new powder quest, .223 varget vs h4895 50gr, 70 gr, 75 gr

Ok guys, quest for a new powder, using either a 50 gr ttsx, 70 gr accubond, or 75 scirocco2, basing off of velocities, my quest has led me to these two powders. As these will be hunting loads, accuracy at higher velocities is what i'm looking for. Which pony gets me closest to my goal?

ArchAngelCD said:

I don't want to sound harsh but why directly load some up and shoot them to see for yourself. I'm sure you know what works best in my gun won't necessarily be best in your gun.

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I didn't take that harshly at all, I do know that some rifles have preferences that others don't agree with but where I have neither on hand it is a debate on which to purchase FIRST and I do know that some loads have a tendency to perform better from rifle to rifle at one end of the spectrum or another, in anything very over bore it's rare to use h1000 and not wind up near the top with an accurate load, also I've other powders that no matter the rifle, they seem to work best in a mid range load.

ArchAngelCD said:

What are you going to be hunting?

I have gotten better accuracy with Varget than 4895 in a bolt action .223 w/22" barrel.

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The 50s will be used out of a break action on varmints to deer (12 twist) the 70+ out of several ars for deer and pronghorn.

ArchAngelCD said:

My bolt action .223 has a 1:12 twist and has trouble stabilizing heavier bullets if they are long enough. I doubt you can use the 75gr bullets at all. The 70gr AccuBond is probably too long to.

Additionally, you probably won't carry enough energy down range to cleanly take Pronghorn at the distances associated with them.

For White Tail I would recommend a 60gr Partition over Varget and use a ballistics calculator to find your max distance.

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The 12 twist is running the ttsx 50, max range will be determined by the (young) shooter's capabilities but realistically I doubt we'll shoot over 100 yds as my deer like to come when called by the distressed fawn I carry on a string and the kid will probably be shooting 25-75 yds. If she can't group a good load on the vital sized target at any good distance, we'll keep practicing till next year, but with the Prairie dog shots, she's shown much promise so I'm thinking she'll be just fine to 100ish yds, the ars all have 7 twists, which is where the 70+weights come in. With the 70 accubond, if we can launch at a minimum of 2800 fps, then they'll be cooking along well enough for the pronghorn to 250 yds, but I'm anticipating closer shots, 150ish is pretty normal. None of my pronghorn are too wily about how far away they're SUPPOSED to be lol. We have plenty of hay bales for cover near the water sources and to date, knocking on wood, haven't had to shoot one past 200 yds.

Alliant Reloading said:

horsey 300,
Another powder to consider is our AR-Comp(TM). Its performance is excellent across the range you are looking at.
Shoot well,
Paul

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That's been on my radar, but almost unobtainable locally, along with 300mp lol seems like every hodgdon flavor is on the shelf but r15, 17, and 19 seem to be the only rifle powders from Alliant I can easily get my hands on, the local hand loading scene is sad, even most of my projectiles and brass get ordered in.

Blue68f100 said:

I've used Varget for my heavier loads 65gr and up. For the lighter loads there are a lot of powders that work well. TAC is one of my favorite powders that I use for the lighter loads and have used it for the heavier ones too. I get sub moa with it most consistently. It's a super fine ball powder that meters very well. It also goes every were if you happen to spill it. CFE223 also works well.

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My experience with the cfe hasn't been awesome so far, it's just been picky and erratic, grabbed it to get the scorching numbers under the 75s in a Valk, and while it wasn't a hateful experience, we're now contemplating whether or not it'll work better as a plinking powder till it runs out, for the 50 I've been running h322 and benchmark, I'll probably load up a bunch of benchmark next to Varget and whichever puts the best groups with higher speeds will get the nod for the ttsx, but I think based on availability and usage Varget will be put under the 70+ for sure!

FLIGHT762 said:

If you haven'y bought the powder yet, take a look at IMR 8208XBR. It it actually an ADI powder (not an IMR made in Canada powder) made in Australia and is an "Extreme" powder like H-4895 and Varget. 8208 is very slightly faster burning than H-4895. It is a great 223 powder for all bullet weights. My favorite for 77 Sierra in the 223. It's also a very good 308 Win. powder.

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I HAD planned on picking up powder today, but local supplies were more depleted than normal, so we'll likely tackle that next week. I've heard good things about the 8208, but I'm likely to try the Varget first, and then if found lacking in some way, proceed to work up the 8208 load over the spring.