I want to say XBR. H335 is it, but it’s some flame throwing, nasty stuff. I don’t know if that monumental muzzle flash translates into wear on a suppressor, but I have no intention of finding out.
XBR is great powder, and it shoots 55 gr bullets well. I’ve never tried pushing it to M193 velocities though.
Oh wait… My other suggestion is W748. Ball powder… Very low flash, and around 27.0 should get you there. I used to load it to 26.5 and get 3100 fps from a 20" AR. (I’ve never been a fan of running ammo as hot as M193)
Ok so here’s a question Markm…XBR and TAC are about the same speed on the burn chart. TAC is recommended for heavy bullets in 5.56, is Reloader 10x too fast for 55 grain bullets? W748 is much slower than any of the above as well yet I’m hearing it works well with 55 grain bullets. I would like to stay with a faster powder to minimize port erosion even though I’m using good BFH barrels. I’m not obsessing over that but it’s a factor when you run high volume.
Also buddy, do you notice any significant differences in cleanliness in your suppressed stuff?
Remember, the military does powder lot testing. So the powder charge varies from lot to lot to achieve desired fps. If you don’t have a chrony, invest in one if you want to replicate.
I would give the CFE223 a look. It is made by General Dynamics in St Marks Florida. Same place almost all the ball powder used by the military comes from.
If you really want to clone the M193 - look for WC844 pulldown powder. A quick google-fu showed Slickguns having it for $167/8lbs, Jeff Barlett used to carry it too. I use it behind Nosler 55gr T-FB bullets - sub 1/2 min out of a 12 twist AR.
Use H335 load data. I don’t see anything that indicates it being dirty at all. No flash - and the gas port looks fine in numerous barrels that have run this. The borescope doesn’t lie…
I know they lot test and that it will vary. As long as I’m within 100 or so lot to lot, I’m happy…as long as it doesn’t hit between accuracy nodes and f*ck up my groups too bad.
One question I would have is what are you loading on?
8208 XBR wont meter all that well out of a Dillon(or other volume type thrower) since its a stick, smaller, more consistent sticks than something like Varget, but still a stick powder.
Ive never thought H335 was a dirty powder. 25g of H335, with a 55g bullet lit off by a magnum primer. Ive shot thousands and I think you would find H335 to be probably the all time favorite for plinking loads in the AR. BLC-2 is also popular, but its pretty much just like H335. WC844 that was mentioned is supposedly just like H335 and data is interchangeable. I wouldnt expect it to be drastically more dirty or more clean.
I load on a 1050 as well for my high volume stuff.
stick with ball powders than, skip the stick powders. Flake powders(depending on flake size) tend to meter fairly well for me too, but I havent messed with any rifle flake powders, only pistol. Ball powders also flow through the Dillon powder activator funnels real well as well so things stay clean.
The other thing to think about is powder quantity. I tend to only buy rifle powders(once I do load development) in 8lb jugs(minimum is 4lb jugs so I get at least 1000 rounds). You are only getting like ~275 rounds out of a single pound of powder with rifles(you already know this though). H335 in 8lb jugs is reasonable at like 150-160. 8208 XBR is like 190-200. TAC I think is up there too(but maybe not, never priced 8lbs of TAC). Varget seems to be sitting at 180. The Reloder series is usually only in 5lb jugs and around 100 a jug so prices are decent there, but I dont think they have a ball powder(ive messed with 15 and 17). The mil pull down powder like WC844 can be had for like 140 for 8 lbs. Lots of the powders you are interested in may or may not even be available in bulk.
Exactly. Quantity is better for me anyway…I shot 1000 rounds in practice last week. That’s not a regularity for me but I definitely need more as I can find it in this market and eliminates some of the lot to lot problems.
AA2230 has been good to me for high-velocity 55gr FMJ’s. It’s not the cleanest powder, but I wanna say I was getting ~2,950fps with a mid-range load and 55gr FMJ’s from a 16" barrel. I don’t do much with FMJ’s anymore, so I’m not sure on availability.
When you say not the cleanest. Please elaborate. Compared to what? The majority of my rounds will be suppressed which increases the dirty factor so if it’s dirty unsuppressed. We would only be compounding the problem. Thanks!
Extruded powders, mainly XBR and H322. I don’t really use much ball powder these days. I mean, it’s not horribly bad, but definitely not as clean as XBR.
I would use something like WW748 or CFE223, these are on the slower side and should be able to push to M193 velocities (above 3250fps). Powders like AA2230, H335, and WC844 are faster, the problem being, getting to >3250fps out of a 20" requires going beyond published safe loading charges. I’ve used these faster powders and all work well, except H335 which is extremely flashy. I just load them all at 25g and get about 3050fps out of my 20". Nice, mellow loads.
