.223 and Titegroup

[MuayThaiJJ]

Hey gang,

I've scoured Google and found a lot of mentions that Hodgdon lists 3.1gn of Titegroup working with .223
I did this load with some 55gr-62gr FMJ and had 2 squibs.

The only confirmed source I could find on Titegroup and .223 was on this forum, a user reportedly used 4.0gn of Titegroup: https://www.silencertalk.com/forum/view ... 98#p709898

Does anyone else have confirmed loads of .223 with TG?

thanks!
N

 

[JmacD]

https://www.hodgdonreloading.com/reloading-data-center

They list one.

 

[MuayThaiJJ]

Yeah that Max Load cannot be right, I loaded 3.1gn and had 2 squibs

 

[ballman6711]

Hodgon's website does indeed have a load for a 55gr Hornady FMJ using Titegroup. Max is 3.1 grains at 4K CUP. Velocity is 1064fps.

I wouldn't waste my time, effort, or safety trying to get it to work. A fast pistol powder in a rifle cartridge MAY be able to be made to work, but there are too many better options. Survival or other emergency situation, sure, I would do what I could, but otherwise a big no.

And I would question why they stopped at 3.1gr with such a low pressure reading. Did there next step up have crazy pressure? Or maybe they saw that it was a waste of time to continue. Maybe call or email and ask them.

Best of luck if you decide to pursue it, and stay safe.

chris

 

[Jdague12]

I’m scratching my head over why they would even publicize a load like that. That recipe is out of a 24” barrel also. Crazy

 

[Howland937]

I’m scratching my head over why they would even publicize a load like that. That recipe is out of a 24” barrel also. Crazy

Misprints happen.
Before I would try to answer why it doesn't work, I'd wanna know why the OP wants it to work. If subsonic is the game, there are better options. If you wanna shoot .223 with the trajectory of a deer slug, just save the primers and use a .22LR.

 

[mcb]

That load is for creating sub sonic loads for suppressed use in a manual action. Given the very low pressure It should be safe to ramp that up a bit to ensure you don't have a squib and then work back down to where you are just sub sonic.

 

[Roverguy]

There’s also a Trail Boss load (4grs) with the 55 grs bullet. I’m not a huge fan of TB as a low velocity rifle powder but load density will be much better than Titegroup ensuring consistent ignition and a very similar velocity to the listed Titegroup load.

 

[CoalCrackerAl]

I run 9 grains of green dot in my bolt action. Nice plinking load. 7 grains for red dot. And 12 for blue dot . Under a 55 grain bullet.

 

[Hooda Thunkit]

I run 9 grains of green dot in my bolt action. Nice plinking load. 7 grains for red dot. And 12 for blue dot . Under a 55 grain bullet.

I'm going to load up some of those Red Dot (Promo) plinkers for Ida. The recoil of the 223 doesn't faze her, but the sharp report and muzzle blast isn't to her liking.

 

[CoalCrackerAl]

She will like them. It's like shooting a 22 mag.

 

[AJC1]

Exploration of this type is best done with modeling software like grt or quickloads. The highest bulk powder is often the best option. Something like 700x or one of the dots like green dot would likely be a lot better.

 

[DMW1116]

I tried the Titegroup load for 308 with a Speer 168 grain match bullet. I didn’t have any trouble and they shot ok. These types of loads are something I’d definitely rather try in a manual action.

I wouldn’t push down to subsonic levels unless I was using a heavier bullet or just proving it could be done. Downloading a 223 to 22 magnum levels doesn’t seem like a bad thing to be able to do. If you look carefully you might be able to do it cheaper than buying 22 magnum at $0.30/round locally.

 

[rsrocket1]

I think you're going to find out that light bullets and subsonic in a rifle case may be mutually exclusive. In order to get the peak pressure of the powder up around 8-10,000 psi (the minimum pressure needed for a good powder burn), you'll be pushing a tiny bullet above 1100 fps and produce the supersonic crack from the bullet. Even an 80g 5.56 bullet will have a tough time staying below the speed of sound with enough powder in a .223 case. This isn't quite so tough in a tiny little 22LR case where a small amount of fast "pistol" powder can launch a projectile with enough controllable pressure to drive the bullet out the barrel and still stay subsonic. I load .308 Win and 300 AAC subsonic and it's not too difficult to keep a Lee C309-200-R bullet subsonic but it was impossible to do so with the Lee C309-113-F bullet. In reality, it doesn't matter.

When shooting subsonic, the "hard limit" is the speed of sound. Your only choice of variation is the weight of the bullet. You want it as heavy as possible to make the subsonic round as hard hitting as possible. To do so, you want to use as fast a powder you can get, get the volume as small as possible by seating the bullet fairly deep and be prepared for squib loads during testing. A squib is no big deal if you check your bore after any questionable shot and are already familiar with slugging your barrel.