40 gr 223 loads

S

shelton573

Active member
What kind of 40 gr loads are you all shooting out of your 223s? I was going to try a 40 gr load in my 22-250 (still might) but the bergers ended up shooting so good I called it quits. My last failed attempt with heavy bullets (75 amax) made me decide to go light and fast. I'm thinking sierra hollow point or nosler b-tip. What powders are you using and at what speeds? I will likely try to stick to benchmark but open to suggestions. Thanks!

Shelton
 
Hi shelton573. I've been shooting 40gr. V-max w-27gr of h-335, @3,840,1-9 twist,23" barrel .223 cal 3- shot groups under 1" @100yds. Now that is a great load for me, its one load under the hottest in my hornady book, I've had no evidence of case pressure in my rem. brass and those are on there 5th cycle through the reloader, I don't know about the nossler or benchmark powder, but I do know my v-max load is deadly, it will Pierce 1\4" plate steel, yes really, at 100yds, splash wounds are a mythe or misinformation with the 40gr. v-max. the exit wound on a coyote isn't pretty if you're a fur lover. anyway, I hope that helps, it works 4me, I'm just a redneck trying to protect my livestock, p.s. I do have pics of the 1\4" steel silhouette carnage with that bullet. Thanks
 
Thanks for all the info guys! Made a late afternoon run to Scheels to snag some bbq rub and went ahead and grabbed a box of sierra 40 gr hollow points. My buddy has thousands upon thousands of of vmax I can try also from his p-doggin days. I think tomorrow I will put them over some benchmark and start working up a load. By the way, powder is becoming extremely available at scheels. They even had benchmark and varget so I went ahead and picked up another pound of varget for the 22-250 and 270.

Shelton
 
Not sure of the velocity but I am loading 26.3 grains of benchmark with the 40 grain z max with oal of 2.275 in my savage. Out of my 5 different 223 set ups it is still my favorite most consistent load
 
Amazing how some people shoot a .223 with 40's slower than they'd be going in .221. Go figure. The .223 will send 40's cooking right along, 3900-4000fps isn't unrealistic.

Accuracy load in my 20" gun is at 3895 with a 40VMax and VV133 powder......very snug chamber w. .250nk and zero freebore.

A 26.5" barrel and AA2015 powder, accuracy load with 40BT is a little over 4000. Minimum SAAMI chamber, which is to say not sloppy but not real tight.

Both are 14" twist.....IMI brass, 7-1/2primer, bullet seated .005-.010" off the lands.
 
Originally Posted By: ackleymanHot load of N133 with the 40g Nosler will shock you with the speed and accuracy, use a thick cup primer.

Yes.
 
Thanks for the replies! I did 6 rounds of each loaded at 25, 25.3 and 25.6. Couldn't get any charge to shoot under about 1.5". I think I screwed up though because my rifle had a bit of surface rust from sitting so I cleaned it and cleaned the inside of the barrel real good then remembered it shoots best pretty dang dirty so that don't help things...neither does me being the one shooting hah. I'll keep working at it, maybe she will shoot best once I start getting towards max load. Thanks again!

Shelton
 
So far, all of mine have liked mid range and near max. The load I have worked up for it with the 53s is mid range and ran out of time last year before I went home for Christmas/coyote hunt to push it up to max so I loaded a bunch of them up and headed home. They were shooting .5-.75" but were pretty slow.

Shelton
 
I am shooting Nosler 40g ballistic tips over Benchmark. The Nosler manual calls 28 grains max, my rifle, 527 CZ Varmint, got the accuracy at 27.6. Every rifle can be a little different so start around 27 grains and work up by two tenth grain increments, you will find your accuracy in there somewhere. I load to book COL.
 
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