General Powders

[cal74]

I'm going to be building a hobby room this summer and at the heart of that will be a reloading bench. Presently I'm not reloading..

Been starting to read up on things and would also like to start buying supplies as I come across them.

Believe I've read IMR 4198 seems to be a good general powder for .204, .223, and a few others?

Lil' gun seems to be the powder of choice for the .22 hornet?


Looking to start reloading mainly for the following

.22 hornet
.204
.223
22-250 & .220 swift


Any suggestions to what I should start with for powder?

 

[NCsmitty]

You're going to have some cross over powders for the larger, but fairly close in size, cases that you mentioned.
Here's a link to a couple powder manufacturer/distributor data sheets. See what you can come up with.

www.hodgdon.com
www.alliantpowder.com/

NCsmitty

 

[Uncle Chan]

I use two powders primarily:

Rifles : X-Terminator
Pistols : Clays

 

[rcmodel]

IMR-4198 is not a good powder for the .223 or the .204 Ruger. It is slightly too fast to give best performance in either.

It will work with very light bullets, but you will get better results with normal bullet weights with a slightly slower powder then IMR-4198.

The 22-250 & .220 swift are another animal entirely, and will require still slower powder for best performance.

rc

 

[cpttango30]

For my 223 I like VV N133 and Accurate 2015. Both are good powders and the VV N133 produces amazing velocities in my rifle.

I used IMR 4895 and 4064 for my swift when I had it.

The 223 will work good with a bunch of powders from W748 to VV N135 to Varget and Benchmark. Varget is a god all around powder that burns clean. H335 is also another one of the favorite powders for the 223 as well.

I have not loaded for 22-250 or 204 ruger.

For the hornet which can be hard to load for because it is such a small case use the lil' gun or IMR 4227.

 

[cal74]

Thanks for the links and other advice.

 

[Walkalong]

.22 hornet - Lil' Gun or IMR 4227

.204 - Don't load

.223 - H335, W748

22-250 & .220 swift - Don't load

 

[~z]

223, 22-250 & Swift all seem to like H380 and IMR 3031
~z

 

[Kernel]

.22 Hornet: Really fast powders around IMR 4227. On the cusp between rifle powder’s and pistol powders. Hodgdon’s Lil’Gun & H110. V-V N110 & N120. Alliant’s 2400.

.223 Rem: Powders around the speed of Hodgdon’s H322 are optimal. H335 & Benchmark. IMR 3031. Alliant’s Reloader 10x. Accurate’s 2015. V-V N133 & N134. Ramshot’s Xterminator. Lot’s of powders will work with the .223. Very flexible cartridge with regard to powder.

.204 Ruger: Powder with burn rates from IMR 3031 to 4895. Alliant’s Reloader 10x is suppose to be real good in this cartridge. Hodgdon’s Benchmark, H335, & H322. Powders, similar, but maybe a tad slower than what the .223 likes.

.22-250: Should like powders a tag faster than your Swift. Burn rates around IMR/H 4895. Winchester 748 should be about perfect. Along with V-V N135, Ramshot’s TAC, and Accurate’s 2495.

.220 Swift: Look to powders with burn rates from 4064 to 4350. In that range would be the new high energy Reloader 17 - that would be a fun one to experiment with. Hodgdon’s Varget looms large. Vihtaviouri N150 & N540.