I haven't tried any other powders yet, but H335 is working great for both my ARs. A 20" HBAR & a 16" M4 profile, both 1:9, both 5.56 chambers. I'm using the Hornady 55gr FMJBT bulk also.
With 26.2-26.3 gr of H335, CCI #41, 1x LC brass trimmed to 1.751, & 2.220 OAL I have a good duplication of XM193. Same fps & very nearly the same POI on the target at 100 yds.
For a general plinking load I'm using mixed HS brass but still mostly LC, 24.2 gr H335, CCI #450, and the trim to & OAL lengths are the same. I had to readjust zeroes on both rifles as there was a pretty significant change in POI (will still be on something like a B27 at 100 yds inside the 8 or 9 ring but off something like a Coke can). But both loads group out of both rifles at about ~1.75" which is pretty much what XM193 does for me. I was a little disappointed being new to reloading and expecting better results than factory loads. I didn't do worse, but didn't really do much better. Then people here told me not to expect too much out of FMJ with an open base from an AR as far as grouping goes.
I always read people posting how their ARs are doing sub MOA on factory FMJ but I'm skeptical. I've just never seen an AR shoot regular old factory FMJ at 1" & better groups consistently. That might just be me & the people I've shot with - I'm sure there are some that can do it but for all the "I took my [insert stock commercial AR name here] out of the box and put [insert S&B, PPU, Am Eagle, UMC, WWB, Q3131, XM193, SA battlepack, Wolf, etc here] into 1" groups all day long" I think that they're exaggerating or else that 100 yds they thought they were at was really more like 50-75 yds.
Anyway, back on your question, you'll make good plinking rounds with H335 & Hornady 55 gr FMJBT. You'll hit Coke cans at 100 yds all day long with it. You won't make dime or quarter sized groups. Out of a string of 10 I might be able to cover a lot of them with a quarter, but some will be out of the quarter - & out by a lot. I tried sorting HS & using all the same (as far as I could tell - like "LC08"), double checking trim measurements, weighing every charge twice, weighing every bullet, measuring every OAL, etc. Still >1.5" groups off a sandbag & not worth the effort.
My first experiment with Hornady 55gr Vmax all I did was swap the projectile & took the OAL to 2.250. I didn't get the dime sized group I wanted, but was at about 1.1" That was a pretty significant improvement from just that one change. Now I have several charges worked up that I will try next time out to see how much I can improve. Problem is, I can't (or don't want to) afford Vmax for plinking ammo. Will try the Hornady 55gr SP next to see if that gives me a good balance of cost & accuracy.
I'm not shooting in matches - just playing around to see what I can do. Just because it's a plinking round and good enough to hit a Coke can doesn't mean I shouldn't want it as accurate as possible right?
Also, the 24.2gr load is down there. It averages 2985 fps at 10'-15' out of the 20" rifle. I don't have 16" chrony data for it but should be about 220 fps slower. So it's truly a plinking round and I wouldn't expect fragmentation or the ability to repel zombies with it. But saving a grain or 2 of powder does add up. It functions & cycles both rifles well, doesn't leave bad deflector dings in the brass (in one of them it doesn't even hit the deflector), and has a slightly milder recoil (compared to that typical shoulder-busting AR recoil
). I didn't get great performance out of starting loads. They worked & cycled, but started getting better groups at 24.2. Anything above that, the POI changed and the brass landed in a different spot, but the groups didn't improve, a few opened up, but in general, anything above 24.2gr doesn't do anything for my plinking round so that's what I settled on.
BTW, I haven't noticed any difference in clean/dirty with H335 if that matters to you. Doesn't seem any better or worse than any factory ammo. But I can't tell the difference like some people can. I noticed Wolf seemed like it left more residue the few times I used it, but it also cleaned easily. For anything else, it's kind of binary to me - clean or dirty. I can't really make the distinction between "dirty" or "dirtier".
