I need some help to find some good power to reload 5gr. 223? I have beed reloading 230gr. ,45acp on my Dillon 550 and now I plan to reload 55gr. 223.
I’m a big Varget fan. I use it both on .223 and .308 with good luck. I’m sure others will chime in.
I use h335 because it meters well and I get plenty of velocity with 55gr bullets without excess pressure.
+1 on varget it’s a great powder.
I like and use both H4895 and Varget. Downside of 4895 is that it doesn’t meter as well but I’ve always had good results with it. I have begun to use Varget with 55gr. bullets and have had good results as well. I also use Varget in my high power loads so having one powder for both projectiles appeals to my Scottish blood.
Varget is my favorite for 223 and 308. Also use BL-C(2) shoots good just got alot of muzzle flash. My buddy gave me some AA223 will try some of those reloads today.
A popular load here is 24.5 grains of TAC behind your favorite 55 gr bullet.
It’s not a hot load, but it’s a great, reliable practice round that’s cheap on a per round powder charge cost. Plus TAC meters great in the Dillon.
markm, who makes TAC Powder?
TAC is a RAMSHOT (western powder) http://www.ramshot.com/powders/
They also make one called X-Terminator which on paper is better for 55 grain than TAC though I have not used either and have both in my “man cave” as my son calls it.
Using the software that calculates such things it is my understanding that TAC only has about 85% burn or thereabouts while X-Terminator has a much more complete burn. This is with 55gr. With the 69-77gr the TAC does better.
Indeed. TAC only gets you about 85% burn.
But the slower burn rate makes it run well across the board… from SBRs to Rifle gas systems. And it’s cheap.
TAC used to be much cheaper. But it’s still a good value. I need 2 full grains less powder in each round to make great practice ammo compared to my W748 load.
So I get an extra round of ammo every for every 12 rounds I load using TAC. And the ammo is better than most commonly available rounds out there.
Ramshot TAC is a slower burning powder than Ramshot Exterminator; however, without a reference to a specific barrel length and muzzle velocity for comparison, your “85% burn” figure is meaningless. Using Ramshot TAC to propel a 55 grain FMJ bullet to a muzzle velocity of approximately 2825 fps from a 16” barrel yields a percentage of powder burned of approximately 90%. Using Ramshot Exterminator to propel the same 55 grain FMJ bullet to the same approximate muzzle velocity of 2825 fps from the same 16” barrel yields a percentage of powder burned of approximately 94%; not exactly a “much more complete burn.”
+1 on the Varget, hard to find at times with people hoarding everything.
Ramshot TAC 55-77 gr
Accuarate Arms AA-2230 55-69gr
WIN 748 55-69gr
I’ve loaded at least 8 lbs each of the above poowders without any problems and goood to excellent accuracy. They all throw well by volume although I’m a single stage guy for rifle.
I do own a dillon 550 but reserve that for bulk pistol ammo. I’m alittle anneal about my rifle ammo but since I’ve been shooting alot within 100m the past year, I’m looking at moving over to the dillon for plink/practice ammo. I throw my 223 powder with an RCBS Little Dandy Powder Measure. It is small and convienant for 50-100 round loading blocks. If the rotor is alittle short in weight, I dremel/polish to desired weight. If alittle over, a small strip of ‘Scotch’ Tape after solvent cleaning. Be sure to recheck weigh occassionally, and especially when changing lot numbers.
Excellent results can be obtained when loading rifle ammunition on a Dillon progressive press. The 10-shot group pictured below was fired from an AR-15 at a distance of 100 yards. The ammunition was loaded on a Dillon XL-650 using a short-cut extruded powder.
In my experience, AA-2230, H335, and recently Benchmark are my go to powders.
+1 for TAC. It’s reasonably priced and readily available, even in this market. On top of that it meters extremely well and is clean burning.
I am with Markm and 24.5 TAC - honestly all good advise here. If you can get primers, all else is easy!
I have used H4895 for the same round that you are attempting to load with no problems. I’m using 24.7 gr for the 55g FMJBT rounds.
Good enough for plinking for me.
In my 1:8 twist I use AA2230 & AA2460. 2460 seems to be better if you are also going to shoot heavier bullets in the 60-68g range. I like Varget for 69g and over.
Reloader 15.
H335…clean and easy…