223 rem loads

[Scrumbag]

Hello folks,

I'm starting to enjoy the flexibility of reloading and finding out what a rifle can do when you can step away from factory offerings.

I've been playing around with the .223 (1:9 twist) quite a lot due to the sheer amount of load data and projectiles available

So, I have a couple of loads I like

1) Small deer load

For muntjac and Chinese Water Deer (and Scottish Roe if I get the chance) I quite like a heavier soft point bullet (this is after good experiences with the Federal Fusion 62gr bullet. Shoots well and good on game performancde but harder to get locally).

So my preferred load is a Sierra 65gr Gameking with just under 26gr of Ramshot TAC.

2) Plinking round

This if for 100yd multi-position and running target.

For this I use 55 gr Hornady FMJ BT (The "inexpensive" bullet that comes in the 500rd Bulk Pack) with just over 25gr of TAC. With a crimp it does a bit under 1.5" groups with a thrown charge which is certainly good enough for those purposes.

(Has anyone tried the 62gr Hornady FMJ BT? Looks interesting with the 1:9 twist).

3) Varmint Round

I reckon the 65gr GK load might be a bit hard for foxes and pencil through so I was wondering about "Varmint" load

Anyone have any suggestions? Is it worth going super light and super fast or is it worth going something like a 60gr V-Max or Berger to take advantage of the twist?

4) Longer Range Target Round

Was thinking one of the 68 / 69 / 70 gr bullets (Probably not ballistic tipped) so BTHP.
Any particular difference between the 68gr Hornady, 69gr Sierra / Lapua offerings or the Nosler 70gr RDF?

5) Non-lead Deer Load

So, it seems Non-lead is becoming more of a thing whether we like it or not.

Wondering if anyone has developed a small deer load they like for .223 Rem

I've loaded up some 55gr GMX but not tested yet.

Anyone had better luck with other things? I have a part box of 55gr Fox to try (If @Edinburgh Rifles ever gets back to me with load data). Would like to try the Nosler E-Tip but they seem to be like hens teeth. I have heard some worrying things about Barnes not expanding so well so perhaps not so keen on those. Anyone tried Peregrines?

Thoughts very welcome.

Powder

I started using Ramshot TAC as a couple of years ago when I started reloading a couple of years ago had data for pretty much anything I wanted to load.

It's a ball powder so some say it is difficult to get ignited (And in some lighter loads I have noticed a sooty case) but I will say it goes through a powder thrower nicely.
Also some say it's a bit temperature sensitive but given I would guess the vast majority of UK shooting occurs between 5 and 20C I'm not sure how relevant it is.

Has anyone noticed that N133 / 135 / 140 to be a better performer? (Sadly you'd give up the nice metering properties of course).

Primers

Currently I am using Magtech S&B small rifle primers. Would it be worth stepping up to a Magnum Small Rifle Primer?

Anyway, thoughts are much appreciated!

Scrummy

 

[PopCharlie]

I like w748 for my .223 AR plinking loads. I shoot 25.5 gr w748 under a 55 gr Nosler ballistic tip. W748 is a ball powder, so it meters nicely. I have used this load with various 55 gr FMJ bullets as well. Shoots great.

PopCharlie

 

[K22]

I shoot the 223 Rem extensively and have for some time now. I have a variety of bolt rifles in this caliber with twists ranging from 12" to 9" to 8". But most of experience with this caliber is hunting eastern ground hogs and predators but I'll share my thoughts based on my experience thus far.

I'm quite experienced with the 12" and have a number of loads that work terrific but I'll move on since you're interested in faster twist rifles. The 12" twist rifles are my go to varmint hunting rifles because of the flatter trajectory and I'm force to use "hold over" to compensate for elevation corrections due the limitation of the scopes I have i.e. they do not have repeatable dial up capability. My max effective varmint / predator hunting range in about 300 yards with the 223 Rem. Most of shot opportunities are well under this range.

In the 9" twist, the 55 Nosler BT w/ H4895 has shot very well for me. Also the 60 Vmax with the same powder.

In the 8" twist rifles, the 60 Vmax has really shined in both of my Tikka T3X's, one a heavy varmint model and the other the lite model. Again with the same aforementioned powder. The varmint model is a sub 1/2 moa rifle w/ the 60Vmax with only limited load development at this time.

The 55 Nosler BT's work well enough but I had the lower the powder charge about a grain compared to the 12" twist rifle loads to get this bullet to group within acceptable limits in the 9 and 8" twist rifles. I'm running about 2,900 to 3,000 f/s with this bullet in the faster twist rifles compared to about 3,200 to 3,100 f/s in my 12" twist rifles.

I would choose either of these bullets for varmint / predator hunting in the faster twist rifles but haven't field tested them in this faster twist rifles yet.

I would never prefer to hunt deer with the 223 Rem but if forced to I'd choose the 60 grain Nosler Partition bullet. I'm sure there are some out there that have used the 223 Rem successfully on deer so I'll defer to them on this subject.

I'm not a fan of ball powder because of the wide range of temperatures that I hunt from season to season. Even so H335 is one the most accurate powders I've ever tried in the 223 Rem. The problem I had was in the summer months at temperatures 90* +, I'd get significant changes in point of impact. The only ball powder that I experienced over pressure surges in high temperature was with H380 in the 22 250. So about 10 years ago I switched to "stick" powders for all my shooting for more consistency. Stick powders that have worked very well for me in the 223 Rem are, Varget, H/IMR 4895, Benchmark.

 

[dasherfan]

the 60grain vmax is great bullet and hits small game HARD. I shoot them with 25 grains of H4895 and a fed 205m primer in starline brass. This is out of a 24 in ArR-15 with a criterion barrel, it holds about 1/2 moa pretty consistently

 

[mac86951]

Varmint, I'd recommend stick a 55 Hornady SP in place of the FMJ. Bulk prices are about the same too.

Long range, I'd highly recommend n140 or Varget and a Sierra 69gr, or berger 70 vld (25.0 varget). Plan on weighing each charge as they don't meter so well. TAC will do for long range too, but I don't have direct experience with it.

-Mac

 

[miningshawn]

I don't "plink", and I don't hunt deer with a .223.

About a decade ago I started getting real anal about every rifle I own shooting 0.5 MOA or better. I have developed quite a few loads for the .223 in a 9 twist, and a couple consistently rise to the top.

If I am being cheap:
69gr Sierra Matchking
CFE223 or H335 (BIG difference in charge weight here)
CCI 400
Starline brass
- These set me back $0.36 when primers are 3 cents apiece, a pound of powder is $25, and Sierra 69's are $100. I fear those days are long gone.

If I am not being cheap:
73gr Berger boat tail target
Varget, H4895, or Viht N140
CCI BR4
Lapua or Petersen brass
- Price per cartridge rises to $0.48 apiece.

Both of these work fantastic in AR's as well as bolt rifles. As I mentioned, I lean to the OCD side. I even neck turn all of my brass, including the "cheap" .223. I get more than a little satisfaction from each bullet arriving where I intended - if it is a miss it is on me. I also take any batch of bullets off of the shelf for any task. Going to a match? grab 150, going after gophers in April? grab 500, going to the range to bang some steel with the guys out to 800? grab a couple hundred. It's nice when you have a multiple-purpose and dialed-in load.

 

[Intheshop]

Lee 225-55RF cast moderately hard..... WW's and Rotometal hardball in about equal amts.

As cast sizing,GC,tiny amt of lube just above GC,seated to a medium jam,no prep cases,almost any primer,19g IMR4198,out of a 12T.

Should be 26-2700fps..... and don't tell your buds at the range until you've taken their lunch money.

 

[std7mag]

I'm still very much in the experimental stage with precision shooting the 223 Rem.
Rifle is Savage factory barreled action, 1:9 twist 24".
I've been mostly using 69gr MatchKings.
Have been trying the 69gr Tipped MatchKing for longer (300-400 yard) matches.
Just picked up 2 boxes of the 70gr Nosler RDF to try.
Powders i've tried so far are W748, Varmint, RL15, PP2000MR.

So far the rifle has shot well with all the different combinations i've tried.
Still trying to wrap my head around "precision" reloading and the difference from hunting reloading.

 

[CharlieNC]

Cfe223 has been the most accurate powder for me, meters well, great velocity. Does well in Fclass, so you know it works.

 

[243winxb]

Any particular difference between the 68gr Hornady, 69gr Sierra.

Hornady is longer with more bearing surface . The length of bullets must work with the barrels twist rate. https://www.jbmballistics.com/ballistics/lengths/lengths.shtml

The longer bullets dont seem to leave much room for COL adjustment, when feeding from a magazine. Hornady 68 gr @ .987" Sierra tipped @ .982"

 

[ballisticxlr]

Best loads I've worked have been... umm... warmish so I'll let folks work out charges on their own.

75gr Hornady BTHP 2950fps from 24" with Varget
70gr Berger VLD 3050fps from 24" with Varget

Both loads will work fine from a 9 twist. Primer: CCI 450 or #41 on PPU brass. Seating depth to STANAG mag length -.020".

 

[std7mag]

Cfe223 has been the most accurate powder for me, meters well, great velocity. Does well in Fclass, so you know it works.

Meters well. Yes.
Good velocity. Yes.
Really high Exreme Spread and Standard Deviation. Yes.

CFE223 has been my least accurate of powders. Combined with really temp sensitive. Do load workups in the summer.

 

[CharlieNC]

Meters well. Yes.
Good velocity. Yes.
Really high Exreme Spread and Standard Deviation. Yes.

CFE223 has been my least accurate of powders. Combined with really temp sensitive. Do load workups in the summer.

Yes it gets a bad rap for temperature sensitivity, but I shoot it year round in NC and have not experienced any issues. I wonder how many of the reports for any number of powders is because of not finding a good node, and pushing the upper limit? YMMV.

 

[std7mag]

True.
I can usually find 2 nodes when doing load development.
Loaded to the lower node might be ok.
Hunter in me keeps going to the higher node.

Still an issue with ES/SD though.
Couldn't get to group to what i want 300 yards plus.

 

[CharlieNC]

True.
I can usually find 2 nodes when doing load development.
Loaded to the lower node might be ok.
Hunter in me keeps going to the higher node.

Still an issue with ES/SD though.
Couldn't get to group to what i want 300 yards plus.

Std7 I tried several powders when working up a load for 80.5 and 90gr Bergers for Ftr, and picked the one which gave the best target results. The SD is marginal like most 223's, but CFE shoots very competitively out to 600yd in my setup due to a wide node. Too many other variables to consider as to why we see differences, just part of the pursuit for accuracy game.

 

[David Milisock]

Hello folks,

I'm starting to enjoy the flexibility of reloading and finding out what a rifle can do when you can step away from factory offerings.

I've been playing around with the .223 (1:9 twist) quite a lot due to the sheer amount of load data and projectiles available

So, I have a couple of loads I like

1) Small deer load

For muntjac and Chinese Water Deer (and Scottish Roe if I get the chance) I quite like a heavier soft point bullet (this is after good experiences with the Federal Fusion 62gr bullet. Shoots well and good on game performancde but harder to get locally).

So my preferred load is a Sierra 65gr Gameking with just under 26gr of Ramshot TAC.

2) Plinking round

This if for 100yd multi-position and running target.

For this I use 55 gr Hornady FMJ BT (The "inexpensive" bullet that comes in the 500rd Bulk Pack) with just over 25gr of TAC. With a crimp it does a bit under 1.5" groups with a thrown charge which is certainly good enough for those purposes.

(Has anyone tried the 62gr Hornady FMJ BT? Looks interesting with the 1:9 twist).

3) Varmint Round

I reckon the 65gr GK load might be a bit hard for foxes and pencil through so I was wondering about "Varmint" load

Anyone have any suggestions? Is it worth going super light and super fast or is it worth going something like a 60gr V-Max or Berger to take advantage of the twist?

4) Longer Range Target Round

Was thinking one of the 68 / 69 / 70 gr bullets (Probably not ballistic tipped) so BTHP.
Any particular difference between the 68gr Hornady, 69gr Sierra / Lapua offerings or the Nosler 70gr RDF?

5) Non-lead Deer Load

So, it seems Non-lead is becoming more of a thing whether we like it or not.

Wondering if anyone has developed a small deer load they like for .223 Rem

I've loaded up some 55gr GMX and looking for a report (@Kalahari )

Anyone had better luck with other things? I have a part box of 55gr Fox to try (If @Edinburgh Rifles ever gets back to me with load data). Would like to try the Nosler E-Tip but they seem to be like hens teeth. I have heard some worrying things about Barnes not expanding so well so perhaps not so keen on those. Anyone tried Peregrines?

Thoughts very welcome.

Powder

I started using Ramshot TAC as a couple of years ago when I started reloading a couple of years ago had data for pretty much anything I wanted to load.

It's a ball powder so some say it is difficult to get ignited (And in some lighter loads I have noticed a sooty case) but I will say it goes through a powder thrower nicely.
Also some say it's a bit temperature sensitive but given I would guess the vast majority of UK shooting occurs between 5 and 20C I'm not sure how relevant it is.

Has anyone noticed that N133 / 135 / 140 to be a better performer? (Sadly you'd give up the nice metering properties of course).

Primers

Currently I am using Magtech S&B small rifle primers. Would it be worth stepping up to a Magnum Small Rifle Primer?

Anyway, thoughts are much appreciated!

Scrummy

I carried a CAR15 and M16, later I bought a rifle to test the 223 cartridge, I liked it so I bought a bolt action, a Howa 1500 with a 22" heavy barrel.

These are just my opinions.

My AR 15 A2 20" barrel with 1 in 7 twist with quality 62 or 68 grain projectiles can properly achieve what it was designed for. It can regularly make repeatable hits on man or deer sized targets at 500 yards in a light wind.

The cartridge is a poor choice for whitetail sized game outside 100 yards. Even at 100 yards I would only go for central nervous system hits if there was much cover. The rifle is easily capable of such hits.

The AR shoots any reasonable quality 55 FMJ for plinking with good accuracy. My Howa is a 1 in 12 twist, it shoots any quality 55 grain FMJ for plinking.

The Howa will shoot any quality projectile I've tested up to 55 grain for hunting. Target shooting is not my thing but the 1 in 12 twist and case capacity of the 223 it's a short range process.

Varmint hunting in my area is borderline with the 223. There are many days the wind limits any reasonable shooting to 200 yards. When the wind cooperates I've managed to make head shots on chucks out to 350.

To achieve field accuracy all my testing was done at 300 yards. I was able to achieve 1" groups in very low or no wind at that range with 55 grain projectiles, I have not tested the GMX. However the bullet drop and time of flight made field shooting in the wind impractical. In the wind my best 55 grain projectiles were spreading groups to 3 1/2", bullet drops made target acquisition and range estimation impractical. At this weight 3200 FPS+ or - limits the 223.

To resolve this issue I went the light projectile direction. I use a 40 grain VMAX at 3,900 FPS. I achieved this with Malaysian 5.56 military brass and 29.2 grain of H322. The results reduced the time of flight, bullet drop and under conditions where my best 55 grain loads were spreading 3 1/2" at 300 yards I could keep the 40 grain VMAX under 2".

I really like the 223 a great many pluses, wind is not one of them for that I have a 6MM Remington with a 75 grain VMAX at 3,900 FPS.

 

[Rick300]

I'm still very much in the experimental stage with precision shooting the 223 Rem.
Rifle is Savage factory barreled action, 1:9 twist 24".
I've been mostly using 69gr MatchKings.
Have been trying the 69gr Tipped MatchKing for longer (300-400 yard) matches.
Just picked up 2 boxes of the 70gr Nosler RDF to try.
Powders i've tried so far are W748, Varmint, RL15, PP2000MR.

So far the rifle has shot well with all the different combinations i've tried.
Still trying to wrap my head around "precision" reloading and the difference from hunting reloading.

If you like the 69gr Matchkings, you will REALLY like the 70 gr. Bergers

 

[Scrumbag]

This is all very interesting folks!

@std7mag please let me know how you get on with the RDFs.

Scrummy

 

[std7mag]

Will do!
Have a winter 200 yard IBS match on Jan. 9th.
May have to use the TMK for that one.
Weather currently 16° and windy.
Kinda hard to hold the rifle steady to do testing.

 

[wkdickinson]

Hello folks,

I'm starting to enjoy the flexibility of reloading and finding out what a rifle can do when you can step away from factory offerings.

I've been playing around with the .223 (1:9 twist) quite a lot due to the sheer amount of load data and projectiles available

So, I have a couple of loads I like

1) Small deer load

For muntjac and Chinese Water Deer (and Scottish Roe if I get the chance) I quite like a heavier soft point bullet (this is after good experiences with the Federal Fusion 62gr bullet. Shoots well and good on game performancde but harder to get locally).

So my preferred load is a Sierra 65gr Gameking with just under 26gr of Ramshot TAC.

2) Plinking round

This if for 100yd multi-position and running target.

For this I use 55 gr Hornady FMJ BT (The "inexpensive" bullet that comes in the 500rd Bulk Pack) with just over 25gr of TAC. With a crimp it does a bit under 1.5" groups with a thrown charge which is certainly good enough for those purposes.

(Has anyone tried the 62gr Hornady FMJ BT? Looks interesting with the 1:9 twist).

3) Varmint Round

I reckon the 65gr GK load might be a bit hard for foxes and pencil through so I was wondering about "Varmint" load

Anyone have any suggestions? Is it worth going super light and super fast or is it worth going something like a 60gr V-Max or Berger to take advantage of the twist?

4) Longer Range Target Round

Was thinking one of the 68 / 69 / 70 gr bullets (Probably not ballistic tipped) so BTHP.
Any particular difference between the 68gr Hornady, 69gr Sierra / Lapua offerings or the Nosler 70gr RDF?

5) Non-lead Deer Load

So, it seems Non-lead is becoming more of a thing whether we like it or not.

Wondering if anyone has developed a small deer load they like for .223 Rem

I've loaded up some 55gr GMX and looking for a report (@Kalahari )

Anyone had better luck with other things? I have a part box of 55gr Fox to try (If @Edinburgh Rifles ever gets back to me with load data). Would like to try the Nosler E-Tip but they seem to be like hens teeth. I have heard some worrying things about Barnes not expanding so well so perhaps not so keen on those. Anyone tried Peregrines?

Thoughts very welcome.

Powder

I started using Ramshot TAC as a couple of years ago when I started reloading a couple of years ago had data for pretty much anything I wanted to load.

It's a ball powder so some say it is difficult to get ignited (And in some lighter loads I have noticed a sooty case) but I will say it goes through a powder thrower nicely.
Also some say it's a bit temperature sensitive but given I would guess the vast majority of UK shooting occurs between 5 and 20C I'm not sure how relevant it is.

Has anyone noticed that N133 / 135 / 140 to be a better performer? (Sadly you'd give up the nice metering properties of course).

Primers

Currently I am using Magtech S&B small rifle primers. Would it be worth stepping up to a Magnum Small Rifle Primer?

Anyway, thoughts are much appreciated!

Scrummy

I have a late-90's Colt AR (their "CAR" version) with the stock 24" 1:9" twist barrel. It shoots 50gr VMAX with H335 amazingly well - consistent .6 or .7 MOA 5-shot groups at 200 yds.