"Best" powder for .223 Hornady bullets?

Don't worry what there next load was, most likely it won't be yours. Just use the powder that suites the weight bullet your using. I tend to use bl-c(2) and cfe223 the most.

What weight is the bullet?

I always recommend Hodgdon's Benchmark for 223Rem.

Outstanding accuracy, top velocities, clean burning and temp stable.

I have 2 close friends who switched to Benchmark after trying it. I use it with 40 through 75 grain bullets.

I could be hunting coyotes at 20 degrees or groundhogs at 90 degrees so the temp stability is a huge plus for me.

You can't go wrong with H335 or CFE 223.

I use H335, CFE 223 and Varget depending on the bullet weight. H335 and CFE 223 are spherical powders and meter very well. Varget is an extruded powder. These are the three I have experience with at the moment but all great options.

My bolt gun likes Varget and H4895.

Temp stability is really good with Varget, and also 8208xbr. I'm sure others, but those are two that I use.

for the 55 gr i like and use wc 846 (blc-2). also, blc-2, h335, varget and 4895 will work well. you got to pick a powder and make a bunch of test loads to see what shoot good in your rifle. what work in my rifle might not work in yours. that is the thing about reloading, you can custom the round to rifle. for temperature stability varget and precision rifle seems to be the best.

For me, in a 20" Heavy Barrel AR...

Hornady 55/gr SP & W748 has been a winning combination.

I’d bet you’ll get something to work with H335 if it’s a 55 gr bullet. Will it be the best you could do ? Hard to tell but I use H 335 for three different 55 gr projectiles and it work for me.
Jeff

H-335 worked so well with Hornady 55 grain FMJ bullets that I haven’t tried anything else. Shoots so good out of my 10”, 16” and 18” ARs that I didn’t feel like I needed to go any further with other powders.

I observe seemingly few on this board talking about using IMR powders for .223/5.56, but Hornady's 5th Edition manual and some other sources list 3031, 4064, 4320, 4895, and a couple of others. I'll have to check and be sure, but I'm also recalling RL15. Some of those are listed as being appropriate for 55gr-62gr and up to 75gr.

I generally want to check the book before typing too much about charge weights because, for one thing, you almost never use "the other guy's data" anyway, except that's what you're doing when you look it up in the manual. Regardless of which load you use, there's always some "expert" who'll argue with you, each other, and everybody else as to why they have the only correct load and you're somehow an idiot for using another load... unless you used their load, and then you're still an idiot. And if you were able to test your load in both an AR15 and a Mini-14... and had great results in the latter...

You got a lot of leeway with a 1:7 twist... any of this should shoot nice and flat to 327yds.

So... I actually did test mine in my Mini 14.
They cycled just fine and I was still able to hit the side of the barn (from the inside) LOL

I think everyone needs about 8/lbs of H4895 on hand.
It may not be "perfect", but it sure does work in a ton of applications.

I've used h4895 and 820xbr with similar results.
CFE223 is my current favorite.

One of the main reasons that I reload is not to save money but instead to find out what loads with what type of bullets shoot the most accurate on my firearms. I have used all the powders listed above and have used different bullet lengths and I have settled on one powder and one bullet weight that I like to shoot on my AR's. So if I were to give you a load of what I use it may perform horribly on your AR. The great thing about this is that you get to have fun shooting your AR and finding out what combination of powder and bullets work best in your AR. In one of my AR's that I shoot and hunt with and is accurate up to 500 yards I only use RL15 powder and 75 grains BTHP Hornady superformance bullets. This powder and bullet provides me with submoa 5 shot groups at 200 yards. So have fun, buy different powders and bullets and load them at different loads and bullet weights and go find out how it performs. Important tip is that I would not go chasing velocity, because not all high velocity loads are that accurate, chase accuracy, just my 2¢.

Tons of good choices. Most like powder that's easy to meter in some kind of powder throw. Tac, cfe, and some of the accurate powders fit that bill well. Most of the temprature stable powders are extruded. Varget seems to get a ton of love and I like it but a. Its always hard to find and b. It meters poorly. H322 and benchmark are good, and ar comp gets a nod as well. At this point in the game finding components and getting your realoading procedure down should be first priority. There will be lots of loads before good enough is found. Perfect requires draining your 401k

BullHeadedGideon said:

I've got a Palmetto State Armory 16" 1x7 twist, Mid-length, nitride-barreled AR.

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In my experience, if you were shooting High Power, with a nice White Oak barrel, counting X's on the SR target at 200 yards, you might appreciate an accurate (stick) powder and premium bullet. You will not detect the difference in a PSA AR; that's not an insult, just an observation I've made in all of my PSA ARs.

I would suggest you start with a boxes of bullets in several weights, 55-75gr. If a bullet is too expensive, skip it. Seat them to 0.015" under mag length, and make 5 batches of 5 each, from Starting to 80% of Max. Some of the bullets will shine, and some will stink.

Do this with any of the common ball powders (they meter well). I'll bet the results are the same, no matter which you choose.

Now but a crate of 10k bullets and a keg of powder!

Edit: if you haven't, you might smooth that barrel with 100 rounds of 'something', and a good decoppering, before starting testing. I think at least a couple of mine improved in the first 100 rounds regardless of ammo.

For my high accurate target ammo I use Varget. For general plinking TAC and CFE-223. TAC will meter the best and gives excellent accuracy in all my guns. It has given me the best accuracy with light pills, matching Varget. The TAC is not Temp stable like Varget so you will have some shifts as it heats up. Never had any luck with H335 in my guns. I mainly shoot Sierra Match bullets and Use the cheap 55gr Hornady FMJ-BT for general plinking.

AJC1 said:

Most of the temprature stable powders are extruded.

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That's what I was going to say. I use H335 almost exclusively, but it is not known to be temp stable. I've tried IMR powders in the AR, but there are issues with case fill and compression with some powders... I've never had good luck with extruded powders in .223/5.56mm, although the accuracy was good.

Here's the thing... you are talking cheapo bullets for plinking. Does it really matter if you drop 100fps when it's 20F out? Do not expect sub-MOA accuracy out of mass-produced, cost cutter bullets, even Hornadys.

If you are building cartridges for absolute accuracy, you need to start with a better bullet, and you will likely have to work up a summer load, and a winter load, if that's relevant.

BullHeadedGideon said:

Currently, I've got 55gr BT-FMJ; & 60gr SP. Both Hornady.


See, this is another I'd like to know (that I didn't even think about) - is which powders have "best" temperature stability.
I live where it gets below 20s in winter; & over 100 in summer.

So there's another thing I'd love anybody to weigh in on - which powders have best temperature stability?

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If you are using a powder measure/meter, BL-C(2) is a good powder for 55&60 gr. bullets. Varget doesn't meter as well, but the way around that is Lee Dippers. I use them for all my metallic reloading. Varget has also been a good powder for every bullet weight I've loaded, 40-60 gr. Power Pro Varmint has worked well for me, as has IMR 3031 and IMR 4064.

Powders I've used for 223 that I would use again: A2230, Benchmark, H4895, Varget, 8208XBR, RL10x, Power Pro Varmint, BL-C2, H4198

Powders I've used but would prefer not to use again: IMR 4895, H335, H322. Not that these powders didn't do the trick, just better options IMO than these if given the choice.

I like Ramshot TAC for .223.
Meters well, shoots well.
Western lists both .223 and 5.56 (higher pressure) data

Lots of powders I have not tried in .223 but I have used
TAC, BLC(2), 8208 and H335. all worked well.
(listed in order of what I like best first)
No telling what you rifle will like.