Powder recommendation for .223 Plinking Loads

[billybob44]

8lb jug of H335

You can get EXACTLY 2,240 rounds of great shooting rounds out of this 8#, when using a 55gr. FMJ projectile..
I am NOT going to recommend or tell you a charge weight. HA HA....Bill...

 

[mahansm]

Well, let's see. A little arithmetic and the fact that there are 7000 grains in a pound of powder yields (the solution is left as an exercise for the reader).

 

[9mmepiphany]

That recipe ^^^ came up at the meeting also.

I'm still trying to wrap my mind around using more than 4 grains of powder (9mm, .38spl, .40)

 

[ColoradoShooter77]

I'm using AA-2460, 748, H-4895 and IMR-8208. All four work great for general shooting, but if I had to settle on one, I'd go with IMR-8208. Its a short stick powder that meters well and is temp stable.

 

[Dudedog]

H335, TAC and BL-C(2) all meter very well for me thru a Lee disk (double disk for some loads) or recently the Lee autodrum.
I prefer TAC or BL-C(2) but for plinking rounds all work great.
(55 or 62gr bullets used)

Others may disagree but from what they have available I would take BL-C(2) over H335.

 

[9mmepiphany]

if I had to settle on one, I'd go with IMR-8208. Its a short stick powder that meters well and is temp stable.

They have IMR 8208 XBR available.

Is this the same powder?

 

[rskent]

H335 has been my go to powder for light bullets forever.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

H335 has been my go to powder for light bullets forever.

Yes, same powder. It's known as a very accurate Benchrest powder.

 

[Dudedog]

8208 XBR shot well for me and meters decent, but does not meter quite as well as BL-C(2)/H335 or TAC.

 

[ColoradoShooter77]

Yeah, IMR-8208 XBR is what I was talking about, good stuff!

 

[ArchAngelCD]

I think I'm starting to see a couple of 8lb jugs of H335 or BLC-2 in my future

I prefer H335 over BL-C(2) for all but the heaviest bullets in the .223. If you are loading both NATO cartridges go with BL-C(2), if not go with H335. All IMO of course.

 

[d'zaster]

BLC-2, Varget and H335 work good for me.

 

[FOGeologist]

My accuracy load is 25.4 gr of Varget with a 52 gr Sierra Match King bullet.

My current plinking load involves some amount of X-Terminator and a SuperCheapo Montana Gold or pulled 55 gr FMJ bullets.

It functions the rifle. I had some 10 shot groups go well under an inch, but I'd say this combo is a 1.4 MOA value.

 

[hdwhit]

Powder recommendation for .223 Plinking Loads

Looking at the Hodgdon website, a load with a 55 grain bullet and 20 grains of IMR-4198 will yield around 3,100 fps. At that loading, you get you 350 rounds out of a pound of powder. H-4198 is similar, but a tad less efficient.

Other powders like H335, BL-C(2), CFE 223, Winchester 748, all take around 25 grains to yield 3,100 fps. Sure, you can go to maximum with these powders and get to 3,300 fps (or more), but you said you were looking for a plinking load.

A 25 grain load of these other powders gets 70 FEWER rounds out of a pound of powder for roughly the same velocity as IMR-4198 and that suggests you should seriously consider IMR-4198 for your bulk buy.

 

[9mmepiphany]

A 25 grain load of these other powders gets 70 FEWER rounds out of a pound of powder for roughly the same velocity as IMR-4198 and that suggests you should seriously consider IMR-4198 for your bulk buy.

How well does it meter?

I'm using the Hornady powder measure on a LNL AP progressive press or a stand alone RCBS Uniflow

 

[hdwhit]

How well does it meter?

Since IMR powders are extruded (i.e. "stick powder") it will feel like you are having to "cut" some of those sticks each time you pull the handle on the powder measure. It is really disturbing the first time you do it - but common to all extruded powders - so once you get used to it, you will find it yields weights that are about as consistent as other powders.

If you look at my other posts, you will see I loaded around 1,000 rounds in the late 1970's/early 1980's; much using IMR-4198. I used a volumetric measure. I check-weighed each third charge for about the first 200 rounds and found no material variation in weight. Based on that, I concluded it meters "adequately".

 

[RecoilRob]

H335 class powders will run just about any and all AR's well, but some of the quicker ones might not have enough port pressure to be reliable. Best to try a few with whatever powder you are considering just to be sure they'll run the gun OK. My Bushy Varminter doesn't like the fast powders at all...being as it was set up to eject full tilt varmint ammo gently enough that it lays the empties beside you rather than into the next county.