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Out of 8208xbr, what to try ? 223 Wylde

I’m having trouble finding any powder in stock. I used up my 8208xbr which is a tragedy since it shot great in my 223 wylde, bighorn.

I was loading up 25.4 grains of 8208xbr with 52 Bergers in lapua cases with rem 7 1/2s. It would stack them into little teeny clusters. (worked up to of course checking for safe pressures )

I have a tiny bit of n133, n135
IMr 4895 and varget left.
For projectiles
I have a few barts 52s
Berger 52s
And some smk 53,55,77

Anyone have any suggestions of where to start? Components are scarce and I don’t want to burn up a ton of them coming up with a new load, so if I can rule some stuff out right away that would be awesome.

I guess worst case scenario maybe I’ll have to wait till 8208xbr comes back in stock someday.
 
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I shoot a lot of 223 Rem in 8, 9 and 12 inch twist bolt rifles with bullets ranging from 50 to 60 grains.
My go to powder for all of them is H4895. Is there a better powder, maybe, probably but this powder meets all my performance goals for precision with the added benefit of being usable in other calibers like the 308 Win and with lighter bullets, the 243 Win.*

Because the political upheavals we've experienced in the last couple of decades and the resultant shortages of components, I've been moving towards consolidation of components so I can purchase in bulk more economically have sufficient components in stock to support my range practice and hunting activities.

Fortunately there are number of powders that work quite well in the 223 Rem. H335, Benchmark, and Varget are one's I've used extensively with excellent results. Also, with the small case capacity, I get about 280 reloads out of a pound of powder. With an 8 lbs. keg - well, that's a lot of range shooting and hunting with my 223 Rem's. :)


*shoots lights out with 70 grain Nosler BT's in my rifles which kind of surprised me because the low case fill.
 
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I had an 8lb jug of the 8208xbr I thought was more filled up than it was, I have some 4895 I guess I’ll try that next. It’s usually used in my 308 stuff.
 
Varget and H4895 are my go to with the .223. Try something in the 26 - 26.5 range of Varget for the 52's. Adjust just a little for the 53's and 55's. Work up of course. Now, having said that, I agree with all of the component issues, and my Varget and H4895 are the powders I use in a lot of other calibers. I was wanting to try maybe something else in my .223's to take some of the pressure off my Varget and 4895, because, the .223 is kind of my main plink, shoot, hunt, screw around guns. I was able to pick up some LT32. So, I'm going to try a little of that for plinking to keep me in some trigger time and keep the pressure off my Varget and 4895. Good luck.
 
If I were in Tx I’d buy the 8208 :)
I have heard good things about LT32.
I’ll have to try the 133,
I am also trying to save the 4895 and varget for my other stuff, but I think I have the most 4895 so perhaps I’ll give that a try, I have a couple of pounds of varget but want to save it for a 6mm br bbl at some point.
Thanks everybody
 
H4895, H322, or Benchmark would be good choices to try for the load you described. The IMR4895 you have should also work. The size/shape of the IMR4895 kernels will not be nearly as uniform as 8208BXR, but it certainly falls in the appropriate burn rate range for what you're trying to do. I've used a fair bit of IMR4895 in straight .223 Rem loads with "heavies", and it seemed to perform quite well.
 
I tried benchmark in my AR it did pretty well, but I’m out of that.
haven’t found any h335,h322 but I can try those If I do.
 
Alliant Power Pro varmint is a good powder that will make them scream . Its my choice powder for 53gr vmax. I'm out and in the same boat your in . I have 6lbs of varget and will use it till I find more . H335 is my next favorite for 65gr and under bullets.
 
I hear good stuff about that AR comp. And pro varmint sounds intriguing.
I think I’ll try the n133 first when I get through the snow out to the reloading shed.

I tried pulling some Bullets out of factory Lapua 55 fmj and replacing them with Barts and Berger 52s which worked great. I think that stuff is supposedly loaded with something like 23.9 ish grains n133 ? So that might be a good place to start experimenting.
Here is a target shot prone with my little plinker. I’m a newb so I was happy with it. That was the 52 berger 25.4 8208xbr rem 7 1/2 in lapua cases load. I put together on a progressive press.
 

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In a large number of .223's with twist rates mostly in the to 1-8" to 1-14" twist barrels, the powders that have worked the best for me are Accurate LT-32, Mil Surplus .556 powder, Reloader 7 and W748. On average, one of these (8208XBR being the fifth) will almost always create the best accuracy in a tube I have tested with bullets in that weight range. I have gotten really good loads using a multitude of other powders. Those included TAC, R10X, Benchmark, Exterminator, Varget, CFE22 - pretty much in that order for "most guns". There were other good groups with even more powders but they seemed to be more of the "outliers". If I were in need of a powder specifically for your bullets - I'd seek out one of the above in the order I have listed. I have not tried any of the new powders that have been introduced in the last two years .Good luck to you.
 

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