H4895 and the .223 bolt action

swift one

swift one

New member
I see alot of powders that are loved an adored by reloaders for the 223. I rarley see talk of H4895 though. It has been my experience that this powder is outstanding in 55gr -60gr bullets in bolt actions and break open breaches. Has anyone had experience in using H4895 with the 233?
 
It's all I use in my 788. Been using it for going on 20 years now and have never felt the need to change. Behind the 52gr hp or anything 55gr it can't be beat.
 
OK, so I am not the odd ball out......lol. Its the only extreme powder that I could get a load to work in my Handi 223. I am reloading for a friend's 700 SPS Varmint and its pushing 55gr Blitzkings into honest to god .25" groups at 100yds. I am currently working up loads in my savage axis 223 and all the loads that I have tried so far with 60 Sierra HPs have been in the .6s. I freaking love H4895 in a 223.
 
I've been using H4895 and a 50 grain MidSouth Varmint Extreme bullet out of my CZ527 in .223. Well under an inch and chrono'd at 3400fps. I'm finding it to be a very universal powder for most of the .223 based cartridges. I have yet to try it in my .17 Remington, but I hear it works great. It's all I use out of both my .204's with bullets from 35 to 40 grains. About 5 years ago my huntin' buddy and I got the screemin' deal of the century on 5 each 8 pound kegs of H4895 at a local auction. $150.00 for all of it! I traded off 1 of the 8's for an 8 pound keg of H380. I think we're set for a while!!
 
I've used H-4895 and IMR-4895 in .223 with 55 grain Noslers for years. My pet load is a near maxium charge of either powder. It works in .222 as well.
 
A while back I got tired of looking at a dozen different powders on my bench, some for calibers I don't shoot often. So I checked amongst my common calibers looking for 1 powder and came up with h4895 working for quite a few, including the .223. I put together some max loads which are overflowing often, but kept losing varying amounts as the brass bounced in my press(turret) so consistency wasn't great. So I dropped a grain below max and it loads very well now and shoots well enough to make me happy.

I'm also using it in 25-06, 30-06, 7.62x39 and a few others. I've got all kinds of powder, usually 1 for each caliber that gave the highest max speed that I will likely never use. And I go to the shows, I have to find 1 powder instead of 5.

Simplicity, makes life good.
 
25.0grs H4895 and something that weighs 55grs is all I load in my .223 bolt gun. Accuracy is always under 1" with Vmax, Sierras and the NBT.


I am going to try it with the 53gr TSX as well for my nephew to deer hunt with this year.


I also load H4895 in my .243 Winchester with 70gr BK's, my .358 Winchester with 200's and my 45/70 with 350's.
 
If I could have only one rifle powder on my shelf, I think it probably would be H4895. It'll work for just about everything. But, I think I'll stick with Benchmark for 50-grainers in .223 Rem...at least for now.
 
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