Throwing powder charges for 223 ar15 reloading

[nakneker]

I’ve had good luck with several powders and throwing charges for my ARs, I use more H335 than anything. I’ve had the best success with a Redding BR3 powder measure and keeping my throw force consistent. Works great.

 

[darkangel_r2]

What powder thrower do you use? Some of them can be tuned up a bit.
R-15 can throw plenty accurate loads and even though 223 is not a huge case some variation in charge weight can be pretty neglible.
Finally, what kind of accuracy requirement do you have and does it realistically fit with your intent of throwing charges?
Check out shots 7 through 10 once I got it zeroed up. At 600 yds, n140 and a 77 matchking thrown at 24.0 gr. Grain size is similar to r15.
Ball powder meters better you'll be fine with r15

I've got a lee i used for shotshell in the past and a rcbs uni 3.

I don't necessarily have a requirement for accuracy for this rifle. I simply want to optimize each process and see if the difference is worth the time.

I forgot Gordon's reloading tool has a feature where it shows you what the kernels of each powder look like. Vv powders and reloader 15 actually have relatively short grains and thus probably meter fairly well. I think their are better options though.

After looking through the kernel images of the powders that seem to work both 8208xbr and benchmark have the smallest and most consistent kernel size.

Small and consistent kernals should meter better than large and inconsistent sized kernals I would think. So I may see if someone wants to swap for those to give myself the best chance at throwing stick.

 

[Twdmar]

I've got a lee i used for shotshell in the past and a rcbs uni 3.

I don't necessarily have a requirement for accuracy for this rifle. I simply want to optimize each process and see if the difference is worth the time.

I forgot Gordon's reloading tool has a feature where it shows you what the kernels of each powder look like. Vv powders and reloader 15 actually have relatively short grains and thus probably meter fairly well. I think their are better options though.

After looking through the kernel images of the powders that seem to work both 8208xbr and benchmark have the smallest and most consistent kernel size.

Small and consistent kernals should meter better than large and inconsistent sized kernals I would think. So I may see if someone wants to swap for those to give myself the best chance at throwing stick.

You should also consider your bullet weight, barrel length and powder burn rate, in addition to powder kernel size.

 

[darkangel_r2]

You should also consider your bullet weight, barrel length and powder burn rate, in addition to powder kernel size.

I checked the load data, 8208 and benchmark should work excellently for 68-77 gainers.

According to Gordon's benchmark is a little faster and can get a full burn in my 20" barrel with all my pills. 8208 seemed to like the heavier bullets run close to max for a full burn but most people say it produces excellent accuracy in 223.

Tac and 2520 don't seem to get a full burn with any pills. This may be true and may explain some things I'm seeing on the target. Aa2460 is another ball powder I want to investigate.

 

[karrarararararar]

I checked the load data, 8208 and benchmark should work excellently for 68-77 gainers.

According to Gordon's benchmark is a little faster and can get a full burn in my 20" barrel with all my pills. 8208 seemed to like the heavier bullets run close to max for a full burn but most people say it produces excellent accuracy in 223.

Tac and 2520 don't seem to get a full burn with any pills. This may be true and may explain some things I'm seeing on the target. Aa2460 is another ball powder I want to investigate.

23.2 of 8208 works great with thrown charges. I Shot 24.0 of Tac when I was using it.

 

[darkangel_r2]

23.2 of 8208 works great with thrown charges. I Shot 24.0 of Tac when I was using it.

Glad to hear. Now I just have to find some lol.


My 75s liked 23.8 of tac. So we're real close.

 

[Sfcangell]

You don't mention the type of shooting you intend to do. If you are shooting for precision, you are going to have to weigh each load. One the other hand if you are content with one inch groups or more, you can throw stick powder with no problem. I use CFE223 for AR rifles. It is ball powder and it meters well. You should be able to drop loads within .01 grains and that is pretty accurate. With a deaseant rifle you should get 1/2 MOA and less. For bolt rifle I use SW 062 or Varget and I weigh each load.

People who shoot short range benchrest competition throw loads of VV133, which is a short stick powder and don't worry about 1 or 2 tenths of a grain. They tell me it won't make any difference at that distance. Following their example I bought a high end powder drop. While I could keep loads close to what I wanted, I never was able to attain the accuracy I wanted. I sold it and went back to weighing each load. My groups went back to being very small.

Like Josh said, you have to be very consistent in the way you operate the dropper. That take a lot of practice. The competition guys drop thousands of loads every year and their groups are almost always one hole, 1/4 or less at 100 yards. If they can't do that they should stay home.

what's your CFE 223 recipe for 77 & 80's?

 

[markm87]

I run the Harrell's thrower for IMR for 308 gas gun TMKs. It's too exhausting to load that ammo on the chargemaster.

Even with that long cut rice powder, I get good ammo and charging the cases is at least 5 times faster than the chargemaster.