223 reloading questions

General Firearms Reloading & Ammunition
1

Im a novice hand loader with exp in 308,25-06, and 300WM.

The 223 is a little different and I have a couple of questions.

First ,my gun is a colt 6920 with the standard 1 in 7 twist. This would normally lead me to bullets in the 65-85 weight area. I know the twist rate is this way so that the tracers will shoot well…Most of the ammo over the counter is in the 55 grain area. So is the accuracy gained by the heavier bullet worth the loss of speed.(with a LR bolt gun the answer would be yes…but with close to medium range targets im not sure if the higher BC will have that much effect).

It seems like alot of guys are using varget for heavier bullets…
What powder is working good for the 55g stuff?

thanks…oh and my spelling sucks…sorry

Atown

2

This is up to you to decide, based off what type of shooting you are doing. The other question to ask is if you are using bullets that are meet your requirements.

I have a preference for ball powders that meter easily. TAC, H335, AA2230, or whatever I can find available.

3

Varget works fine for lighter bullets, accuracy-wise. Speed-wise there are better powders.

4

Shooters aren’t necessarily using the heavy bullets because they are more accurate, although that certainly can be one of the reasons. They use them because they meet the requirements for penetration and wound channel characteristics.

55 grain bullets are fine for training and general shooting. One can use 26.5 grs. Varget with about any 55 grain bullet and get decent results. Winchester 748 is another powder that works well. Good luck and have fun with the testing.

5

748 and RL 15 are good choices.

6

H-322 or H-335 are two of my favorites.

7

One can use 26.5 grs. Varget with about any 55 grain bullet and get decent results.

It would be difficult to get that much Varget into the case (in my experience anyway).

8

I’ve had great results with H335 and 55gr FMJ. Pretty decent results with AA2230 and AA2460.

9

25g of H335 behind a 55g FMJ.

As far as heavier bullets. About the largest bullet your gonna get is a 77g due to the OAL/mag capacity/case capacity relationship.

10

You’ll find that there are lots of powders suited for 55-grain bullets, including the ones listed above as well as Ramshot TAC, H335, W748 and many others. .223 is notorious for not being picky about powder!