My fisrt AR and I bought H335

.223/h335

Try 24.5 grains, It shoots well for me.

Agreed, H335 is a great powder for the .223. I use a charge of 25.0gr H335 under a 55gr bullet which is close but not at the top end of the charge range. H335 meters well and burns fairly completely.

H335 is the canister version of the none canister WC844 which is the military powder used for 5.56mm ammo.

H335 has worked well for me too......

My Bushmaster really likes 24.5 gr. of H335 and a CCI 450 primer and a 55 gr. Nosler ballistic tip.Scarey accurate.Never found a need for a small base die,tried one once was a major pita.

The only time I use a small base die is when I buy once fired brass. Some machine guns have oversized chambers and if your chamber is cut a little tight, a regular die might not size the brass down enough. I have an AR with a DPMS fluted stainless barrel, and it is definitely on the tight side. Once the brass goes through the small base sizer, I go back to a normal full length sizer for subsequent reloading.

grubbylabs said:

I just noticed that my Hornady book has a max charge of 23.2 grains. For those of you above, where are you getting your data?

Click to expand...

Check the Hodgdon Load Data Site and you will see the charge weights are higher than your book. Compare the OAL in both and you might see why the data is different.

Never had a problem where I needed small base dies.......

grubbylabs said:

I think they have the same data listed on the bottle, looks like it max's out at 26 grains. Interesting

Click to expand...

Compare the OAL from both and that may shed some light on the different powder loads.

I'm loading with 844, exclusively, for my ARs. I'm using 25gr with 55gr. bullets. I use the RCBS X die, but have never used a small base die. I've loaded thousands of rounds with "standard" dies, and my .223 reloads never fail.

335 for light bullets. Varget for heavy bullets.

I use 23.6gr 335 under a 52gr match king. Shoots great in every gun I have tried it in.
223, 5.56,and 223 wylde chambers. YMMV.

I've been puzzled by loading data published for H335 in 5.56mm. If it is truly the canister version of the MIL spec powder, why does the MIL document show higher charges? I have pulled down XM193 ammo and found the powder charge is indeed per the MIL spec.

When I load to the max charges published in handloading manuals, my velocity falls ~200 fps lower than the loading book predicts and doesn't reach MIL velocities. It's probably not my chrono, because firing XM193 I get within 20 fps of the MIL spec velocity. Recoil is noticeably more vigorous.

At first, I figured I had a slower/weaker lot of H335. I no longer believe that's the case. By exceeding the published data by 2-3 grains to match that of the MIL spec charge, I'd probably hit the MIL velocity and also match the predicted velocities in the loading books. I'm not comfortable going over published data by that much! I'm quite puzzled by the discrepancy.

Is this a clear case of the over-conservatism people suspect of commercial loading books? What am I missing?

5.56 is spec'ed at 62,366 psi, .223 Rem is SAAMI spec'ed at 55,000 psi.

You should work up a load yourself and look for the charge that produces the best groups but stays below the max recommended charge. I started at 23 and worked up to 25 and found that my AR liked 25.0g H335 under the 55g fmjbt. I would have been happy if it were at 23, but there was simply a huge tightening of the group at 25.0 so that's what I load to.

This is what I chronographed last weekend w/5.56. Same as you, 55g FMJBT.

2.20 OAL

H335 - 24.5 g = 2712 Highest 2787/Lowest 2656
H335 - 25g = 2769 Highest 2836/Lowest 2711
--------------------------------------------------------------------
2.215 OAL

WC 844 - 25g = 2745 Highest 2778/lowest 2720
WC 844 - 26g = 2822 Highest 2845/Lowest 2793
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Also shot some Federal 223 rounds and their total came out to 2845 average.

I just noticed that my Hornady book has a max charge of 23.2 grains. For those of you above, where are you getting your data?

Click to expand...

If you'll notice in the Hornady manual, the OAL is 2.200" whereas in the other manuals I own the OAL is longer, like 2.260".

Grubbylabs, I would suggest getting a set of standard dies and try them. Remember everything has a tolerance-- dies and chambers. Unless you have a very tight chamber and very loose dies, you should be able to use standard dies just fine. I've reloaded probably 70,000 rounds of 5.56 over the years and most of it came from machine guns. I know for a fact that about 20,000 rounds of it came from a SAW, because I picked it up on the range myself, and it all sized, chambered and fired in my ARs just fine.

If you have problems chambering the ammo after loading about 20 rounds, then and only then get a small base die set. There's no point in overworking your brass more than necessary.

My main powder for 223 is H-335. I load 24.7 grains with a 55 grain bulk Hornady FMJBT and they seem to be fairly accurate. I have never needed a small base die loading for my AR.

DPMS 16" Bull Barrel - most accurate loads are using 335. I am going to use it exclusive as my gun loves it.