Home Forums Reloading Varmint Rifles 53 gr TSX in .223 Rem

Anyone have a recipie for this bullet? I am shooting a 1:12 twist NEF single shot with 22" barrel. I tried 6 loads from 22.5-25 grains of H335 and wasnt really pleased with the velocity or the groups. Not sure how far to go with the loads, all the books vary so much, I stopped on the conservative side with absolutely no signes of pressure that I could detect. Easy ejection and primers look fine. Thoughts?

I'd push it until I found pressure and back off a little. I've been pretty successful finding pressure and jumping the Barnes bullets. H335 will give you the speed and you can count on that.

H335 is antiquated stuff. If that's all you have, go for it. But it's dirty burning and temp sensitive. It worked fine when the choices available were limited, but far better powders exist today.

H335 seems especially popular on the Fire for use in the 223/223 AI for a couple big reasons. Steve Timm liked it in the 223 AI, and is a very influential poster here. Much of his work was done in the era before the better powders were available, and I suspect if he were to revisit the subject he would find the new powders better suited.

Another big reason H335 still sees a lot of play here is Big Stick. He makes a lot of noise about it, and I suppose H335 does work well in his locale, which sees very minimal temperature variations throughout the year (something like 34 degrees between average summer highs and average winter lows). In areas with wider temp swings (the same site where I found the Craig data shows around 81 degrees difference at my locale), changes in velocity and thus zero are likely to occur between the seasons. Lots of folks listen to Stick, take his word as gospel, and repeat it without really trying anything themselves.

Benchmark, Tac, and IMR 4166 are some of the best powders I've tried with 50-55 grain bullets in the 223 which showed good velocity with accuracy. In addition, Tac and 4166 have de-coppering agents.

Also, H335 smells weird when it goes off.

I will load myself out of H335 and try some of the newer stuff. I had to start somewhere with the gun and it seems to work well with the 60 noslers for speed. Thanks guys, I appreciate the input. My range sessions are few between and a 2 hour drive kind of sucks, so I try to get it right or close to it to begin with.

Go for it. Don't get me wrong, H335 works fine. But it's kind of like how a Winchester 94 30-30 works fine. It's just that there are better performing choices out there.

i appreciate the input.

whats your thoughts on RL15 for the 53 Gr? I have a pile of it. Looks like my books show it for the heavier bullets. I also have an AR I will be loading for sooner or later and that has 1:7 twist so the heavies will come out then.

I personally like RE-15 a lot, especially with heavy bullets. You will have a compressed load with 53s before you get velocity, but it works great.

TAC gave me about 3000 with the 53 grain TSX and killed fine.

BLC-2 gave me 3300 and killed better.

Start with BLC-2 as a trial.

Tac or X-Terminator. No question Tac's good but I've gotten a little better accuracy in two different 1-12 twist 223s with bullets under 55 gr using X-Terminator. They're both from the same company with comparable velocity in that range 223 bullet weight. They meter smooth and burn clean. I'd say either will do a good job for you.

I usually keep a pound or two of 335 around simply because it will work, best results were at max. Problem was that on a very hot day it could get a little surprising so it's now only used during spring and fall when the temps are mild.
I get the best velocity/accuracy in the 50-55 range using Benchmark 3300 to 3500 out of a 24 inch tube. 8208 XBR also gave good results, but found it worked better with a hotter primer to get the velocity.

For pure accuracy I have gone to LT 32. Velocity is a little lacking, but consistency and accuracy are superb. 52's only clock 3150.

PG I agree 335 does smell funky and is also extremely dirty burning

What is the full name of BLC-2 and who makes it. I'll grab that and Tac and X-terminator.

Swifty - Count me in as a huge fan of Benchmark with the lighter bullets. It's been my go-to with 40s especially. Good stuff.

I always thought H335 smelled like something that came out of a sick old woman.

Miles,

I don't know how you managed to get only 3000 fps with the 53 TSX and TAC. I've loaded TAC with 50-55 grain bullets in a BUNCH of .223's and the lowest velocity I've seen with Ramshot data is about 3150 with the 50-grain Ballistic Tip--in my 16" barreled Bushmaster AR-15.

In normal-length barrels TAC normally gets 3300+ with 50-53 grain bullets. In a 26" 700 it gets over 3400. Maybe you just have a special lot of powder?

salmonhead,

BLC2 is a Hodgdon powder, and is basically a slightly different burning rate of H355, with the some temp-sensitivity and fouling problems.

Listen to prairie goat. TAC and Benchmark are superior for what you want to accomplish.

OK. Thanks.

IIRC, it's short for "Ball C Lot #2," and before that there was "Ball C."

My 1-10" Tikka T3 loves Benchmark.

I can't speak to the TSX but 26.5 grains with a 50 grain Ballistic Tip gives me 3400 ft/sec and outstanding accuracy.


P

20 inch LTR barrel that liked them jammed into the lands. 3000 FPS wasn't a max load even then, but it just went together and shot good so I used it.

I probably could have gotten more out of it and kept accuracy too had I backed off and matched dimensions to the BLC-2 loads, but it just fell together and shot so nice I left it because it would do everything I needed it to.

From prior work with BLC-2 I already knew TAC wasn't going to get close to that powder's capability. I was more interested in looking at deer killed with 53 grain TSXs. I already was 95% certain of what I would see and simply hedged the bet that 300 FPS wasn't going produce a noticeable difference near 3000 FPS. Some day I'll revisit that and slide the range down to where 300 FPS does produce a difference just to see where that occurs.

Edited to add:
Out of curiosity I went back and reviewed the load notes. The TAC load is is not far above a minimum load with plenty of overhead available. The BL-C2 loads are pushed harder for specific rifles. With a 53 grain TSX I don't think safe max loads would come out much different.

Been looking at the Hodgdon sight and they have the CFE 223 powder listed that seems to get great velocity compared to most everything else. Anyone use this stuff? Still on the hunt for TAC and Benchmark, but have not found any yet.