Favorite .223 load with 55gr bullet

schlaggerman

New member
What's your favorite load for the .223 with 55gr. spire point bullets. Please list powder, powder charge, and primer. If you have chrono numbers that would be great or any other pertinent info. Thanks
 
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I've tried many and for my rifle it's 25.6gr benchmark,speer 55gr sp,wsr primers,2900fps
 
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Originally Posted By: mulegunnerI like Varget with the .223 Remington. Using a Speer 55 grain soft point and Remington 7 1/2 small rifle primer.

Me too. 26 grains of it about right. Nice load and not a hot one at all. I usually use a CCI BR primer to light it off with.
 
Although I dont remember shooting the Spire Point as the OP asked, My Howa shoots the Hornady bulk soft points very well. Its a Howa Varmint 223 with a 1/12 twist. I was using 25.5 gr H335 with Fed 205M primers. " THIS was Safe in My rifle" basic rules of working up your own load should apply. Good luck.
 
Ben using .55gr vmax in front of 26gr Varget with a 7-1/2Remington primer. Works good with no problems in my RR AR Match rifle. Caution though, it makes a mess out of a prairie dog!
 
Originally Posted By: schlaggermanWhat's your favorite load for the .223 with 55gr. spire point bullets. Please list powder, powder charge, and primer. If you have chrono numbers that would be great or any other pertinent info. Thanks

From the way you word your question, it makes me think you are looking for a recipe to copy - kinda like the recipe for pound cake (a pound of flour, a pound of shortening, a pound of sugar, etc).

Loading doesn't work that way - my best load can (and probably will), be a dog in your rifle, but I'll point you in the right direction.

First off, for primers, use CCI BR-4s or 450s, or the Remington 7-1/2.

The reason being - that all the other primers, like the federal 205s and the CCI 400's have thinner cups and will show signs of pressure long before there are any issues of pressure.

Second, go here:

http://data.hodgdon.com/main_menu.asp

They have the best loading data you will find... and it's free, and documented by people that know what they are doing.

A load you get here can be from someone that just got their first Lee Junior reloading kit - and they think they're a "hot handloader".

The Hodgdon data is far better than anyone's "pet load" that you will get here.

And last, the three powders I would recommend are H-322, Benchmark, and 8208 XBR.

They are tiny grained and flow through a measure like ball powder, but are temperature stable and much cleaner burning than ball powder.

Now, go pick your poison, and work up "your best load".

There are no easy fixes to loading.


 
I see a lot of people using Benchmark so may give it a try. I've been using W748 ball powder with CCI 450 primers and it's OK, just looking for something different that might perform better. My Rem. 700 Compact Tactical seems to like it real well but my R-15 not as much. It looks like Hornady "Superformance" powder is availble through Cabelas. Anyone have any opinions on it? Hornady sure seems to get the most out of it.
 
55gr. Hornady V-Max
25.5gr. H-4895
CCI Benchrest Primer
Chrono Speed-3120fps
RRA PP 20" Barrel 1-8 Twist
.510" 5-Shot Groups at 100 Yards.
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Originally Posted By: CatShooter

First off, for primers, use CCI BR-4s or 450s, or the Remington 7-1/2.

The reason being - that all the other primers, like the federal 205s and the CCI 400's have thinner cups and will show signs of pressure long before there are any issues of pressure.

Second, go here:

http://data.hodgdon.com/main_menu.asp

They have the best loading data you will find... and it's free, and documented by people that know what they are doing.

A load you get here can be from someone that just got their first Lee Junior reloading kit - and they think they're a "hot handloader".

The Hodgdon data is far better than anyone's "pet load" that you will get here.



Well put and sound advice. I'll take it a step further: when I get the data on the Hodgdon site, I email it to myself, then paste it into an Excel sheet. I do this to make it easier to sort and select. I sort by bullet and then by max velocity. Usually a good powder to pick is one of the top velocity performers. With the 223 Remington I find that the load in the middle [(starting load grs.+ max load grs.)/2] usually works well.

I've had (and I'm sure others have as well) found several recipes that seem to work, but after several boxes I find that a fine tune is in order or something else happens that makes me abandon the load.

Mike Venturino recently wrote an article on handload recipes (Handloader # 282) that are good for him "in a multiple of rifles", and a lot of what he says makes sense. Another article that I've used is "Handloads that Work" by Barsness.

In closing, the comment on Small Rifle primers is sage stuff, I've experience smoked cases and primers that looked like high pressure with "Starting" loads of BL-C(2). On the other side of the woods, a 22 Hornet may need a small pistol primer for consistency.

The forums are good for finding out what others use, then you make your choices from there.

Yours truly did a blurb on the 350 Remington Magnum and CFE 223, as there will probably never be any published data for it. The 350 RM is mostly obsolete and very close to becoming forgotten. http://aussiehunter.org/calibres/350-remington-magnum/
 
Originally Posted By: WyoCoyoteHunterCCI-400
55 gr. Horn.
26 grains H4895
1-14 Twist
It shoots tighter than I can hold..

Yeah... but how tight can you hold
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I like H335. Little Dirty but so far I have no reason to change. Ar and Bolt gun like it.

Bullets, I havent shot a spire point. Both AR and my Bolt gun love my H335 and Rem 7/1/2 and 55 grain vmax combo. Sorry dont remember what charge I am running. Its a lighter one I did for the AR and for some reason my bolt gun likes them just as much.
 
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