I am just getting my reloading equipment and plan on mainly reloading .308 but I am not sure what would be the best powder to get. Also, will the same powder work well for .223?
If so I will just buy in bulk when I find some.
Thanks
I load .223 &.308 with Varget. It has shown great results.
Awesome, thanks for the suggestion. There is a gun show in town this weekend so I am hoping to pick up some powder and primers there to avoid a hazmat fee, will grab some of that if I find it at a reasonable price, any other recommendations? Wouldn’t mind picking up a few different ones to try out some different loads.
I also use Varget for .223 Rem. and .308 Win. Other choices would be Ramshot Tac and Reloder 15. I also have used Winchester 748 for both cartridges with good success. Varget is still my favorite.
Varget is my go-to powder for 308.
I have had great success with Varget and IMR 4064.
R15 for my ar and my 308. It’s important to know what gun your reloading for?
I find varget works best for me with tac being a close second
AR-10 and AR-15 mainly. Might start reloading other for other guns down the road.
X2 on the imr 4064. It is a longer grain so it doesn’t meter as well, but it is great for accuracy.
This here.
I would definitely NOT look to use the same powder for .223… just because you can find a meterable powder like H322 or Benchmark.
Varget and 4064 both do good things in .223, but the long powder kernels make them impractical for bulk loading.
Another vote for Varget.
If I hand load .223 right now it will be more for precision rather than bulk loading. I don’t have a ton of free time and only have a single stage press so I do not foresee myself cranking out a ton of rounds haha. I don’t shoot that often and when I do it isn’t for something like a carbine course, just doing some target shooting or maybe some varmint hunting.
Recommendations for bulk .223 powder? Would like to keep it in mind in case I do decide to go that route. Also, what is the reasoning behind using a different powder?
Or were you recommending H322 or benchmark for bulk reloading? Sorry, got a bit confused.
We blast H322 for bulk “match” ammo on my 550b. It meters like a champ… same with benchmark… they’re both short cut extruded, fine kernel powders.
Varget falls short for .223 because it’s hard to get enough into the case if you want a hotter load. 4064 is accurate in .223 too. But that stuff is like rice… I mean lovely long kernels… but impractical for any kind bulk loading.
I run a chargemaster combo for loading Extrudeds in big bore calibers… so I don’t care how long the kernels are.
But for .223, there’s good fine extrudeds to pick from.
Also… keep in mind that various 308 brass can have very different internal case volumes. Try to stick to a single flavor of .308.
.223, for the most part, doesn’t have this issue.
And for your gas gun .308, you can’t necessarily run a published max bolt gun load. You’ll chew up your gun and your brass if you go too hot… someone here gave me this advice a few years back when I started doing a load for my buddy’s MWS.
Awesome! Great info, that was very helpful!
R15 is a good choice for gas guns and it will get you the best speeds. I’m not a varget fan at all, if it was a bolt gun I would say n150 will give you an edge in the speed category with heavy bullets.
What about the temp sensitivity of that stuff?
All powders are temp sensitive.
It’s just a matter of how much.
It’s not really something to be concerned about though as the spread between really sensitive and not very sensitive is pretty small in the grand scheme of things…