I bought some powders here. I wanted H4895 but could only get imr4895. Benchmark and cfe223. I see that h4895 is used for 70+ grain 223 rounds. Is it bad for 55 grain bullets? I’m wondering what I should lean towards for 55 grainers. I may shoot 75 grainers someday bit for now 55 grain hunting ammo is what I wanna use. I remember years ago when I was still reloading, benchmark and h335 was great in my 204 ruger. I don’t like having to go through so many powders to find a good one lol... your thoughts?
Powders for 223 rem. Help me out
- Thread starter Mike112288
- Start date
silver bullet
CGN Regular
- Location
- Caledon, Ontario
I use CFE223 for 55grn fmjbt bullets for competition and plinking.....or at least I did.
Qc_BearHunter
CGN Regular
- Location
- Pont-Rouge, Qc
All three powders are perfect for the 223.
You'll find data for the 55 grains bullets there: http://hodgdonreloading.com
My best load with my Savage VLP is 24 grains of BenchMark under a 60 grains V-Max.
You'll find data for the 55 grains bullets there: http://hodgdonreloading.com
My best load with my Savage VLP is 24 grains of BenchMark under a 60 grains V-Max.
I've only used varget for 69 grain or heavier
canadianshooter
CGN Regular
- Location
- Northern BC
TAC for a 69 grain load has been accurate and the powder was a bit cheaper.
#1bcshooter
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- North Of The DMZ (US border)
I've used BLC2 for 1000's of rnds of 55 gn FMJ
OP, you really don't give enough information to give you a good answer for your question
You throw a couple of different bullet weights out there, expecting us to know such things as the twist rate of your barrel, length of barrel, etc.
The 55 grain bullets are suitable for all twist rates from 1-14 all the way down to 1-7-8. All of the powders you list will work OK and some will work better.
You don't mention the excellent Barnes and other monolithic offerings.
If you're serious about shooting 70+ grain bullets, then you need powders like Varget and W748, but you will also need to have at least a 1-9 twist rate in your barrel. Even that may not be fast enough, depending on the shape of the bullets you intend to use. My rifle with a 1-9 twist rate will stabilize long for weight Barnes ttsx flat base, 55 grn monolitics, but won't shoot 72 grain spbt Sierra bullets well.
I use W748 with the 55 grn Barnes ttsx monolithics over CCI small rifle magnum primers. I've used Varget but it needs to be compressed to get the best consistency.
CEF223 doesn't give the consistency I was hoping for in my rifles. Lots of folks like it.
You throw a couple of different bullet weights out there, expecting us to know such things as the twist rate of your barrel, length of barrel, etc.
The 55 grain bullets are suitable for all twist rates from 1-14 all the way down to 1-7-8. All of the powders you list will work OK and some will work better.
You don't mention the excellent Barnes and other monolithic offerings.
If you're serious about shooting 70+ grain bullets, then you need powders like Varget and W748, but you will also need to have at least a 1-9 twist rate in your barrel. Even that may not be fast enough, depending on the shape of the bullets you intend to use. My rifle with a 1-9 twist rate will stabilize long for weight Barnes ttsx flat base, 55 grn monolitics, but won't shoot 72 grain spbt Sierra bullets well.
I use W748 with the 55 grn Barnes ttsx monolithics over CCI small rifle magnum primers. I've used Varget but it needs to be compressed to get the best consistency.
CEF223 doesn't give the consistency I was hoping for in my rifles. Lots of folks like it.
My bad yeah I realize I didn’t give much details. I have three 223’s. One is a 1-7.5” twist, another is 1-8” and the cz is 1-9”. The first two are 23” length and 24” length and the cz is 18.5” length. The 55 grain Hornady soft points is what I want for my standard plinking and varmint loads and for any target work I can order up some 75 eldms or 75 bthp or some of the other brand names in that weight range.
From what I read I don’t know whether cfe223 is what I want and looks like I’ll sell my imr4895. I don’t wanna try too many at once and get frustrated lol. Benchmark, Varget, h4895, h335 and 8208 sound like the main ones I wanna try out and settle with one or two of those and be done with it
From what I read I don’t know whether cfe223 is what I want and looks like I’ll sell my imr4895. I don’t wanna try too many at once and get frustrated lol. Benchmark, Varget, h4895, h335 and 8208 sound like the main ones I wanna try out and settle with one or two of those and be done with it
