powder sugestions???

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mpjustin

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I am new to reloading and would like to know what powders to try with my remington 223 sps tactical with a 1-9 twist in a 20in barrel?

first bullet is 69gr BTHP SMK

second is a 55gr V-max

if you guys could give me what powders as well as how many grains to use of it I would like to try some differnt stuff to see what my gun likes. I am shooting from 100 to 300 meters and so far the best factory ammo my gun likes is 55gr TAP as well as the 69grain federal match ammo. this is why I have gone with those to bullets.

and I will be loading them on a dillion RL 550 but measuring each charge till I am comfortable.

thanks for the advise.
 
Good choice of bullets, BTW.

Just about any medium burn rate powder (all of those listed above) will do a very good job here. Choose a powder for any one or more of the following good reasons:
- you can get it easily
- you can get it cheaply
- you already have some
- also useful for other cartridges you do or you will load for
- trusted people have known-good loads for it
- it meters or handles well

BTW, don't worry too terribly much about throw-to-throw variations in powder charges. How do you suppose factories load their ammo, and what do you suppose their tolerances are on thrown charge weights? Measure carefully, and observe carefully how your thrower is working and what it is actually throwing under different conditions (vibration, sitting, etc), and get to know how it actually behaves for you. But as you get a handle on this, don't worry at all if you powder charges vary by nearly a full grain from the lightest to the heaviest charge, this is normal, and you can make very good ammunition (particularly for ranges as short at 300m, but even for 600m too) with this. Under ideal conditions (good operator, smoothly metering ball powder) you can get nominal weight +/-0.1 grains, but even though this sounds impressive compared to +/-0.4 grains with a medium stick powder (e.g. H4895), it is far from the most important accuracy-affecting variable.

Your important variables are your rifle (more specifically, its barrel, chamber and bedding), and your choice of an accurate good bullet (which you've done). Your principal job is to find the right charge weight (ordinarily, "decently full powered, but by no means overloaded" works well), and the right bullet seating depth (sometimes critical, but often this is a sign of a rifle problem; usually just loading them 0.020"-0.030" from the rifling will get you the majority of your achievable accuracy).
 
rnbra-shooter said:
Good choice of bullets, BTW.

Just about any medium burn rate powder (all of those listed above) will do a very good job here. Choose a powder for any one or more of the following good reasons:
- you can get it easily
- you can get it cheaply
- you already have some
- also useful for other cartridges you do or you will load for
- trusted people have known-good loads for it
- it meters or handles well

BTW, don't worry too terribly much about throw-to-throw variations in powder charges. How do you suppose factories load their ammo, and what do you suppose their tolerances are on thrown charge weights? Measure carefully, and observe carefully how your thrower is working and what it is actually throwing under different conditions (vibration, sitting, etc), and get to know how it actually behaves for you. But as you get a handle on this, don't worry at all if you powder charges vary by nearly a full grain from the lightest to the heaviest charge, this is normal, and you can make very good ammunition (particularly for ranges as short at 300m, but even for 600m too) with this. Under ideal conditions (good operator, smoothly metering ball powder) you can get nominal weight +/-0.1 grains, but even though this sounds impressive compared to +/-0.4 grains with a medium stick powder (e.g. H4895), it is far from the most important accuracy-affecting variable.

Your important variables are your rifle (more specifically, its barrel, chamber and bedding), and your choice of an accurate good bullet (which you've done). Your principal job is to find the right charge weight (ordinarily, "decently full powered, but by no means overloaded" works well), and the right bullet seating depth (sometimes critical, but often this is a sign of a rifle problem; usually just loading them 0.020"-0.030" from the rifling will get you the majority of your achievable accuracy).
Click to expand...

very good info, thanks for taking the time to type it.
so far the only upgrades on the rifle are a trigger precission stock. my next step I think I would like a new trigger, but before that I want to have most of my reloading stuff.

How important is the trimming of the brass for accuacy? do I have to size them all and then trim them? or if they are all with in spec are they ok I do I want them all to be the exact same size?
 
mpjustin said:
very good info, thanks for taking the time to type it.
so far the only upgrades on the rifle are a trigger precission stock. my next step I think I would like a new trigger, but before that I want to have most of my reloading stuff.
Click to expand...

Most welcome.

Factory Remington triggers can be quite good. You might want to simply try adjusting the trigger you have. Clean and crisp is the most important thing to have in a trigger. Light pull is a very distant secondary benefit. (it can be a bit quicker to get a shot away with a lighter trigger. And you can learn to shoot a very light trigger (well under a pound) well much more quickly than a heavy trigger (it can take a year or so to be able to fully competently break good shots with a 4# trigger).

How important is the trimming of the brass for accuacy? do I have to size them all and then trim them? or if they are all with in spec are they ok I do I want them all to be the exact same size?
Click to expand...

It's hardly important at all for accuracy. It's a safety measure, you don't want to have overly long case mouths being jammed into the end of the chamber's neck, which could pinch the bullet and interfere with its release, greatly raising chamber pressures. Which is a longish way of saying, all that matters is that your brass is no longer than max length (and don't worry if you inadvertently trim some shorter than the "trim to" length; go ahead and use them, they are safe and good).
 
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