newbee whats a good powder for 223?

[holdover]

I dont reload yet, but my cousin does, but Hes fairly new too. I was wondering what is a good powder for 223? what does it cost? how many rounds do you get? what type of primers are good. I have a 1/7 barrel twist. I wanted to shoot 62 -68 gr bullets . any recommendations?

 

[MilesTeg]

I standardized my powders. I picked versatile powders. Rifle I use Varget and pistol I use bullseye. With that said that doesn't always lead to the best loading for certain combinations.

Varget is good for 223. I really like some of the powder designed around the 223 like the CFE one, but haven't tried them yet.

 

[Edwardteach72]

One good piece of info i learned a few years ago.

There are 7,000 grains in a pound. Powder is usually sold by the pound.


Idk the average charge (it varies from powder to powder, and different bullets and other factors) but 7,000g per pound should give you a decent idea how many booolets you can load with each pound of powder

 

[Elwood]

 

[nortatoga]

One good piece of info i learned a few years ago.

There are 7,000 grains in a pound. Powder is usually sold by the pound.


Idk the average charge (it varies from powder to powder, and different bullets and other factors) but 7,000g per pound should give you a decent idea how many booolets you can load with each pound of powder

I will be new to reloading also, Been gathering supplies. From what I have read so far is for 223 you may get 280rds from one pound of powder.

 

[dsdmmat]

There are a lot of good powders for the 223, there are some that are not suited for military rifles though. I use a couple ( well actually a few) powders for the 223.

BL-C(2)
IMR 4198
IMR 3031
IMR 8208
CFE 223
Varget
AA 2015

 

[holdover]

which ones would you consider high performance? Or are they all pretty close?

 

[Elwood]

which ones would you consider high performance? Or are they all pretty close?

 

[Mosinitis]

which ones would you consider high performance? Or are they all pretty close?

There are several. Reloader-15 is the most popular for speed and temperature stability. Varget is the least temperature sensitive, but you can't get the same speed out of it.

 

[Mosinitis]

Stay away from Winchester small rifle primers. They are prone to piercing.

 

[dwa12479]

I standardized my powders. I picked versatile powders. Rifle I use Varget and pistol I use bullseye. With that said that doesn't always lead to the best loading for certain combinations.

Varget is good for 223. I really like some of the powder designed around the 223 like the CFE one, but haven't tried them yet.

Same here. Im using Varget for .223 and Titegroup for 9mm. Makes shopping easy.

 

[MilesTeg]

Same here. Im using Varget for .223 and Titegroup for 9mm. Makes shopping easy.

It's great when you can buy 4 8# jugs and be set for a very long time with all of your reloading. Do we lose some of performance we could tweak out of a round ...... most likely. But I ever do try to push a certain rifle/round then I will buy powder for that instance.

 

[holdover]

You cant mail order powder right?

 

[MilesTeg]

You cant mail order powder right?

Yes there is usually a hazmat fee. I normal times I use to only buy stuff when they had free shipping and hazmat fees.

 

[Robin]

CFE-223, Varget, good results with both.
Robin

 

[nortatoga]

Some more reloading supplies today!

 

[dsdmmat]

Some more reloading supplies today!

View attachment 87733

Gunna have to step it up, those are rookie numbers

 

[nortatoga]

Gunna have to step it up, those are rookie numbers View attachment 87738

Just getting started!!!!!

 

[Target]

A pound of Varget is $30ish/lb.
Small rifle primers are what you need.

Being that everyone is loading .223/5.56 , small rifle primers and Varget are very hard to find.

 

[nortatoga]

A pound of Varget is $30ish/lb.
Small rifle primers are what you need.

Being that everyone is loading .223/5.56 , small rifle primers and Varget are very hard to find.

True @Target the LGS I stopped at today still had the powder I picked-up and some small rifle primers. Said they had Varget coming in from a July 1st order I need to keep in touch with them!!

 

[Target]

Powdervalleyinc.com has an assortment of powders in stock but looks like no primers what so ever.

 

[repete]

Gunna have to step it up, those are rookie numbers View attachment 87738

What, no H335?

 

[dsdmmat]

What, no H335?

Nope

 

[Wolfspotter]

If you're not going to be match shooting, might give surplus powder a try. Pat's Reloading has 8lbs of WC844 surplus 5.56 powder for $159.99
They also have WC846, WC846 T at the same price. It's like BLC-2, slightly slower burning for the 308 but works great in 5.56, especially with heavier bullets.

 

[Acer-m14]

i have been using BLC2 for my 223 it does what i want .. i have a lb of AR-Comp on hand but haven't opened it yet ..

off to raid @dsdmmat 's frig for the 4350 and BLC2 lol ..

 

[meketrefe]

A2230, H4895, varget, R15, good powders.
several extruded powders are the most imprevious to weather/temp changes.
also check on the dispensers as they might be harder to dispense but small ball powder
sometimes faster can also be a challenge to dispense and they are not the best in terms of temp changes.
benchmark can really push the lighter bullets up to 65gr but be careful is a faster powder.

 

[stuckhere]

Powder choices I've made for 68gr-77gr 5.56mm Max Pressure loads have been Tac, A2520, AR Comp (always out of stock when I wanted it), N540, Power Pro Varmint, Leverevolution and others I've forgotten. Some have worked better than others. I really lean toward a Western Powders product whenever possible.

 

[Vantrepes]

I'm a little surprised it took this long to mention AR Comp. I was a consistent Varget user, but then it became unobtainable, so I switched to AR Comp, and never looked back.

 

[SigSweet]

Big Fan of Ramshot TAC powder for my AR loads