Testing Reduced 223 Loads - Alliant 2400

muskrat30

muskrat30

New member

I had the thought of some "22 Hornet" loads for the 223. My goal was slower & quieter, shorter range pest control. After looking through options I had some Alliant 2400 on the shelf not being used. The burn rate is listed very close to 'Blue Dot' on most tables.

There is information/data on the net with some of the slower pistol powders, Blue Dot, 4227 & others. I like the fact that Alliant put data for 2400 with the 223 in their 2005 reloading pamphlet. They used 2400 but did not include any loads with Blue Dot.

I was looking for 2500 FPS or so. I had loaded up several charges but decided to just stick with my original charge of 12.0 grains. Due to limited testing opportunities at home I did not check accuracy. Just looking to be workable at 50 yrds or so. The 'book max' is up near 14.9 grains.

This 12.0 grn charge of Alliant 2400 gave a chrony average of 2670 FPS, 40 grn V-Max & 22" Browning A-Bolt. That's right smack in the center of 22 Hornet averages. I'd say the noise was near that of a 22 mag with zero recoil.

This isn't the powder to try to get high speeds. The smaller charge only fills about half the case. An over charge could ruin your day. Just thought I'd throw the info out for anyone interested.
 
I use 2400 in my reduced loads in the 223 also.

I use 800x in my reduced loads in my 25-204 and 5.6x50R. Loads for Blue Dot and 800x can be found on the James Calhoun site.

http://www.jamescalhoon.com/

Go to "Informative Article" on the left of the page. The article your looking for is "To Bee or not To Bee"
 
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