Components of Factory Hornady Black .223 75gr.

I

igor

New member
First I plan to work up to it cause it appears to be a moderately heavy load. I wonder how one would find out what powder they use.I plan to use Lapua brass and the projectile is probably the Hornady 75gr. I ordered from Midway and hopefully it is a powder I have on hand. Any thoughts appreciated because I would like to duplicate it being that it works so well in 2 of my rifles.
 
i dunno what powder they're using, however i'm using cci 400's, FC brass, and a max book charge of cfe 223 is giving me 2751 Fps avg, SD 9.1. in my 20" WOA, 1:7, heavy varmint with rifle gas, no pressure signs and sub moa.

my barrel is even happier with them at 2550 fps (i can go sub ½ moa if the fool behind the trigger does his job) and we like to dust charcoal briquette's at 180-200 yds with that load.

im gonna try a fresh ladder with rem 7½'s this coming spring to see if it makes any difference in velocity or accuracy.
 
If you are referring to the Hornady Black line of ammo the 75gr bullet they use is a soft point meant for short barrel rifles and such.

What bullets did you order? The Hornady 2279?

https://www.hornady.com/ammunition/rifle/5.56-nato-75-gr-interlock-hd-sbr-black#!/
 
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Actually the .223 Hornady Black that I bought "from Academy" is a hollow point. And yes the hornady projectile I ordered from Midway is #2279. I have purchased a 75 grain Hornady softpoint from Academy that was a softpoint and was actually what I wanted "because it also shot great" but they haven't had that softpoint in stock here for 6 months.
 
It's very likely Hornady doesn't use any powder available to the general public. It could be a proprietary blend of powders. It could be A2200. Who knows. I'd be dubious of any claims stating it's "such and such powder". I imagine they protect their recipes like Coca-Cola or Braum's Dairy.
 
Wormy: I didn't figure they would give out that info either but SURPRISE SURPRISE SURPRISE after reading your post I gave them a call and reached a nice guy named Bob and he started saying that stuff about proprietary powder and then said but let me look and you could sense he was scanning a computer and in just a few seconds comes back on and says Oh that ones easy its VARGET. He wouldn't tell me how many grains they use and gave me the speil about working it up which I appreciated. Should have called them first instead of bothering you guys. Thanks
 
Igor, have you tried Mike over at Orr's reloading? Also try the old guy in Canyon, they say he is grumpy but we do fine and he has a lot of stuff in that little shop.
 
Thanks 715 and yes Mike at Orrs and Audrey and Kim at AK shooters supply are both suppliers for me. Sadly Mike closed the doors permanently last month. Are you entering the tournament on the 26th?
 
Igor, if it’s Varget. Go to Hodgdon rifle reloading data center and look up the load that matches the speed on the box of factory loads. Looks like it would be about a grain under max to me. Have you shot any coyotes with this load yet? Just curious if it expanded and hammered them or just penciled through. Thanks.
 
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McGraw I used to shoot coyotes with the soft point version and it did a very good job for me. Just got started loading the hollow points and probably wont get a kill till later this month when we have a tournament. But I did go to the range yesterday and shot some more of the factory Black and I have to say I get amazingly tight groups with it. Will get to the range Monday and have some results from the handloads.
 
Originally Posted By: igorWormy: I didn't figure they would give out that info either but SURPRISE SURPRISE SURPRISE after reading your post I gave them a call and reached a nice guy named Bob and he started saying that stuff about proprietary powder and then said but let me look and you could sense he was scanning a computer and in just a few seconds comes back on and says Oh that ones easy its VARGET. He wouldn't tell me how many grains they use and gave me the speil about working it up which I appreciated. Should have called them first instead of bothering you guys. Thanks

i just pulled one apart and compared it to varget - holy moses it sure as heck looks like it!

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and this comes in at just under a max charge for the 5.56 nato data in hornady's 9th for the same bullet.

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Range Report. Preliminary results were pretty decent with my handloads but not as good as the Factory Black 75 grainers. Some 3/4 moa groups with handloads but the Factory was getting some 1/2 moa groups. I only shot 40 rounds and was using 2 different guns and one of the guns has a thermal scope on it and I never get quiet as good of groups with the thermal. Both rifles had fresh clean barrels but one of the best groups was a 5 shot group I consider a fouling group. I used Rem. 7.5 primers, new Lapua brass that I'm not real happy with. Some of the cases were tight in my case holder. I have enough of the Factory Black cases to reload a batch now and will see what they do. Best brass I've used lately is Norma and will try a batch with Norma also. I really am very pleased with all these efforts because I'm shooting these groups with two 16 inch barreled RRAs one of which I hope to soon make my go to coyote gun.
Worst group was with what Lyman says is minimum at 23.1gr. and most consistent was 24.6 gr. but got one fine group with 25.0gr.
 
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