Powder for 55gr and 77gr bullets

[ar15rick]

I have used varget, H4895, and R-15 for all my 223. I have loaded from 62gr - 80gr with all those powders. I have had success with all these powders for competition.

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[biglou13]

I'm following this thread closely..

Waiting for the man in brown to drop off 55 and 75 pills

I like the voodoo stuff

I just started shooting a white oak bbl 1/7. Ar/ mforgery When I first built it. Factory 55. Look like shot gun. 77 A max was 8 inch MOA at best. 75 SMK still horrible from tripod, bench rest, The 2 later over RE15. I tried different weight factory loads that I could find from. 55- 75 nothing worked.

I moth balled this build For years..... Recently had shop / LGS look at it, he shot it. No problems. No work done to it. I shot it @ indoor 20yards. One hole groups!?!? Same loaded SMK ammo from years ago. Haven't tested a greater distance yet.

Nothing seems to add up.... vooDoo....

Personally I'm chalking it up to barrel needing more break in......

I'm now having a blast with her. And have started second build.

Well back to OP. What kind of shooting you expecting to do. f class, 1000 yard, 3 gun, cqb.

I'd love to keep near or better 1 MOA. At distance. With. Heavies (75 gr) and re15. ( former .precsion .308 shooter).

For closer stuf As long as I'm dropping steel or A zone hits with .55s. I'm happy.

But like above posts. I've read the same where some use same powder for both 55 and 75. And have stellar results. And some don't.

I'm interested to see more options on this.

I'll add my 55 grain opinion when they get here ( hoping I got that lucky barrel)

[wstrickl]

Everyone I've talked to likes varget and h335

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[bushmeat]

I'm looking to just load one powder for my 55gr blasting ammo and 77gr ammo.

Anyone load just 1 powder for both weights and are happy with the results or do i have to get 2 different powders?

My barrels will be

11.5, 14.5, and 18inches long if that makes a difference?

For my 18" barrel, I have an accuracy load of AA2460 with 77 SMKs or Nosler CCs. I load the same powder charge for 55s and get good performance out to 200. However, it does get a little sooty.

Because you also have shorter barrels, you could standardize with 69 SMKs (instead of the 77s) and 55s for all 3 guns and use the faster Win 748. The latter powder straddles the 55 and 69 weights very well.

[TRDFurgesson]

My BCM 14.5" and 16" BFH barrels like 77gr with 8208. The 16" also likes Wideners "HQ" 55gr Milspec with 8208. all sub loads.

[dauntedfuture]

biglou,

I would not take any information from a 20 yd group other then rifle function, check bullet stability and measure velocity. That is all. If you cant get ammo from factory 55's to 75's to shoot then get a new barrel. I am sure that you are not attempting to seat hornady 75 AMAX (they are 75 and not 77s) to magazine length, if you are then thats part of the problem. Fact of the matter is that there are bad barrels out there or good barrels with bad chamber jobs. Have someone check with a bore scope and gove the rifle a good once over as well as checking the scope mount and paralax, but..., if it will not shoot, take the barrel off. The barrel is about 90+% of making an AR shoot well as opposed to 60-70% or so in a bolt gun.

I really like TAC and a combination of 77's (SMK or TMK) and Hornady 55's for 3 gun. i load them all with the same load of TAC. Primers dont really matter. they shoot same POI/POA at 200 yds. As far as accuracy is concerend, 2" at 200 yds for 10 shots is what im looking for and is realistic with a 6x scope. Keep in mind that not all 55's are made the same and Hornady are about as good a 55 as they come.

Powder can make a big difference even if you are pushing the same bullets at the same velocity out of the same case with the same primer; some just work better. I have tried all manners of powder for my NRA HP loads and i still shoot RL15 at 600.

[NateTSU]

I have had good results with varget for 52-75 grain bullets out of a 26" bolt gun, benchmark and XBR have both worked well for 55's out of my 18" nordic AR. I agree with the previous post you are going to have to expierament with charge seating depth. Also if you keep reusing the same brass you should think about annealing your brass, and possibly even weight sorting your brass. All depends on how accurate you want to be.

[Dannybot]

Not to actually answer the original question, but I have found that Independence M193 ammo from my 10.5" Rainier match barrel gets me 2900 fps and MOA accuracy. That is hot enough to shoot out past 350 yards without too much drop from the SBR. I'm kind of old and slow, and the long shots follow a pistol on a Texas star and some shotgun usually.

With that performance, and the affordability on the M193, it's difficult to beat that economy for me.

[dauntedfuture]

reference light vs heavy bullets in the .223/5.56: There are many different varities of .224 bullets out there. Construction of the jacket has almost as much to do with will they shoot well or explode from excessive rpms on the way to the target. Unique to the .224 is that many of the lighter weight bullets are designed for varmint hunting and in varmint rifles that were around before there was such a thing as a fast twist .223/5.56 rifle. Twist rates of 1/9 or 1/7 in .223 were uncommon in any factory rifles other than COLT AR-15's in the 1990's as the Colt guns had 1/7 at a time when many others had 1/9 barrels. A 1/9 or 1/9 is simply not required in a .223, .22-250 or .220 when shooting varmint bullets at varmints. Faster twist barrels also wear out faster and exaservate any bullet jacket issues. Benchrest shooting has also proven that there is an optimal twist rate. Getting back to the point: a 52 Sierra BTHP will almost always stay together in a 20" 1/7 barrel where as a 55g SXSP will almost never stay together. Moral of the story is that there is more to it then bullet weight. When looking at the .308 bullet line up, almost none of the bullets were designed for varmint shooting and as a result have thicker jackets. Also consider that factory .308 rifles are 1/10 or 1/12 twist barrels. "light" .308 is not the same as light .224. My advice is that you dont shoot light weight, thin jacketed bullets in a fast twist rifle. Some work and some dont. If you must shoot a light bullet, stick with Nosler BT's or BTHP bullets from sierra or Hornady.

It was/is very common in "the old days" to simply substitute a 52g BTHP in place of a 69-77 BTHP bullet for short range NRA HP matches or pull 55g M193 and replace with 52g BTHPs.

[sschultz]

If I had to use just one powder it would be CFE 223. CFE seems to like being loaded to higher velocities.

[MrRick]

If I had to use just one powder it would be CFE 223. CFE seems to like being loaded to higher velocities.

I agree having great luck with CFE 223 and Hornady 55r SP out of all my rifles (2 ARs and a Rem 700). It is also very cleaned. I have put about 300 rds of it through my Armalite 18" rifle and have yet to find the need to clean it, it doesn't even look dirty. My comp was fouled with rusty coper (green stuff) from my previous rifle. CFE cleaned it right up.

[olp73]

VV N140 for everything.