Need Suggestion - H4895 in 223

[K22]

Being a victim of the reloading component shortages, I had to purchase some components from a very very limited inventory at my local gunshop that I don't normally use in my 223's (12" twist - bolt rifles).

I would appreciate any load suggestions you've tried and had success with using H4895 in combination with 55 grain Nosler BT's or other 55 grain bullets.

Thanks.

 

[rocketron]

i had good luck with 25.5 gn H 4895 and a rem 7.5 primer top off with a sierra 55 gn blitz (#1345)

factory rem 700 12 twist

 

[amlevin]

Same 25.5 gr charge here but with Wolf .223 primers and Montana Gold 55 gr FMJ-BT's.

OK in all my AR's although they have 1:9 to 1:8 twist rates.

 

[wapiti25]

I use a lot of IMR 4895 with 55 and 60 gr. It shoots good for me. Go to the Hodgdon site and work up your load, I think it will work for you.

 

[DRNewcomb]

If you are "forced" to use IMR 4895 for .223, you're still in pretty good shape. My old Sierra manual lists 25.8 gn as the max for a 55 gn bullet and Speer lists 26.5 as the max. (IMHO, YMMV)

 

[Scott Harris]

H4895 is one of the most versatile powders out there: use 23.0gr with 55grain 223REM in my AR. This is probably a light charge, but is plenty for plinking out to 200 yards.

 

[Tom Bear]

25.3 gr H4895 under 55 gr Nosler BT, CCI 400 primer, LC cases,
12 twist, 22 in barrel.

 

[torky455]

I wish I could find some H4895, down to 1 lb and can't find anything. My Hart barreled Savage loves 25.0g with 52g Berger or Euber bullets.

 

[K22]

I loaded up some 223's today with H4895 and 55 Noslers and while the weather was lousy I went out to the range.

I used the starting load posted by Hodgdon - one and done - Wow - this combo really worked. I'm very pleased with it so much so that I believe I will adopt this load for this rifle as my "go to load." I won't state the group size since no one would believe me and I haven't figure out yet how to scan a target and post to the Forum it but let me just leave at those groundhogs better beware.

What's the saying, "necessity is the mother of invention" - at least something positive for me came out of the absurdity of this components shortage.

Thanks for all the input.

 

[kelbro]

Shortage of Varget had me load up some H4895 223 loads and they performed better than the Varget loads.

 

[K22]

Shortage of Varget had me load up some H4895 223 loads and they performed better than the Varget loads.

Yep! that's what happened to me!! Varget has been my go to powder for most of 223's for the last 10 years because it shoots very well out of all of them. I started using Benchmark for the short barreled 223's which seem to perform better in these shorter barreled rifles. Couldn't find either powder so I tried the H4895 and it out performed both Varget and Benchmark in the particular rifle I shot the other day. I'm interested to see what it will do in my other 223's.

 

[Michaël T]

I loaded up some 223's today with H4895 and 55 Noslers and while the weather was lousy I went out to the range.

I used the starting load posted by Hodgdon - one and done - Wow - this combo really worked. I'm very pleased with it so much so that I believe I will adopt this load for this rifle as my "go to load." I won't state the group size since no one would believe me and I haven't figure out yet how to scan a target and post to the Forum it but let me just leave at those groundhogs better beware.

What's the saying, "necessity is the mother of invention" - at least something positive for me came out of the absurdity of this components shortage.

Thanks for all the input.

what charge load, case,bullet and primer did you use?

 

[brxbrad]

Straight off the Hodgdon Reloding Site
http://data.hodgdon.com/cartridge_load.asp

55 GR. SPR SP IMR IMR 4895 .224" 2.200" 23.0 2843 39,500 PSI 26.2C 3219 53,200 PSI
55 GR. SPR SP Hodgdon H4895 .224" 2.200" 25.0 3176 39,700 CUP 26.0 3315 49,000 CUP

Just start low and be careful....

 

[K22]

I loaded up some 223's today with H4895 and 55 Noslers and while the weather was lousy I went out to the range.

I used the starting load posted by Hodgdon - one and done - Wow - this combo really worked. I'm very pleased with it so much so that I believe I will adopt this load for this rifle as my "go to load." I won't state the group size since no one would believe me and I haven't figure out yet how to scan a target and post to the Forum it but let me just leave at those groundhogs better beware.

What's the saying, "necessity is the mother of invention" - at least something positive for me came out of the absurdity of this components shortage.

Thanks for all the input.

what charge load, case,bullet and primer did you use?

Cases: Winchester - full sized with an approx .002" shoulder bump, pocket uniformed, flash hole deburred.
Primers: Federal 205M match
Bullet: 55 grain Nosler BT
Charge: 25.0 grains - safe in my rifle - however you should work up slowly for yours.
Rifle: Model 700 Remington - Rebarreled with a Douglas Match barrel - 26" long, 12" twist.

Group (3) size, 0.150" (smallest I ever shot with this rifle) Need to test more but the weather has been awful with high winds almost every day.

 

[boltgunluvr]

Had good results using 25-26gr of H4895 using 53gr SMK or 55gr SPT Sierra flat base bullets. Really not a lot of difference until I got out to the 500 yd target.