Any of you gents running h322 in 223rem? I have a whole pound I picked up when trying to find something a little more accurate than h335. I was reading up on it and it seems its for lighter bullets in 223rem-40-53gr. I'm currently running 55gr v max in a 1-9 twist savage. I doubt with the fast twist lighter bullets would be a good idea but I could be wrong. if you use it what bullets do you like?
h322 for 223rem?
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bocefus78
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I've ran h322 with nosler varmageddon 55's and got sub moa groups.
I found nasty-don't-talk-about-it-in-church-it's-so-good-it-must-be-bad accuracy with a break open single shot and spsx 50 gr, should work good with 55 too, as far as fast twist, idk about the spsx, but anything built with a decent jacket should still be OK. My accuracy load is about 3200 fps, I'd say a ballistic tip would hold together.
ArchAngelCD
Member.
When the .222 Rem was the darling of the accuracy game H322 was THE powder to use. Maybe that's why you are thinking it's only suitable for lighter bullets in the .223. There is nothing wrong with H322 with a 55gr V-Max bullet in the .223. I use a pound of it up when the shortage was at its peak with various bullets ranging from 55gr to 62gr. For me the best bullet was a 55gr Sierra GameKing #1390 but that was from a bolt action rifle, not an AR platform.
spitballer
Member
I agree with lighter bullets for the H322 although I've used it successfully with 55's.
For target with a 30" 1:12" bbl my best performing .223 load for 55's is a max load of Varget. This gives me a dependable 1/2 moa for up to twenty rounds or so if I put a pea-sized (when loose) tuft of polyfill in the neck. I know Savage target rifles use a 30" bbl, so I mention this load. Velocity does tend to climb alarmingly as the barrel warms using Varget, but this may not be a problem if you're using a shorter barrel or faster twist, with controlled rate of fire.
BTW I've mentioned wadding but the subject of wadding with bottleneck cartridges is a touchy one, so to avoid incurring the wrath of our asteamed moderator I must include this cautionary advice: NEVER EVER pack polyfill wadding up under the shoulder of a bottleneck cartridge - it can compress hard like a sabot and ruin your weekend. No photos necessary.
For target with a 30" 1:12" bbl my best performing .223 load for 55's is a max load of Varget. This gives me a dependable 1/2 moa for up to twenty rounds or so if I put a pea-sized (when loose) tuft of polyfill in the neck. I know Savage target rifles use a 30" bbl, so I mention this load. Velocity does tend to climb alarmingly as the barrel warms using Varget, but this may not be a problem if you're using a shorter barrel or faster twist, with controlled rate of fire.
BTW I've mentioned wadding but the subject of wadding with bottleneck cartridges is a touchy one, so to avoid incurring the wrath of our asteamed moderator I must include this cautionary advice: NEVER EVER pack polyfill wadding up under the shoulder of a bottleneck cartridge - it can compress hard like a sabot and ruin your weekend. No photos necessary.
someguy2800
Member
Worked good for me but benchmark was a hair better. I can't get either locally so I've stopped using both.
RainDodger
Member
I have used H322 with 40gr Hornady and Nosler bullets, 52 grain Sierras, 55 grain Nosler and Sierras, as well as 60 and 62 grain Nosler bullets. Fine luck with all of them. My "standard" load is a 60 grain Sierra bullet and I use either H322 or H335. I prefer H335 - I think I get a bit more consistency out of it. (I'm loading for a 5.56mm NATO spec AR, but I suspect my loads would be fine in a .223 also.) I've used all these combinations in 1:7, 1:8 and 1:9 twist barrels. No problems in any of them.
Thanks guys. I'm running low on 55gr v max and didn't want to waste bullets if it wasn't compatible. I have 5 packs from start load to about 1gr off max. Going to try and shoot them tomorrow. I hope I can get touching holes like benchmark gives me as the loads are a little lighter for h322 and save me some money in the long run not using so much powder.
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