First powder

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ShawnRich

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So I managed to buy a starting package for reloading, a Lee Turret Press, set up for .223 Remington. As suggested in other threads, I will use it as a single press until I get the hang of the steps and process. I have not got it yet (probably here Monday), but thinking ahead, I have a question. There is a book included with it which I suspect will lay out getting started mechanically, but how does one pick a powder for a first load? The package is coming with 55 Grain CamPro bullets and I will be reusing my once fired Remington Target Brass.....

With all of the powders available, where does a newbie start? I have looked up reloading data on line from randomly grabbed powders from Cabela's web site to see what the data looks like. I see the min and max loads so I think I get that part but just the powder selection to start with appears a mystery. And then thinking further, once I can get some consistency with the first powder, how does one progress to the next powder to try? I can see why images of loading benches are a huge collection of powders and bullets, working different combinations..

Do reloaders sometimes trade powders to try one or does everyone just buy a pound of each to try? The couple of recipes I have looked at list about 25-27 grains for a 223 (I don't remember which powder that was ) so one pound of a powder should yield about 250 rounds, if my math is correct... that will certainly be a great start for me!

Thanks
Shawn
 
You're overthinking it. There about 20 powders that will serve your needs with that 223. I would probably go with IMR 4895 personally as it would also do plenty of other loads that I do.
 
The first rifle I bought my son was a Remington model 700 in 223rem.
I taught him to reload. That gun has never seen factory ammo.
He was young, 13 or 14 years old.
So being cautious I gave him H4895 with 55gr projectiles. You can't over fill it with this.
You can also order D4895 from Canada Ammo. It's cheap, and it works great in my son's 223 and my 223 heavy barrel.
 
Yes, I plan on reading a lot more. It has been about a month of reading, since my interest in shooting and reloading has peeked, but mostly regarding the equipment thus far. Now that I have equipment coming, I am wondering where to start with recipes. The package is coming with Speer manual #14. That will probably answer the questions, but as I said, just thinking ahead. I found another thread here where posters state what powders they are using or suggesting. I have been to the Hodgon site but the 4th step in getting a recipe is picking a powder.... I am guessing that you have to know what you want, ie faster, slower, changing bullet weights, etc...and then just keep punching in possibilities until you find one that looks like it will work..? Being so new, don't know what I want yet. So yes Philthy1, I am definitely over thinking it! ;)

Thanks for the replies
 
You don't mention the length of barrel/twist rate/barrel profile. All three of these will have pretty significant affect to which powder will work best for you.

IMR4895 is OK, for semi auto type rifles or those with shorter barrels but W748 and Varget will work better all around in 24inch+ length barrels, on bolt action rifles. That's been my experience with 55 grain bullets. Magnum primers of course.
 
As you have found out, there are lots of powders that will work. As mentioned by others 4895 is a good one, and my personal favourite for my 223 is H4895. I have also used I4895. I run 69gr Sierra Match Kings (SMK) or Barnes Match Burner (BMB) exclusively since I bought a pile of them on sale a couple of years back. Previously I used Hornady 68gr BTHP for quite some time. I am all about accuracy so I only used 55g FMJ offerings for a very short period of time, finding them far too inaccurate for my requirements.
 
ShawnRich said:
I have been to the Hodgon site but the 4th step in getting a recipe is picking a powder.... I am guessing that you have to know what you want, ie faster, slower, changing bullet weights, etc...and then just keep punching in possibilities until you find one that looks like it will work..? Being so new, don't know what I want yet.
Click to expand...
You can put in your cartridge and bullet weight and hit “get data” and it’ll give you loads with all the different powders in their lineup.
 
bearhunter said:
You don't mention the length of barrel/twist rate/barrel profile. All three of these will have pretty significant affect to which powder will work best for you.

IMR4895 is OK, for semi auto type rifles or those with shorter barrels but W748 and Varget will work better all around in 24inch+ length barrels, on bolt action rifles. That's been my experience with 55 grain bullets. Magnum primers of course.
Click to expand...

Magnum primers of course?
 
I would recommend you wait for your Speer book to arrive and use it to make a choice.

The reason I say this is the book will have a specific page or three for your caliber of choice with different powders used for each bullet weight...much more easier for a newbie to separate the choices from each other.
The internet loading sites often have many different drop-down menus for bullet weight-primer-powder brand/burn rate. These will be useful to you after you get a better "book learning" handle on the powders appropriate for the bullet weight you want to use.
 
Most data sources only have listings for their own bullets, or their own powders etc, so sometimes you have to read a few to get an overview of all the combinations that might work.

Too often in the Canadian market you're lucky to be able to actually buy maybe half the things you read about, so stay flexible until you have powder in hand. Note there are shortages at present due to panic buying south of the border. And the data source that matches the brand(s) carried by your local gun store will turn out to be the most useful!

Sometimes with multiple data sources it can be eyebrow-raising when one gives a never-exceed load 3/10 of a grain under the other book's starting load for the same caliber/powder/bullet!

And if you're thinking of multiple calibers then a powder that shows up in recipes for most of them can save having to invest in such a huge collection of bottles you might hardly use.

But even if there are a big number of powders that work in a given situation (caliber/bullet weight) often there are a few that give best results, and sometimes that's folklore or test data. There's that difference between seeing the bullet safely out of the muzzle and getting a nice tight grouping in the target!
 
Got any friends to sponser a few pinches to test? 125ish grains of a few diff powders?
See whats in stock at you're local shop (or wherever) and at what $ youre comfortable with and go for it. Close to the 223 im loading 222 using primarily imr4198 behind 50g z-max but also load cfe223, blc2, and varget as well. Something to do and its enjoyable trying different bullet/powder combinations.
Good luck and have fun with it!
 
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