Powder for .223

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hapidogbreath

hapidogbreath

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Looking for a powder that meters well. Pulled a few factory NATO Issue rounds found that they had a VERY short extruded powder. Shorter than Varget. I am looking to duplicate a factory load . Using 62 GR ss109 bullets. Any help would be Great!!!!:)
 
AA2230 Made for the 5.56mm round and and meters through my 550B like a dream. Win 748 worked well for me all so.

Also have used a little bit of Win 846 (cross ref BLC-2 or Win 748) surplus pull down powder. Still working up a good load with it but it looks promising. There is a bit of Win 844 (cross ref H335) on the market also that is pull down powder.

I have been using 55grn FMJ pull down bullets and CCI #41 primers. Going to try some 62grn ones later on.

WB
 
There is no way to know what the NATO powder might be. You can only attempt to duplicate ballistics of the load.
As others have mentioned, H335 is a ball powder that meters through a measure very slick and is a popular powder for AR use.
BLC2 and Win 748 are other powders that give good results in the 223. I would use magnum SR primers with ball powders, but that's up to you.



NCsmitty
 
For the 55 to 62 grain bullets. H335 is hard, very hard to beat.
 
Another vote for Accurate 2230. I use it in lots of my 223 Remington loads, both varmint loads and 55 FMJs.
 
In regards to the short grain extruded powder in the pulled cartridges, it very likely could be similar to [or possibly be] Accurate 2015. That is a short single base extruded powder that performs well with 223 Remington loads. Maybe that helps, for what it's worth. :D

Littlewolf
 
H335 is the "classic" .223/5.56mm powder and will get you very close to factory ammo and it meters well too.

I see BL-C(2) mentioned above, that will work but that's a better powder in the other NATO round, the 7.62X51mm/.308 Winchester.

That said, I have gotten very good results with Varget especially with 55gr bullets. That's also worth a try in duplicating the NATO ammo. Just remember military 5.56mm brass has less case capacity than commercial .223 brass so adjust your charge weights accordingly.
 
Another powder to consider is Hodgdon Benchmark, extruded powder made extra short cut so it meters well.
It was giving me some nice results in 223rem, before I decided to give Varget a try, as I'm using Varget in my 308win plus 243win and trying to minimise my powder types on hand.

Like already mentioned W-748 and H335 are also great powders in the 223rem.
 
I have used Benchmark, Varget and I now use TAC which I like the most because it's economical, meters great and shoots great!

For the 62g green tips I have used 23.0g-25.0g of TAC.
 
I've used H322, H335, Varget, RL-10, BLC-2, 4895 and Benchmark and each of these has shot 1/2" or less MOA and had RL-10 give me a 3 shot group of 3/4" at 200 yards. All with 55gr Nosler BT or Hornady Vmax. BTW - Midway's Dogtown bullets are showing a lot of promise at a much lower cost.
Obviously, some powders meter better than others, I'm just trying to stick with one or two and call it good, but then I think "dang, maybe that one is a little bit better"....
 
Go to Hodgdon web and check out IMR8208XBR. It has become the top choice of accuracy geeks for the .223 and several other calibers. (One of the winners at the 2010 SuperShoot was uisng it.) It is an extruded propellent with very small grain size and feeds through powder measures beautifully. Was actually developed by ADI for military and very stable in wide range of temperatures. Very clean burning as well, which is another reason it is so popular with the accuracy crowd.
 
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I started using TAC when I began loading for 223 it was not accurate as I wanted it to be with 55 grain FMJ and VMax. I now use IMR 4895 and I like it. As a matter of fact if anyone in NM wants to trade a pound of IMR 4895 for a pound of TAC PM me.
 
h322 is the best metering extruded powder ive used.

one other reason i really like the 322 is that you can load 22g behind 55g fmj bullets as opposed to 26-27 with many other powders. this essentially means that every 6th or 7th round is a "gimme"

its not the highest velocity that you can achieve, but i chrono everything, and im getting roughly 2900fps out of a 16" ar, and very consistent sub m.o.a. (usually .7-.9" @100YDS)

I also use h335, varget, and benchmark, but most of my 223 gets h322.
 
FlyinBryan said:
h322 is the best metering extruded powder ive used.

one other reason i really like the 322 is that you can load 22g behind 55g fmj bullets as opposed to 26-27 with many other powders. this essentially means that every 6th or 7th round is a "gimme"

its not the highest velocity that you can achieve, but i chrono everything, and im getting roughly 2900fps out of a 16" ar, and very consistent sub m.o.a. (usually .7-.9" @100YDS)

I also use h335, varget, and benchmark, but most of my 223 gets h322.
Click to expand...
Glad to hear that! I have two boxes of .223 with 22gr of 322 (say that 3 times) ready to try out. If everything checks out, I will be down to only 4 powders between all rifle and handgun cartridges that I load for.
 
You might want to look at Hodgdon Benchmark. It is a short, small diameter extruded powder intended for cases with about .223 capacity. Worked fine in a .222 with a 55gr bullet.
 
H332 is a great performer and as FlyinBryan noted, you don't need as much and get an extra powder charge out of ever 5 or 6 or so compared to others.

I have a good load built up for the 62 ss109's using H332, H335 and Varget. My go to powder is H332 for plinking, you should be able to build up a load replicating the Nato performance with it, and you will probably do better.

Curious if you weighed the powder charges from the Nato rounds you pulled. What was the charge weight?
 
it very likely could be similar to [or possibly be] Accurate 2015.
Click to expand...
2015 is a short stick powder that meters very well and shoots great in .223 (and .222 Mag). H-322 is similar in size and meters great. The fairly new 8208 is even finer and is getting great reviews. Naturally any of the ball powders that shoot well in .223 (W-748, H-335, AA 2230, TAC, etc) will all meter superbly.
 
Varget is metering phenomonally well in my Uniflow using the smaller pistol drum. +/- 0.05 grain!
 
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