Reccomendations for "Must have" .223/.308 Loads

[Lavid2002]

Hey guys! Me and my buddy both have 400 bucks. Were going to combine em and spend 800 bucks on ammo, powder, and primers for the winter. I bought 1k .223 LC casings, and I have 300 .308 casings (I need more). I currently have some assorted .223 bullets, (I LOVED the V-max!) And some nosler wich shot GREAT! But in terms of powder...it all seems to be the same to me. Im using rem 7 1/2 Small rifle BR for .223 and Rem 9 1/2 large rifle for .308. Should I stick witht hese for my next order? Or does changing a primer make a huge dif. in accuracy?

Anyways....I have 800 bucks to blow and I know nothing. Ill be buying what sounds good basically. (Not really but some of it will be "testing the water") What MUST HAVE ingredients should I have for .223 or .308
Bullets?
Powders?
Thanks!
-Dave

P.S.....Oh for the record, these will be shot out of an AR15(.223) and a savage 12(.308 WIN)

[firewrench044]

What is barrel length and twist of rifleing ?

blasting and plinking or competion target ammo

[welder05]

I have a Savage 12 vsss. 223 Powder Varget... bullets Hornday molly coated 55gt. BT Primers cci small rifle. Use target and coyotes. this works well for me... but I have not tried very many combinations.

[firewrench044]

have sent you a message
could not get a response to take !?

[Edward429451]

Stick with the 7 1/2 primers,
Get some BLC-2 which works pretty darn good in both calibers and meters as well as or better than any other powder.

If you don't mind weighing powder charges for .223 try some IMR-4064 which has given me my best groups to date in my AR.

41.5 gr of 4064 behind a 168-180 is an old Olympic load and has purportedly won many matches. We took an elk with this load and a nosler 180.

[Loader9]

For loads that generally shoot good in almost every rifle you put them in I submit the following:

223- 55 gr Sierra #1390 HPBT- 25.0 grs AA2230
308- 125 gr TNT- 47.0 IMR 4064
308- 168 Hornaday HPBT- 43.6 grs IMR 4895

The 223 load works for deer to coyotes to rabbits if ya like over kill. The 308/ 125 gr load works fabulous for varmints. Deer at longer ranges but is explosive up to 200 yds. A lot of the deerhunters down here are loading the 125 TNTs in 300 Win Mags but the shots are 500yds +. The bullet performs better than you would think at those distances and will actually perform better than a heavier spitzer type bullet. But again, you can't shoot a deer close with it or expect hamburger when you find it. The 168 gr load is a Lyman accuracy load and has shot near one hole groups in 4 of the 308's I've tried it in. I use this load to gauge if a 308 rifle has the potential to be accurate- it's that good.

[CPTMurdoc30]

I am right now running AA XMR-2015 at 24.5gr under a 50gr V-max loaded .020" off the lands. In my Remington VLS is comes in at 1/2" or under. If you look at the Accurate powder PDF manual this is the MAX load. Mine clocks in at 3282 fps. This is below the max in my sierra manual. I also use Remington 7 1/2 or CCI BR-4 primers and Winchester cases. For LC I would start 10% lower and work up. I am waiting for the new RL-17 to hit the market so I can try it out. suposed to give you 200 to 300 fps more velocity over other powders.

Bullets I would get some
224 50gr V-max, 52gr HPBT, and 60gr SGK

308 110gr V-max, 155gr SMK Palma, and 168gr SMK and 175gr SMK.

I am still working on my 308 loads. Have not found one yet that will shoot the way I think it should shoot.

My two best are right at 9/16" 5 shot groups (Still too big).

168gr SMK
44 gr Varget
CCI BR-2
Remington cases
.020" off lands

This is a light load taken from sierras 150gr loads. There is currently no load data for the 135gr SMK.
135gr SMK
45.2gr Varget
CCI BR-2
Remington cases
.010" off lands

[Lavid2002]

Thanks! P.S. what did you say about a massage and couldnt get one something or other bro?

I have varget. Shot GREAT in .223, im shooting the .308 this weekend.

[RobFMJ]

My pet .223 load:

60 gr. Sierra JHP
25 gr. H335
CCI Small rifle (or CCI SR Benchrest) primers
COAL 2.260"

Powder meters about as good as it gets. Bullet shot great out of 1-12", -9", and -7" barrels. Load is decently fast, just shy of pressure signs in my AR15 (might want to drop a grain and work up in your rifle, but I've tried it in several AR's and it shoots like a house afire). Great for target shooting, varmints and small game, etc. Also makes a great load for reduced-range NRA Highpower service rifle matches.

Oh yeah, and youll love Varget in the .308. I bought that powder, threw together some .308 loads with 45.5 gr. varget under a 150 gr. Hornady SST and got a .5 MOA group out of my T/C Icon at 300 yards

[Lavid2002]

Sick bro, also...the benchrest shot good too! The IMR 4895 was alright, but messy : /

[butta9999]

.223

Win small primer

26gr BM2

60gr nosler partition

works great on game up to pigs.

Muzzle verlocity about 3300fps

This is a maxium load stated in my manual. Start 10% less and work up from there. Rifle is a sako with 24 inch barrel. No signs of high pressures in this firearm. I keep the bullet 15 thou off the lands. Average .75 MOA out to 200yds, 1-1.5 MOA at 300yds.

[enstorm]

for 12" twist and 55 gr bullet try varget 27.5 g crunch load (from my Lyman manual). I have had great accuracy with this load and the Combined Technologies bullet. Don't reload 308 but varget is in the manuals as a tested powder for that caliber too.

[JAYBIRD78]

Varget Powder

Hornady 68 grn HPBT Match ( 1 in 9 twist )

Winchester small rifle primers (what the gun shop stocks)

What ever cases I can scrounge from the range

Powder charge tuned to your rifle, I go in 1 grn increments and narrow down from there.

[MauiMontana]

69 gr. Sierra HPBT Moly
25.5 gr. Varget
Match brass
CCI 400 primers
bushmaster match rifle 24" 1:8 twist

my fav for 300-600yds in .223

[semi_problomatic]

For .308 I got good results with 168gr A-max over 42.2 gr viht-150, hornady match brass and CCI large rifle primers.

[Dave R]

Are you looking for best accuracy? Or low-cost, decent accuracy plinking load?

My plinking bullet is the 55 gr. "pulled" milsurp bullet from www.hi-techammo.com Shoots as well as any other budget bullet I have tried, and cost about $50 per '000. I shoot it with 25gr. of H335.

My varmit load is a 40gr. V-Max over 27gr. of H335. Very accurate.

[Wildalaska]

308. Lapua Brass, Fed 210M, 185 Scenar, 40gr RL15

WildthatsmycontributionfortodayAlaska ™©2002-2011

[frumious]

This thread is 2.5 years old. I think this guy has spent his and his buddy's money by now.

-cls