Home Forums Hunting & Shooting AR and Tactical Rifles Looking for a good load for 16 inch barreled AR 15. Powder ?

I love the performance of the 50 grain blitz king.
What can I expect for velocity?
And what powder works best in the shorter barrels ?
TIA

Barrel length doesn't matter for choosing a powder. I like H-335 for 50's and 55's

I like Ramshot X-Terminator or A2230.

8208 XBR, H4895.

However much your gun likes or can take with 50, 55, 60 grainers.

MM

Yes ^^^^ Add RL 10x and 3031 as well.

kwg

Trying to get it all burned in 16 inches.

H-335 has been my favorite with 50-55 grain bullets since I first started loading for AR's. Recently I've been switching over to CFE223 because I can get 100-150 fps more than with the H335. The CFE leaves less powder fouling and less copper fouling.

748 is temp sensitive in the heat, I"ve seen it blow mags out of guns... Isn't 335 the same powder?

FWIW the stable one at the time was Varget, and i believe I had enough mileage on TAC to think it aobut the same.

Not familiar with any of teh new ones.

2230 and 2520 AA stuff was ok, but a bit sensitive.

Mind you my location and having to deal with extreme, IMHO, heat...

I have heard H-335 is sensitive to heat, but for me 80F is a heatwave so results will vary with location.

For that weight bullet, Reloader 10x.

If it was a 7.5" barrel, you might have a point, but I think your concerns are unfounded in a 16" barrel.

X-Terminator is the top performer for 50gr bullets in both accuracy and velocity in every 223 I've loaded for. None of the stick powders come close to matching it, and more traditional powders like 748 and 335 are closer but still lag behind. I haven't tested CFE223 with light bullets enough to compare it well enough yet though; it may also be a top performer.

We don't get real temperature extremes here though, YMMV.

I've had good luck with TAC and CFE-223.

So many good powders for 50-somethings, but I'll mention 1 more - Benchmark.

A long time load for me that I got out of this book:

Black Magic: The Ultra Accurate AR-15.

is 25 grains of H335 and a 52 grain Sierra Match King. I have put a fairly decent amount of this load down range (in the many thousands) .

It seems to be the "one" load, that no matter the rifle, it just seems to shoot well. When someone brings an AR or bolt gun and says it is not accurate, that is the load I run first (and most often last).

Plus it is hell on coyotes. Many dozens of coyotes have met their demise with this load.

That said, Rost495 has a substantial amount of experience surrounding ARs, competition ,and related handloading, so he is a person who's advice I would pay attention to.

Cheers!

It also leaves black soot in the barrel and chamber, other than that it is a great powder.

[quote=Mackay_Sagebrush]A long time load for me that I got out of this book:

Black Magic: The Ultra Accurate AR-15.

is 25 grains of H335 and a 52 grain Sierra Match King. I have put a fairly decent amount of this load down range (in the many thousands) .

It seems to be the "one" load, that no matter the rifle, it just seems to shoot well. When someone brings an AR or bolt gun and says it is not accurate, that is the load I run first (and most often last).

Plus it is hell on coyotes. Many dozens of coyotes have met their demise with this load.

That said, Rost495 has a substantial amount of experience surrounding ARs, competition ,and related handloading, so he is a person who's advice I would pay attention to.

Cheers! [quote]
I have shot a couple of groups that measured under two inches at 400 yards using Benchmark and the 52 gr Serra match king.

I've burned a fair bit of H-335 in two bolt guns and four different AR's. 26.0 gr under 50 gr v-max, and 25.0 gr under several different 55's. It simply works. I haven't found any fouling to cause accuracy or function issues and typically clean the bore at 200-500 rounds out of habit than necessity.

+1 on Benchmark with 50 gr bullets

H335 and it meters very well.

It is dirty and whatever but still works great!

Thanks for all the input.
Definitely narrows down some things

Thank you but in regards to light bullets, I doubt I've shot 1000 of bullets under 68 grains over many years. Just don't have a use for light bullets.

My comment was strictly on temp sensitivity in hot conditions, FWIW kind of FYI thing to toss out there....

And up to 69 grain bullets in mine.

CFE-223. Works great

H 4895 is good too

62 grain Barnes

my 'bulk' ammo is 60 gr. NBT over H4895 in once fired LC brass.

335 is terrible in the heat...

My go to is Benchmark for 55gr and under, Varget for over 55gr.

Benchmark is the most accurate powder that I have used so far especially with the Sierra 52 gr match bullet.

25.5 gr. h335 55 gr pill this is my go to load. win. 748 is also a good power.

Not one mention of varget

Mentioned it earlier....

It would seem, as with all rifles, that the OP would be well advised to acquire a sample of all the powders we suggested (322,335,Varget, Benchmark, TAC, CFE-223, etc.) and try them to find out what works best in his rifle. Our pet powders/loads could well perform like crap in his gun. What we succeeded in doing was to provide what a newbie could do simply by looking at the columns in a loading manual. In the end, a man has to sit down at the loading bench and start experimenting. What the internet, in the form of access to a huge pool of experience, does is eliminates the stinky stuff and starts a guy in the right direction with known viable solutions. This allows one to avoid the pitfalls we old farts had to negotiate by the seat of our pants, but doesn't provide a recipe for instant success.

if any of my .223/.223AI/5.56mm won't shoot my 'bulk' ammo of 60 gr. NBT over H4895 in LC brass, I troubleshoot the gun, not fiddle with loads. RE 15 is also predictable.

granted, my twist rates start at 1:7" and end at 1:12"

while were on the subject of 16 inch loads. How fast can a person sling a 60 or 64 grain nosler or barnes tsx. I am talking about the 60 grain partition or 64 grain bonded solid base. Could a person get 3000 with some of the newer wonder powders like cfe 223 and power pro varmit?

My 62gr TSX load is running right about 3,000 fps (16" barrel) using AA2460. XTerminator, TAC, or CFE223 will get you there too.

I'm not sure about the nosler bullet, but am using the 65gr Sierra GK @ ~2900. Max loads are ~2960.

As another reference point, 62gr M855 does ~3,000 fps from mine.

My vote is for H-335. I tried Varget with less accuracy.

I suggest that you try H322 if you have any. I have a load that I really like with the 55gr Sierra SPT (#1360), which looks very similar to the 50gr Blitz you are using.

23.1gr H322, 55gr Sierra 1360 @ 2.216 OAL.

This is a mild load, but it cycles all of my ARs, and is accurate in all of them. Velocity in a 21inch barrel is 2850fps.