Favorite generic .223 load?

Dogleg

Dogleg

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If you had 4 .223s and were looking for a universal load to use in all of them, where would you start? Think ball powders, progressive or turret press, and dropped charges.

I would like to bulk load ammo for my kids, for plinking, gophers and maybe a coyote here and there. Keeping ammo separate, and hand weighing charges aren't going to cut it.

In the limited amount of testing I've done they would all shoot 40 grain V-maxes and WC845 after a fashion but liked different loads. Oddly, there was a very big difference between weighed and dropped charges and weighing isn't going to be practical. Same thing with happened with Benchmark. Whitebox Winchester is lack-luster.

I'm off to the range with some WC845 and 52 grain Berger Varmint match to see if it might make a one size fits all load.

Any gopher wackers have load that they use in several rifles?
 
Don't have my loading manuals handy and can't remember the exact charge weight - 45-55 gr bullets using IMR4064 at 1 gr over starting weight listed in the Lyman 49th edition is a great plinker/gopher round in every rifle i tried it in. Not sure how it will meter in your setup but it worked Ok for me.
 
depends on twist rate if youre talking accuracy.
if your just looking for a general load use 55 grain bullets over varget powder im sure there is a load listed in your manual.
 
Try 26.0 grs of H-335 with any 50 gr bullet, you can mix and match primers and brass and it will still be a good shooting load. I feed 4 different rifles with this stuff.

26.0 grs of TAC will work too if you have it laying around.
 
Varget has thrown in my powder measure very well (hornady lnl powder measure) and I have liked it my only issue is it is very dirty. Which really isn't a big deal but I also like the consistency in the vv powders. I am now in the process of switching everything over to vv powders.
Ball powders will meter the best in all powder measures so that may be your best bet for consistancy like others have said.
 
3 out of 4 worked with 27.5 grains of WC845,(bulk surplus that is basically H335) and a 40 grain V-Max today. Good speeds over 3800 too. The 4th one is being stubborn but maybe you can't have everything.

Strangely, the dropped charges still aren't measureing up to the weighed ones with numerous fliers. When I check the charges against the scale they always seem to be bang on though.
 
Sierra's 52 gr match bullet used to be my favorite .224 pill, backed with 748. Ball powder is the correct answer for the .222/.223 family IMHO, and H-335 is as good as any. As for the flyers you're observing, lets try this . . .

The dropped charges create a higher loading density than powder that's poured in from the pan (although its tough to imagine with ball powder) resulting in more air space in the cartridge and a slightly different pressure curve, but it would be hard to quantify.
 
I may have spoken a little too soon about the consistency of my powder measure. There are a few highs and lows, and that's probably what I'm seeing on the target.

Since there is no way I'm going to listen to that Chargemaster count to 1000 more than once in a lifetime, I suppose its time to upgrade to a higher end powder measure. Suggestions?
 
It's looking like 26.5 gr of WC845 with a 52 grain Berger and 27.5 grains of the same powder with 40 grain V-Max are going to be the universal, go bang in anything loads.

I'm thinking that human error was giveing the fliers on the dropped charges. Useing the Chargemaster most of the time for the last several years has lead to loseing my touch on the handle, but it seems to be comeing back now. Bang-tap-tap, sounds like a miniture blacksmith shop working in the basement.
 
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