Needing a recipe for 223 rem

hunter-4-life

hunter-4-life

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Just picked up a new savage 11 trophy hunter xp in 223 today. Has a 1:9 twist, 24 inch barrel. What powder would you guys recommend? I was thinking Varget is a good place to start. Now how heavy of bullets can I shoot before they get too heavy and wont stabilize? I will just be shooting varmints (coyotes, gophers etc.) and punching some paper. Im still new to reloading so any advice is greatly appreciated.
 
Your twist rate is good for bullets up to 75gr or monolithics up to 70gr (that, however, is pushing it. Some rifles can do it with that twist rate....others can't).

As for powder, Varget is a good overall choice as a start. Work up your load by starting at the minimum and working up in 10% increments until you find YOUR rifle's sweet spot for A particular powder.

Reloading .223 is a multi step process. I personally tumble, lube, resize/decap, trim (if you're using brass that was fired in your particular rifle, you won't have to worry about this so much), then resize again, primer, charge with powder, seat bullet, crimp and repeat.

If you're just going to be using a bolt gun, you could get away with just resizing the neck instead of a full length resize if it's your own brass. Some people with bolt guns skip the crimping part as well, but since I load for my AR, I do apply a crimp.

FWIW, I load my AR with 25gr of W748, as I like the lower flame temp that's supposed to extend barrel life. I've also reload with 24gr IMR 8208 XBR and love it as well. But every gun is an individual, so you'll have to find out your gun's preferences yourself.
 
hometownhero said:
I shoot 77gr bergers fine in my 1:9. I mainly shoot 53gr vmax with 25.7gr of varget. I pretty much only use varget for the 223 as well.
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^thanks to HTH's advice a year or so ago, I loaded-up some 53gr. V-Max for my Savage 1:9" (over Varget) and it proved to be the most accurate of all. The gun shot MOA with even factory-made Hornady 55gr. V-Max, so not surprisingly..55gr. reloaded over Varget is a very close second to the 53. As for "how heavy"~a 1:9" should stabilize a pretty heavy bullet, but with mine...it seemed that the heavier I went, the worse it shot. I loaded 53 V-Max, 55 V-Max, 60 V-Max and 69gr. Sierra MatchKings.

I don't remember the exact charge of Varget, but if you're interested...PM me and I'll dig up the info at home but of course...your rifle will like what it'll like. I wanted mine to like heavier rounds, but I'm not that disappointed that it doesn't.
 
In my 16.5" Rem700 1:9 I use 24.5 grains of Varget with 69grain Sierra Match Kings. So far (I'm new to reloading) this has been my most accurate load. I still need to experiment with a lot more though, but this works well.
 
Gillen1 said:
In my 16.5" Rem700 1:9 I use 24.5 grains of Varget with 69grain Sierra Match Kings. So far (I'm new to reloading) this has been my most accurate load. I still need to experiment with a lot more though, but this works well.
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I use the same Powder and bullet at 24.1 grns in my Savage 12BTCSS and it is a winner at 100 yards..
 
My 1-9 twist Savage really likes the Hornady 52gr HPBT match bullet over a stiff charge of H335. I don't have the exact charge weight in front of me at the moment. Easy 1/2moa out to 200yds and probably more but I can't shoot any better than that. It's devastating on 'yotes and gophers too.
 
I have a Stevens 200 with a 26 inch heavy barrel 1 in 9 twist, a AR15 A2 HBAR with a 1 in 9 twist and a AR15 carbine with a 1 in 7 twist. All I shoot are 55 and 69 grain bullets in all of them with good accuracy, you will need to work up a load and see what shoots the best. Click on the link below for more info.

223 Rem + 223 AI Cartridge Guide
http://www.accurateshooter.com/cartridge-guides/223rem/

Just remember the green tipped bullets are for shooting Zombies and the red tips are shooting things that aren't dead. :evil:

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If you can keep all your bullets in the red at 100 yards you have a good load. ;)

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Sorry, it all started when I when I read the book "World War Z" and then started watching "The Walking Dead".......................
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I loaded my Rem 700 tactical with 25gr H4895 and 68gr Hornady BTHP. Deadly accurate so far at 100 yrds. I am going to try 25.5grs of BC-L(2) powder with the same bullet this weekend and see if it is any better or at least as good.
 
I just bought a bunch of American Eagle 55gr FMJ's for the brass, trying to find some powder for it next, and I can buy bullets and primers in town here. Thanks for all the help guys, really appreciate it.
 
Do you guys crimp your rounds for a bolt action or not really?? Only powder I could find was Hodgdon benchmark, so ill load up some of that with 50gr v-max's and see what happens
 
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