Home Forums Reloading Varmint Rifles Hornady .224 50 grain Z-MAX in a Kimber .223 Montana

Had an opportunity to acquire several boxes priced right. Need to determine what powder to go with, I am leaning towards H335 'cause I have it on hand. Anybody running this combo?

Its just a 50 grain V Max with a Lime Green tip instead of Red...

as I understand they are actually what are factory seconds of the V Max before the Polymer tip is put on them.. but someone who was on the ball in the marketing dept, figured why sell them as seconds when we can just put the lime green tip on them and sell them at full price...

Personally I call them D Maxes instead....

Democrat Maxes...but hey NO ONE is going to be shooting any Zombies... so what make them think anyone is going to be shooting democrats any time soon...

Well that answer was not useful or to the point.

H335 is always a classic powder with 50's in the .223. In fact, in the 1990's it was pretty much the universal choice. Guys would ask, "How much you using?" and it was understood they were talking about 335.

I would guess your powder isn't more than 20 years old? That's about when Hodgdon ran out of the original mil-surp powder and started having H335 produced for them. The earlier powder was a little slower, and many shooters used up to 28 grains. Today Hodgdon's listed maximum is 26.0 grains, which normally shoots very well.

Regardless.. as I have said a zillion times before, it is harder to find a powder than won't work well in a 223, than it is to find one that is better than all the rest... and I imagine a Montana has one hell of an accurate barrel as it stands..

JB gave a good universal answer, H 335.. I don't care for it because I have had several times there has been some temp insensitivity issues with it...

Lately I have been loading for a young man who just graduated high school, got his Eagle Scout Rank, and is watiing to ship out in January for his Navy Basic Training at Great Lakes.. We got him a Ruger American in 223, and per JBs recommendation, we have been loading 25 grains of TAC in it.. and he's been nailing little varmints on their farm out to 350 yds with it...

I've been running 25 grains of H 322 in my Predator American in 223 myself...with the full power loads...its also been a TAC driver....

but anything with a burn rate of RL 15 or faster is going to be a tack driver if the rifle is up to it...

That answer suit ya a little better? Glad to hear it..

H-335 isn't a bad choice, 322 isn't a bad choice either. Also Varget, AA2015, AA LT-32, and a host of others, but Benchmark is your huckleberry.

24.6 grains of Benchmark,,,,Things be happening.....

26.0 grains of IMR 4985

Typical Campfire thread: Somebody asks specifically about a certain powder/rifle/scope/bullet/beer/dog/burrito and a bunch of people post, "Anything but that!"

Well, I'll add another. Since Ramshot TAC appeared around a dozen years ago, I've found around 26 grains of Ramshot TAC to shoot great in at least that many .223's with 50-grain bullets. A couple of years ago found out it was also the "test load" of a major bullet company, to see whether their current batch of 50-grainers was shooting up to snuff.

As Seafire noted, a bunch of powders shoot great in the .223, anything in the basic 4895 burn-rate range is likely to shoot varmint-accurate groups.

Yes. The 50gr Z/V Max and 335 goes together like Sunday and hangovers.

Z-Maxes are not seconds...

If this combo does not shoot well I'd look at the gun before the load.



Travis

The OP knew his choice of powder before he even created this thread, at least let us have some fun meanwhile..

Well mine are seconds...

Rauncho must have some pull at Hornady and they just send me factory seconds...

Damn it!!!

Well a person asks a question, he gets an answer. May not be what he specifically asked but its an opinion by someone else. So to keep this from going further South.

Yes I have run that combo. Very accurately too, but Benchmark gives better performance, accuracy, and is a lot more temp stable than 335. But if I want to foul my rifle I use 335 as its dirty.

Are they marked as 2nds?



Travis

Swifty,

That's pretty much how I've felt about H335 ever since Benchmark and TAC appeared, but a lot of people keep using 335.

I slightly prefer TAC to Benchmark because it meters better, due to being a ball powder, and contains a de-coppering agent. Though those advantages are most obvious in the .17 Fireball and .204 Ruger, which I happen to prefer over the .223 for most varminting.

Have also burned enough CFE223, 8208, IMR4895, X-Terminator, AR-Comp, H322, H4198, LT-32, A2015, A2200, A5744, Varmint, RL-10X, RL-15, Varget and IMR4320 in various .223's to know that (as Seafire noted) a whole pile of powders will work. It's not a picky cartridge.

But back in the day I also used plenty of H335, enough to know it will work despite the disadvantages. No doubt it's the main reason some older prairie dog shooters still stop and scrub out their barrels every 50 rounds or so, no matter what powder they use. If somebody has a pile of H335 they might as well use it up, though they might want to stock up on powder solvent before starting.

Gents,
Thanks for the information...

If you have 335, use and enjoy.
If you have TAC, after "experiences" with 335, use and enjoy TAC a bit more. The loads I've worked up with other people's TAC in THEIR guns turned out great, but I haven't been able to find my own darn jug of the stuff.
If you have H-4895, which I do, same deal...

I started loading for a .223 when the big shortage was in full swing. I wanted to try TAC but couldn't find any locally, but found lots of IMR 8208 XBR on the shelves. No one else seemed to want it . It works great for me with 50s and 40s; meters quite well, burns clean, and shoots good groups. I still want to try TAC, but darn I've now got a lot of 8208 to burn.

Local shop had received a supply of Hodgon powders several weeks ago so I had grabbed a pound of 335 as insurance. No Ramshot powders on hand. My first .223 loads late last year were built with another bullet (64gr Nosler) and Varget. When I found the bulk boxes of Z-Maxes I new there was probably a better powder choice than the Varget for that lighter weight Z-Max. After reading the comments about 335 I'm glad I stocked up on Wipeout... Will keep my eye open for TAC..

+1..........I use 'H' though

or Benchmark.........or.......223 is easy to load

or IMR8208.............

No shortage of good options!