Home Forums Hunting & Shooting AR and Tactical Rifles 223/556 loads using LeverEvolution Powder

I might have said that....

And, I may be wrong about how close they are.

They ARE right next to each other on the burn rate chart.

I'm saying I got better velocity with Lever.

I'm burning up my last keg of TAC that I had and will revisit Lever again before I resupply. I actually like TAC but may switch to lever, velocity is only one factor I look at. CFE223 just didn't do as good in my guns that TAC or Lever did.

I almost picked up some 2520 today but it was $7 higher per pound than Lever, that's another factor.

Lever is definitely cheaper I can get it for $23 bucks.

TAC & Lever are generally pretty close on price.

I've been all over with trials on most of the more popular powders for 223/5.56 & I see no magic in either Lever or CFE-223 in accuracry with minimal real gains in velocity compared to 8208, V V-133/135/540, AR-Comp, 2000-MR, & TAC.

I got a great deal on some 8 lb'ers of 8208 & VV-133 so I'm using that along with a supply or AR-Comp & H4895 at least for now since I've got a lot of it.

But Powder Valley has TAC for $159 / 8lb & if you watch their specials & buy a lot of stuff at one time, you can usually get the Hazmat fee's waived or reduced. That would be hard to pass up if I were buying a lot of powder today.

MM

I saw a post where someone contacted Hodgdon and asked directly about the comparison between Lever and CFE and they confirmed they are completely different powders.

I have had a hard time sourcing Lever locally for some reason so ended up buying imr's 8208. It works really well too and I think is a great second choice. Many fans of it on Snipers Hide for the heavy bullet loads in both vanilla and ai version.

How's 8208 meter?

8208 is an extruded powder with a small grain size about like Benchmark; it meters very well. I have had good results with 8208 accuracy-wise, but was disappointed with the velocity.

I grabbed some 8208 going to give it a try, got my asc stainless mags and I can seat my bullets out to 2.310now.

NVhntr,

What load & what velocity?..........published loadings tend to be a little light, IMO.

Not my data, but here's some very recent info on ladder & accuracy testing by one of the guru's who's reputable over on SH, doing some barrel testing. Scan down to the near the last post or so by Padom on page 1, date Oct.19. His data is from a 20" barrel though.

I'm getting 2725 from an 18" barrel with 23.5 gr / 77 Nosler & SMK's/TMK's.

MM

Padom Data on 8208

. Holy crud, 2.310, the world will be a different place now. LMAO. They are good mags though for sure!

AA2520 and 77SMKs with cannelure out of my 16" ballistic advantage ops-profiled barrel on my Holland are truckin around 2740ish.

No pressure signs and there's more room in the case. 10 rounds into an inch with a 4x is plenty for me tho. Maybe I'll try more when I get back home.

You done good & that's impressive velocity from a 16" barrel as that's gotta be pretty high pressure with that powder.

How many grains?

MM

FWIW Hornady has some data online that shows what LeveRevolution and CFE223 both do in a 22 in barreled .224 Valkyrie with the 88 grain ELD. Pretty insignificant difference (2700 to 2750 fps) between the 6 fastest powders listed.
https://press.hornady.com/assets/site/hornady/files/load-data/224-valkyrie-88gr-eld-match-v2.pdf

It's probably at the top end of 223 data, but I really don't think it's all that hot for 5.56 data. Several other powders easily hit that velocity range in 16" barrels as well.

I don't think I've ever seen PSI data for 5.56 as that's not a SAAMI recognized round; have you seen any data on what is max pressure for 5.56?

MM

Not sure what direction you were headed with that, asc claims 2.317 oal. I tired different oal with these 75 and 77’s 2.245, 2.250, 2.255, 2.260 and the best so far is 2.260.. so I figured anything that can help them get closer to the lands will definitely help.. and going from 2.260 to 2.310 a .050 jump is pretty significant. But I guess for some a .050 is nothing significant.

You are correct. Technically, the military specs are not expressed in psi, but it works out to about 62,000 psi.

That's warm in an AR, IMO.

I don't think I push quite that hard, but really hard to know absent any way to measure.

But, obviously, 223 data is low compared to 5.56.

MM

I only go by 5.56 data since I have no way to measure pressure myself and there's been some speculation on how the gov tests theirs, I just look for pressure signs and velocity. 2740 with a 77 SMK in a 16" barrel is hotter than I've seen. In fact it's close to MK262 in an 18" barrel. Fast barrels do exist but I'm gonna have to try AA2520 for myself.

Yes, it is very difficult. But, you can get a good idea by comparing your velocity to reloading manual velocities. If your velocity is higher than shown, so is your pressure. If your barrel is "faster" it's because it generates higher pressure given the same amount of powder.

Complications arise due to barrel length differences. Say the book shows 20" and you're shooting a 16". 25fps loss/inch is just a WAG. It could be more or less depending on the load.

IMO, brass life is the big determinate. I know guys who purposely shot loads in competition that were so hot the brass was trashed after one load. I won't do that. I want at least 5 loads out of my 5.56 brass.