would work better with the heavy bullets. Also Varget has gotten so much praise that it's going to be hard not to look at it. I have been reading Hodgdons 2017 annual reloading manual, and it has two very good accuracy articles on the .308 and 6.5 Creedmoor. It's interesting that the new imr powders, 4166 and 4451 came in with the smallest groups.

 

[Richard Coody]

Thank You all for taking time to give me your own personal inputs! You have given me a lot to chew on. I was wanting to stock up on some powder while the the gettin is good, so to say. May just have to get a pound of several flavors to see what it likes. Are the faster nodes going to affect barrel life in the .223, or is that what's best and just pay the price for it to get accuracy.

Your barrel is going to tell you what it likes. Both bullet and powder. Listen to it.

I would.reccomend a..223 match chamber not a wilde. Unless.you plan to give up accuracy to be.able to shoot 5.56.

 

[Kracken McGraw]

Thank you, that's good to know.