favorite 223 powder: progressive press and 62g fmj and some heavier stuff

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z7

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I am going to buy 8lbs a jug of some powder for my 223 loads next month. it will be for AR15's, one with a 1-9" barrel, the other 1-7" barrel. I want to make quality ammo, I plan on the hornady 62g fmj for the "cheap stuff" and vmax or hpbt loads for my "good stuff" loads.

I want to use my LNL AP progressive press

I have 4K s&b SR primers, so I want to use them and not have to play with 3 brands and magnum primer etc.

current powder I am considering H335, CFE 223, TAC, BL-C2 and maybe 8208xbr (stick powder but meters well)

if you had one powder to play with for 223, using a variety of bullets for 16" carbines what would you use?

thanks
 
Asking what kind of powder to use for 223 loads or even 5.56 loads is like asking what kind of beer do you like. You likely to get a lot of answers. I like AA2230. I tried some of the others and this worked well for me. Those that I shoot F-Class with swear by CFE 223 and the heavier bullets. Another friend loves TAC. A friend that shoots competitively with the AR likes IMR4895.
 
dh1633pm said:
Asking what kind of powder to use for 223 loads or even 5.56 loads is like asking what kind of beer do you like. You likely to get a lot of answers. I like AA2230. I tried some of the others and this worked well for me. Those that I shoot F-Class with swear by CFE 223 and the heavier bullets. Another friend loves TAC. A friend that shoots competitively with the AR likes IMR4895.
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I know what you mean. I think part of the problem with the reloading and shooting community is the difference in how we like our 223's. F-Class and other competitions (not 3-gun) are all about accuracy while others like to do mag dumps and other rapid fire drills at close ranges on large targets.


I am in between, I want decent accuracy with progressive loading (2moa is good enough with FMJBT, 1MOA or better with good bullets, both guns can do it)
 
You have a good list already! I've had great results with H335, but what works for me may not work for you and *your* rifles! Just one powder for both 'cheap stuff plinking' and 'good stuff' may or may not work well, but you'll find out soon enough. CFE223 and TAC have good reputations for your requirements, as does AA2230 and BL-C2.
 
IMR 8208 XBR

If I was going to only use a single powder for 223, this would be the one. Temp stable, good velocity, works with alot of bullets, and it meters great in rotary drops.
 
IMR 4166 has worked great save for tapping the powder drop to prevent bridging. It costs a little more than most powders so its not exactly cost efficient to use with lots of heavier, and costly bullets. BLC2 or similar ball powders might be a better standby for volume shooting.
 
z7 wrote:
f you had one powder to play with for 223, using a variety of bullets for 16" carbines what would you use?
Click to expand...

IMR-4198. It's one of the fastest burning powders for .223 and so makes good use of the shorter barrel. Easily loaded into the 3,000 fps range with 55 grain bullets, the small charges mean you get more rounds per pound than most other powders. And you don't need magnum primers with it. The rapid burning speed means it's too fast for anything heavier than about 62 grains.

If you're going 68 grains and higher, I'd drop back to my second favorite, WW-748.
 
I was breaking in a new AR 15 (sat) my son got for me
I was using H4198 light load with 55 gr FMJ
I also had a new scope 3-9
I got lucky on the scope-- first 10 rds in or within 1" of bullseye---broke in real nice
What I didn't like was that the ear protection muff felt like it would have been much better shooting a pistol
 
I loaded some heavies with W748. I also used Varget with some 62 grainers, but found that it shot well when loaded on the hot side. Something I wasn't really into. I settled with AA2230 because it was readily available. Meters nicely being that its granular and not stick. And that I had good luck with it.

Another thing that I did was for my friend who shot competition on a military team. He would bring me 855 Military Ammo and I would pull the bullets for him and dump the powder. I kept the bullets and the powder. He used the brass and then returned it to me for recycling. I Measured the powder and cut it by 10%. I then loaded the bullets back up with the recycled brass. Worked well in my AR's. He was a distinguished rifle and pistol shooter and usually in the top ten in the state. He also shot 99 at camp perry in the pistol class that the gunny won every year. That military power looked like H355 but I didn't consider it as such. Just cut it by 10% and checked the weight now and again when pulling bullets from the same lot. Those military rounds were very consistent.
 
dh1633pm, those were probably loaded with the military WC844 powder which is essentially the same as H335 (for load data purposes)...
 
z7 you're awfully brave.
I'd never buy 8 lbs of powder without using it first.
Like you, I'm trying to figure out what powders I want to standardize on. But I'm not going to buy in bulk until I figure out what works best for my needs.
I know it's not the cheap way to go, but in the long run it seems more frugal to me.

When I started reloading, powder was hard to get, so getting anything was a treat. Now that most powders are available, I'm getting a little when budget allows and try it. I try different loads and keep decent notes. I'm doing this for a few reasons. First to find what I like best, and also to have notes on combos that may not be my favorites but may be acceptable in the event things get tight again.

That said, I find H335 a decent powder. Im not sure if it's the best at anything but it seems like a real good all around powder. Since I have loads that use it, I've thought about getting 8 lbs of it. While I get 1 lb "samples" of others while I continue to search what others I'll pick.

My guess, is eventually I'll pick two or three powders as the ones to buy in bulk and maybe one or two others for specialty loads. You might want to think about a similar approach if your two barrels don't like the same powder the same.
 
I use H322 for Hornady 55gr FMJ (general purpose load) and CFE223 for Nosler 60gr Partition (barrier blind load).
 
I'll say this...I don't shoot enough to give real advice on powders. For .223 I've tried several. H335, TAC, Varget, H322, IMR 4895, and IMR 4064. Bullet weights have been 55 gr...fmj, V-max, sp, Game King...then 60 gr V-max and Nosler 60 gr partition...also 62 gr Privy fmj, Hndy bthp, and 69 gr Sie. match king. Some groups are very nice but some are disasters. Its just a lot of variables and a long trail to find "the one best". GOOD LUCK ! I'm still trottin' that trail.

Mark
I left this out---my AR has a 20" , 1:9 twist, free float fore arm and I shoot with a scope and peeps sometimes. At 100 yds some groups with peeps are as good as with my low power scope.
 
I've had poor luck with H335 in my guns. I prefer TAC with CFE223 a close 2nd for the light pills. I use Varget for the heavier bullets. The TAC meter better than the CFE223 in the Hornady powder dispenser used on the LNL-AP.
 
Varget is one of the most versatile rifle powders around. AR Comp is Alliants answer to Varget.

I've settled on AR Comp for everything rifle that I reload for. It works very well for .223/5.56. I'm down to 3 different powders and I buy 8 lbs. when I restock. I like versatile.
 
There are at least a dozen powders that work well, very well for the .223/5.56mm. We are very lucky because we have so many choices.

I use mostly H335 for my .223 ammo meant for an AR style sporting rifle. I usually turn to Varget or H4895 for bolt action rifle .223 ammo.

Like said above, CFE223, TAC, AA2230 and a few others are mostly equals in the .223...
 
Varget doesn't work very well on the progressive for me, I prefer RL15 for 77g, 2230/xterminator for 62 g, RL7 for 55s. Those all with magnum primers.
 
Of what you listed: I went through approx 10 lbs of H335 and never hit any really, really accurate load with 55 gr or 62 gr Hornady fmj. Slightly better luck with 748 and H322. Best luck is with varget. Many say for heavier bullets, and it does work well with 69 gr Sierra Match King. My most accurate load to date has been Varget with 52 and 53 grain Sierra Match King.

On my need to try list is cfe 223, 8208, and Tac.

Russellc
 
RL 15 is fantastic for the heavier bullets and H335 for the lighter ones. With 62 grain bullets, either would be fine. Those two powders have worked so well for me that I really haven't found the need to experiment with other powders. Good thing too, since I have 12 or so pounds of RL15.
 
I shoot varget in my 308, but weighing each charge for 223 seems to defeat the purpose of my progressive press,

I know it is a great powder, just wish someone would make a ball powder that is equally awesome
 
z7 said:
I shoot varget in my 308, but weighing each charge for 223 seems to defeat the purpose of my progressive press,

I know it is a great powder, just wish someone would make a ball powder that is equally awesome
Click to expand...

I took a bit to figure out how to get Varget to meter in my 650 but the key is going slow and giving the powder a change to get through that little neck
 
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