Hot brass
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What is your favorite powder for the .223 in a varmint rifle, and shooting 50 to 55gr bullets?
Powder for the .223.
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Ben Shepherd
Member
Win 748, H335, or BCL-2.
Try all three, see if your rifle has a deffinate preference for one or the other. Any of them will work very well.
Try all three, see if your rifle has a deffinate preference for one or the other. Any of them will work very well.
ThreadKiller
Member
Yep. I like 748 but H4895 is the best. Since it's a "stick" powder it's just harder to run through the powder measure. Ball powders are preferable (at least to me) when loading large quantities of ammo. Like when I load the .223.
Tim
Tim
Ben Shepherd
Member
One more thing: I use mostly H335, because it meters well, shoots very accurately, and I've found it is THE powder in my win 94 30-30. In 30-30 it nets very high velocity, and is extremely accurate(six shot group at 25 yards is barely 30 caliber center-to-center).
I've been using H335, works great and meters well. I am looking into Accurate 2230C, Powder Valley has is in an 8 lb container for $63, that's quite a good price! 
Powder Valley
Powder Valley
Clark
Member
I fired 200 rounds of .223 yesteday of 13 gr Blue Dot and 60 gr SP moly, and the barrel never heated up.
Some of the ground squirels were blown in half.
Some of the ground squirels were blown in half.
Kamicosmos
Member
I use Varget with 55 grain bullets, my AR loves it.
I am going to try some Blue Dot loads. I've used it for a long time in .44 and .357 loads, but never thought about trying it in the .223.
I am going to try some Blue Dot loads. I've used it for a long time in .44 and .357 loads, but never thought about trying it in the .223.
Coltdriver
Member
28 grains of varget under a 50 grain Sierra Blitzking is an excellent load for a Ruger #3 with 1/12 twist.
28 grains of H335 under a 40 grain Sierra Blitzking is also an excellent load for my Ruger #3.
Let us know where you end up with your load testing.
28 grains of H335 under a 40 grain Sierra Blitzking is also an excellent load for my Ruger #3.
Let us know where you end up with your load testing.
Steve Smith
Moderator Emeritus
Nah, we all use R15 or VV N140/540/550 or Varget.
i tried varget and rl-15... didn't work well at all. next powder i tried was h-322. worked so well i never bothered w/ h-335 or anything else.
you just can't get enough varget/rl-15 into a case... if i was starting load development from scratch, i'd try h-335 first, then h-322 second.
you just can't get enough varget/rl-15 into a case... if i was starting load development from scratch, i'd try h-335 first, then h-322 second.
For 55 gr bullets, I have had good luck using surplus military powder. I use WC846, but I hear WC844 is the powder originally used for the .223 round. It is a ball powder like W748 or BL-C2. It is a lot cheaper than other powders. For heavier bullets, ie. 75 gr, I use RL-15.
JW
JW
Coltdriver
Member
Dakotasin,
I am just curious, what is the barrel twist you are using??
The short barrel and standard .223 twist limit the bullet weight I can use on the Ruger #3 to lighter rounds.
I am just curious, what is the barrel twist you are using??
The short barrel and standard .223 twist limit the bullet weight I can use on the Ruger #3 to lighter rounds.
Swamprabbit
Member
Another vote for H-335. Also had good luck with Win748 with the lighter bullets.
SodaPop
member
I shoot 55gr and 62gr bullets with WC844 in my AR and Mini 14.
Sometimes I load up AA2230 but that's with the heavy 69gr HPBT.
Sometimes I load up AA2230 but that's with the heavy 69gr HPBT.
Why is 2230C so cheap?
I've had good results loading 223/55 gr and 30-30/130 gr with IMF 3031, but am interested in loading more for fewer $$. I was thinking of switching to 2230C, but am a little skeptical because it is about half the price of other powder. I've found mostly good reviews on the web, but....????
Main interest is target at 50 to 100 yrds
Any inputs would be appreciated..thanks
I've had good results loading 223/55 gr and 30-30/130 gr with IMF 3031, but am interested in loading more for fewer $$. I was thinking of switching to 2230C, but am a little skeptical because it is about half the price of other powder. I've found mostly good reviews on the web, but....????
Main interest is target at 50 to 100 yrds
Any inputs would be appreciated..thanks
milanuk
Member
H335, W748 and N133 have all worked well for me w/ the lighter bullets. N140, Varget, RE-15, etc. for the heavier ones. I've used AA2230C and it is cheap and it does work well w/ 75gr BTHP's as far as I can tell. I think it's so cheap because it is basically a lot that is a little 'off', outside of AA's parameters for regular AA2230, closer to AA2460, so they package it in 8# jugs and sell it cheap. Works for me 
Since this subject has resurfaced, I can relate to my previous post from a year ago, I talked about AA2230C, but hadn't tried it yet...well that has changed! The first group is a 3 shot group while I was testing various loads, the second group is a 5 shot group shot with the AA2230C load that worked best overall. The rifle is an AR15 with a 24" bull barrel with 1-8 twist.
100 yard groups
The rifle had been sighted in for this load after it was chosen.
100 yard groups
The rifle had been sighted in for this load after it was chosen.
Okiecruffler
Member
My all out favorite is BlueDot, capable of 1/2MOA in my Contender.
For full power loads IMR4198 comes in pretty close to the BD.
For full power loads IMR4198 comes in pretty close to the BD.
db_tanker
Member
okiecruffler,
what size barrel and what size bullet and charge do you use? Speaking of bluedot, that is....
I have a 12" MT'd and have been playing around with everything I can get ahold of...Just recently tried 26gr of RL15 and had some moderate success with nosler 40 gr. but I think I am going to go with the 50-55 gr. BT's and HP bullets to add flavor.
the tightest group I have had to date was with a load I did with xmp-5744 and 55 grain bthp's. It would hold .75 at 100 from sandbags. didn't have my chrono at the time, so I didn't know how fast they were going.
Darrell
what size barrel and what size bullet and charge do you use? Speaking of bluedot, that is....
I have a 12" MT'd and have been playing around with everything I can get ahold of...Just recently tried 26gr of RL15 and had some moderate success with nosler 40 gr. but I think I am going to go with the 50-55 gr. BT's and HP bullets to add flavor.
the tightest group I have had to date was with a load I did with xmp-5744 and 55 grain bthp's. It would hold .75 at 100 from sandbags. didn't have my chrono at the time, so I didn't know how fast they were going.
Darrell
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