What would you say are the top 2 powders for 223

[Clark]

Blue Dot

Not only have I shot thousands, I have shot a thousand in a day.
The barrel stays cool.
But it is NOT for beginners. The case is not full, and the case fill must be checked.

Jim invented it:
http://www.jamescalhoon.com/tobee2.php

[aerod1]

H335 and Varget.

I agree with this.

[CrustyFN]

For me it's W748 and H335.

[80viking]

H335 and H335

[spencerhut]

H335 and Tac

[Jim243]

For all three that you have listed = H4895. Works very well with heavy for caliber bullets.

But to be honest it is going to depend on the bullet type, mfg, length and weight. Some will work best with one powder some with another.

All recommendation listed here are good ones.

You need to check your reloading manual and see what powder is listed for the weight bullets in each caliber you are looking at. You will see a pattern develop based on the weight of the bullet. Then chose the powder most often listed in your manual for what you want to do.

But here comes that honesty again, there is no one powder that is going to work BEST for all applications or bullets, you will need to just try a few to see what works best in your guns.

Jim

[Lavid2002]

uncle nick....pretty interesting stuff : ) I never knew that. Dont beleive everything you hear! Ill be bringing that up with my RO

[riverwalker76]

Benchmark is an excellent all around powder. If you can't find it ... buy Varget.

[Lavid2002]

David<----Is glad he bought 8 lb. of varget for 110 when he could

[Unclenick]

Lavid2002,

Yeah, the origins of stuff can sometimes get gray. The other giveaway in this instance is that the cartridge was developed for the U.S. military interests with a lot of government input. Accurate powders are imported from Israel. It is good stuff, as a lot of foreign origin powders are, but doctrine at the time (and I would think, today) would not allow a military cartridge to be developed that relied on powder whose origin wasn't domestic. There is too much chance of shipping being compromised in a big war. I doubt Israel would allow that kind of supply chain dependency for their ammo, either?

[farmerboy]

Varget, Varget and Varget.

[Mike38]

I use 23.0 grains of IMR3031 for 40 & 55 grain bullets.

[Bud Helms]

H335 and W748

[sway]

imr 4895 for my 69 grain, imr 3031 for 55 grain.

[ForneyRider]

Benchmark for little bullets, R15 or Varget for big bullets.

If I had to pick one powder for all bullets in .223: AA2230 or W748.

Who here can get competitive velocities with bullets 55gr and under with IMR Powders?

[Linear Thinker]

AA2230 for 55gr bullets, Vihta N140 for 69gr. Sierra MKs.
Tried many others, these 2 are my favorites.
LT

[Bamashooter]

I use imr-4895 for 223, 243, and 30-06. Gets the job done very well with each. One of the reasons is i wanted one powder for all my loading. Ive had to be careful in bullet choice but its no big deal.

[riverwalker76]

Accurate 2230 or Accurate 2520.


A2230 was designed for the 223, and works great in .308

A2520 is Western Powder's "Camp Perry" powder. I know of a lot of guys that use A2520 at the NRA National Championship shoots for .308

Both are exceptional ball powders and work best with either Small Rifle Mag primers in .223 or Large Rifle Benchrest or Match Primers in .308.

[Mausermolt]

24.5 grns of imr 4895. shoots 1/2'' groups out of my bushmaster with 55 grn Nosler Ballistic tips. i was very impressed with the load out of an AR!

[Dirk00001]

Riverwalker - what bullets are you using with AA2230 for your .308? I like messing around with new loads for my M1A, so if you could post (or PM/email me directly) some of your loads I'd appreciate it. From the sound of it, I haven't experimented with that particular powder as much as I should.

[Michael Wilson]

Thanks everyone I got a lot of recomendations. I had this question on a couple of other sites and Varget had the most recomendations with H 335 a very close second and tac was a distance third.