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

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.