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Posted: 9/6/2011 9:15:35 AM EDT
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Looking for wisdom on best powder to use for .223 plinking and then precision.
thanks. |
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You need to give us your barrel length, twist, bullet weights, if you want ball powder (meters like water) or would like to trickle your loads (Varget but it meters poorly), etc. for a more definitive answer. However, generally I'd suggest ball powders for easy of metering so H335 for up to 60-62grn bullets isn't a bad choice and then TAC for your higher weight target bullets. |
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Quoted:
You need to give us your barrel length, twist, bullet weights, if you want ball powder (meters like water) or would like to trickle your loads (Varget but it meters poorly), etc. for a more definitive answer. However, generally I'd suggest ball powders for easy of metering so H335 for up to 60-62grn bullets isn't a bad choice and then TAC for your higher weight target bullets. I agree with the above. Personally I mostly use H335, since it meters so well and I mostly load 52g SMK's and 55g FMJ. For heavier... 69g SMK & 77g NCC, I use RE15. (very similar to Varget & doesn't meter much better). Maybe I'll pick up a 1 lb of TAC to try for the heavier ones... |
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The best plinking powder is whichever one you can get the cheapest. That is the name of the game. For a while, AA2230 was very cheap locally, so that's what I used. Now that source has dried up. Right now, if you're willing to buy in quantity, you can get 844 and 846 surplus powder cheaper than any canister powder. The best precision powder is whichever one works the best in your rifle with whichever bullet you choose to use. Try TAC, RE15, Varget, IMR4320, or other powders in that burn range. All these work well for me with heavy 77/75 gr. bullets.
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What's the weather like where you will be shooting? Extreme temp swings or not?
BLC-2 or W748 (basically the same powder) is great for plinking loads but is pretty temperature sensitive like most ball powders. Varget meters decently for a spherical and will not be nearly as temperature sensitive. It works well for heavier bullets too. |
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Quoted:
What's the weather like where you will be shooting? Extreme temp swings or not? BLC-2 or W748 (basically the same powder) is great for plinking loads but is pretty temperature sensitive like most ball powders. Varget meters decently for a spherical and will not be nearly as temperature sensitive. It works well for heavier bullets too. Varget is not a spherical powder but an extruded powder, and one of the worst measuring powders. It does make accurate loads. |
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