Best Powders for the .223 Rem.?

[Rocky Raab]

Yup, H414/W760 (same powder) is WAY too slow for the 223. Even H380 is past the line.

H335 is a standard powder for the 223, but I don't use it for two reasons. I have "blown" only two cartridges in my entire 50+ years of reloading, and one of them was a below-maximum load of H335 in a 223. The gun was hot, and the first round from a fresh batch of reloads locked the bolt and blew debris out of the action. Had to beat the bolt open, then had to beat the fired case out of the bolt. Primer was completely gone, and there was now a BELT swaged into the brass. That takes an enormous amount of pressure, folks - likely over 80,000 psi.

I also discovered that H335 leaves an almost ceramic-hard fouling deep in the rifling grooves. You can NOT see it without a borescope, but it is in there. I got it all out, finally, and no other powder I tried left anything like it - except H-335.

Two strikes is all it took for me. No more H335 in use around here.

[dovehunter]

Rocky:

Wow, you sure burst my bubble on H-335. I guess I'll steer clear of it.

You did include Hodgdon's Benchmark among your recommendations and my loading manuals certainly do suggest it would be a good powder. Apparently a lot of folks are using Hodgdon's Varget for the .223. It would also appear to be a good powder. Between those two - Benchmark and Varget - which would you recommend? I would prefer not to have to buy a shopping cart full of different powders to try if I don't have to. Thanks!

[270man]

Dovehunter,

When I got my first bolt action 223, I used Hodgdon BLC2 almost exclusively since I had a large supply. When that ran out I picked up a big supply of Hodgdon H335 and have been using it ever since. Never had any pressure problems with it like Rocky mentioned. However, I will take a close look at my barrel to see if there is any unusual fouling there. Accuracy hasn't changed in many years, so any potential fouling isn't opening up my groups.

Other powders I've tried -- with comments:

H322 -- meters well but nothing special
H4198 -- doesn't meter well and performance inferior to H335
H4895 -- good performance but doesn't beat H335
Varget -- recommended by Hodgdon tech guy, but good loads filled cases too full and I spilled powder without very careful handling.

Like you, I don't like compressed loads unless they really deliver greatly improved performance (velocity and accuracy).

Remember that the above comments apply to my rifles only. What's best for them may not work for you.

270man