[glockgod]

Started loading .223 with IMR4198 and 55gr Nosler Ballastic tip. Consulted two loading manuals plus IMR's website. Got three different max levels! Gun is shooting .5"-1" at 110 yards using 20grs so the heck with it. If it ain't broke why mess with it?

[Zak Smith]

Trust the data from your gun.. until you change components.

[Ol` Joe]

Three different bullets, three possibly different primers, cases, and definatly different powder lots. All tested by three different labs, by three different groups of techs, and on three different sets of equipment. Why do you think the data should all be the same?
It`s all valid and true for the components and test beds used.

[eliphalet]

I have also had good success with .223 using IMR4189 and 50 to 55 grain bullets.

[hankpac]

Ol Joe's post is absolutely right. Check the top of each listing, and you will see what they used from brass, primer and powder to bullet. Most, if not all of the components are different from yours, and they were tested in a windless tunnel range most probably.
So...
Check for signs of pressure with each shot for a given loading. Check the distance from the lands of the ogive of your bullet, check with a grain or two moe or less, until you find the very best accuracy (if that is what you are going for) in a given load, set at a given seating depth, and with various tightnesses of crimp.
There are so many variables, and each affects at different amounts.
If you don't have a huge drive to the range, this is the fun part, 5-10 set up at each step in variables. Lots of careful notes. Discussing your results with your local mentor and on line.
By the way, although I like I4895, It kind of has a sharp BANG in my contender, and I don't get as smooth a pressure curve as I do with H335.
since H bought I, they still use the same designations, but both are a slightly different recipe, I understand.
2230 is the civilian version of the powder originaly intended for this round, at military pressures, in mil spec chambers (AR and Mini 14) Some people really like that particular powder. A friend finds 2230 perfect for his 223 Savage, for pdogs. Shots up to 400 yds, on beer-can sized prairie poodles.

Good luck.

[steve4102]

Three different bullets, three possibly different primers, cases, and definatly different powder lots. All tested by three different labs, by three different groups of techs, and on three different sets of equipment. Why do you think the data should all be the same?
It`s all valid and true for the components and test beds used.

Joe, It's because someone, somewhere, sometime ago decided to call load data a "RECIPE". From then on many handloaders consider loading manuals and data to be an exact science (recipe). The fact that every rifle is an individual is becoming more and more difficult to explain to handloaders.

[GunTech]

Trust no one. Start low and work up your loads. Reloading manuals should only be considered a guide.

[Clark]

Sierra says 21.9 gr



CAUTION: The following post includes loading data beyond currently published maximums for this cartridge. USE AT YOUR OWN RISK. Neither the writer, The High Road, nor the staff of THR assume any liability for any damage or injury resulting from use of this information.

In a cartridge with a SAAMI registered pressure near the limit of the brass, Sierra has turned out to be the best of my load books. But the .223 is registered at 55kpsi, and the brass will start expanding at the extractor groove at ~80,000 psi, making for loose primer pockets and short brass life. This is ~ 45% safety margin on pressure.

Contrast that with the .270 Winchester that is registered at 65,000 psi. The Mauser case head design used in a 270 sees the brass start to fail at 67,000 to 72,000 psi for a safety margin of as little as 3%. This can cause problems, not for the handloader, but for factory ammo in countless factory guns.

More recently registered cartridges using the Mauser case head, like the .260 Rem and .338 Federal, have been listed at 62,000 psi for ~ 8% safety margin.

If I ask Quickload what the Sierra load is, it says 60,000 psi.
If I as Quickload what load for 80,000 psi, is says 24 gr.
If I were to do a work up until the extractor grooves were .2395" in stead of the lower load's .2390" at 24 gr and then backed off 6% ala Vernon Speer 1956, I would have a load of 22.5 gr.

For those who don't want to work up until the brass fails, the Sierra load book is not bad.

[res45]

I trust my particular gun I'm reloading for, I look at all the date from several different manuals most of my starting load I end up using from the Lyman #48 manual and work my way up slowly looking for signs of pressure,I do shoot a HOT load or two the primer flattens a little but no protruding primers or blown ones but there pretty much right at the MAX load. But most of my accurate loads are usually well below the MAX load anyways and no pressure signs at all.