Advice for my first .223 Remington loads

[greg vess]

Benchmark is the ticket for accuracy. Art least in my rifles or is.

 

[ReservoirDawg10]

Why 55 grainers?

 

[Guthrie]

My 1-7 ar throws that exact same bullet in a 1 inch group at 100 with 26.3 grains of varget.

 

[Paxdad]

You indicated that your brass is prepped but does the include trimming and removing the primer pocket crimp if present?

 

[Seacap]

I need a little guidance on load data. On normally go a friend to helps and teaches me to load with a load in mind, then we discuss it prior starting. Sometimes he agrees with my load, others he says that after 30 years experience he finds that load XYZ works better, and explains why.

Since November I have loaded 9mm, 10mm, .38spl, .357mag, and .45acp under his guidance and mentorship. When loading a cartridge for the first time I normally start at a midrange load and work up to his pet load, or until I get the feel and accuracy I want.

Tomorrow we’re loading my first rifle rounds. I have 100 prepped .223 brass primed with CCI 400 primers. I have settled on Hornady 55gr fmj-bt, and Varget powder. The load data I see in my Hornady, Hodgdon, and Lyman books show a wide range, including compressed loads.

Hornady shows 22.8 - 26.4
Hodgdon shows 25.5 - 27.5 compressed
Lyman shows 25 - 27.8 compressed

I’m thinking of starting at 26gr, which is towards the high end of Hornady, and mid range for Hodgdon and Lyman.

Does anyone else use use a similar load? The rifle is a 16” barrel 1/7 twist AR.

I would go low and work up if u need to, personally I never load hot anyways

 

[greg vess]

If you are just loading for volume 21-23 gr. of H322. Start low and work your way up. Varget for precise accurate loads. Of course bullet weight and brand have its own data. There are plenty of sources out there for load data. Your barrel will tell you what it likes. My Wilson Combat barrels Love XBR 8208 for 6.8 loads. Benchmark works well to. Load up 20 rounds of each powder to have and test. It will be apparent what she likes. Then just concentrate on that one powder and load weight. Once you find the powder it likes mess with altering the throw to fine tune it. 28.50 of XBR 8208 is the ticket for 6.8spcll 110 Hornady V-MAX for one particular barrel. I might be giving up some speed but it's dead nuts on accuracy wise and that is what I am looking for in a target load. For a hunting load I can afford to give up a tiny bit of accuracy for speed/ impact energy. Of course the projectile is different and data is slightly altered. Each powder has it own pressures and they can vary drastically gr. wise. What I am saying is don't use the same weight for different powders. You probably know this but better to mention it just for safety concerns. Don't fault me for that please. Just trying to keep your hands and face the way they are. Your wife may like it the way it is. Maybe not! LOL

 

[User42]

Check out www.natoreloading.com

I don't recommend slow powders like Varget for 55 grain bullets. This is not good, and just acceptable. 55 grain bullets can easily take over 26.5 grains of Varget, as its super slow for that bullet. What you want is like
Benchmark, H335, N133, AR Comp, or AA2230. These are IDEAL for 55 grain bullets and are near perfect as it gets. All of these are going to like around 25 grains of powder.