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Posted: 12/2/2009 11:01:40 AM EDT
OK I am not new to reloading but I am new to .223 reloading. I am buying my first EBR this week and I want to start shooting and reloading soon. I have noticed that H335 and Varget are popular ball powders. I would just like to know what some of your favourites are. what say you. Thanks for your input.
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Quoted:
OK I am not new to reloading but I am new to .223 reloading. I am buying my first EBR this week and I want to start shooting and reloading soon. I have noticed that H335 and Varget are popular ball powders. I would just like to know what some of your favourites are. what say you. Thanks for your input. Varget is not a ball powder. H335 however is my favorite ball powder, it measures great in the Dillon powder measure. |
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H335, Varget, 4895, and TAC are the powders I use. They will all produce a good round. Varget seems to make the most acurrate rounds in my rifles.
55 to 63 grain bullets seem to work best in my 1 in 9. Of those, the cheap Hornady 60 grain soft point is the tightest (which suprises me a lot). |
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I'm new to ar reloading, been doing pistol for years. W  hats the trick to getting more than 25 grains of varget into lc brass.For starters you don't want that much powder anyway unless you're loading bullets 55 grains or lower. A drop tube from 4" to 6" will usually settle the powder in the case. For the rest of the posters - .223 is one of the most forgiving cartridges to load as far as powder selection is concerned. You can load every powder from the 4198's all the way past the 4064's and then some. The faster powders are best for 55 grains and lighter, the slowest for 60 grains on up. I use to load ball powders because they can be thrown with such accuracy. But now I use stick powders almost exclusively. They seem to be more forgiving so charge weights don't really matter to accuracy within reason. I like how they fill the case and for the most part they give me the best accuracy especially with heavy bullets. VihtaVuori N-140, N-135, N-540, N-150 Varget Reloder-15 H-4895 for the heavy bullets. H-4198 H-322 VihtaVuori N-133 Reloder 10-X all for the light bullets. Most of these powders can be used across the board in .223. |
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Generally speaking, for under 69gn bullets, use a medium-rate ball powder, H335, TAC, A2230, etc. For 69gn or bigger, you'll see best results with a slightly slower extruded, Varget, H4895, etc.
Most people plink with 55 and 62gn heads, and ball powder meters really well in progressive systems, so they make a good combo. |
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Quoted:
OK I am not new to reloading but I am new to .223 reloading. I am buying my first EBR this week and I want to start shooting and reloading soon. I have noticed that H335 and Varget are popular ball powders. I would just like to know what some of your favourites are. what say you. Thanks for your input. My favorite ball powders for 223 are in this order, BLC2, Tac, AA-2230, H-335, and W-748. Varget is a stick powder, not worth the extra loading effort unless you are loading match loads. Re-15 is a short stick powder, gives the same accuracy as Varget, and is much easier to measure through a PM. |
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I prefer TAC for the majority of my .223 stuff.
I have used and will continue to play around with Varget and RL 15 for extra heavy bullets. I have a soft spot in my heart for H322. Partly because it's the first powder I ever bought an 8# jug of, and partly because i've found it's very predictable and I used to use it a lot more before I tried TAC. All the ball powders I tried before gave huge muzzle flash in my Mini 14. |
The 62 gr is H335...my favorite powder for my trash loads...the Prvi is a 2+ MOA bullet For heavier bullets...I am a fan of AA2520...check out the Horn 75gr group...ball powder...meters well... Have fun and get a reloading manual.... Start slow... ETA..a 20" Lilja SS barrel.... |
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Thanks guys (or gals) I have the brand new Seirra manual so I can go from there. I use IMR 4895 for my match .308 loads and that works great but I think it may be too slow for .223. I wanted to try a ball powder because of it meters better in my RCBS powder measure.
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I normally use W748 for my .223 Rem. loads pushing a 55gr. pill and have been very happy with the way it performs. Recently though getting W748 is like catching a unicorn, so I tried some H4895 that was available at my local store. I use a RCBS Uniflow powder measure and because it's a stick powder it was a litlle more dificult to feed, but it fed very consistent weights. When I went to the range I was happy to see that it shot very well too and I would recommend it.
Now I'm loading a batch using the H335 because of its reputation as a very accurate .223 powder. I'll have to let you know what I find out about the 335 when I get to the range. 
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