Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire 5.56 ammo recipes

I’m old school too, but having said that, I’ve used a lot of different powders in loading 223/5.56. I like ball powders, mostly because they meter so easy. I’ve loaded up good accurate loads using W748 and H335.

Everyday run them thru the AR 55gr. ammo is loaded with whatever small rifle primer I grab off the bench and 25.5gr. of TAC. Mixed headstamp brass tumbled and trimmed!

Elk Country

If a guy had unlimited funds and was worried about looting rioters, I'd certainly go with 62 gr Tsx as fast as I could push them.

Nothing, except in my M16. It was one of the principal reason that -16’s were jamming in the early days of Nam. It fouled badly. It has also been my observation that ball powders in sporting guns tends to foul a bit more that stick powders. Do I use it? Sure, but I discriminate based on precision. Ball doesn’t win often.

For accuracy and reliability all the match shooters used to load 24.0 grains of Varget with either Sierra's 69 grain Match King or the 77 grain one. Bucks the wind better and whomps harder at longer ranges than any 55 grain. Assuming you have a free-floating front handguard, if those don't shoot sub-MOA, rebarrel your rifle.

After reading through some of this I don't care to walk from the you use as long as somebody sticks a slug and Joe Bob's head

I have shot many 223 bullets down range in prairie dog towns . We desire the best accuracy we can get. I started with 335 but went looking for something else because

It was so dirty. I have shot several 8# jugs of Accurate 2230 and am very happy with it. If memory serves me Ithink 24 to 25 grains under a 50 or 55 gr bullet was the best.

It worked in all of the rifles I have had .( Cooper, savage, Herters, Remington )

I start with Ramshot TAC for anything in that caliber range (I use it in my .17 Fireballs, .204 Rugers, .223s, and 22-250s.).

Meters like water, cheap, clean, and consistent.

A few examples, 100 yard groups, Rock River Arms (20 inch full bull bbl) in .223 Wylde. Pretty typical results (sub .5") from this rifle if I do my part.

I got some very nice groups with accurate 2015 and 60 grain hornadys but you had to trickle the charges because it metered like schidt. 2230 works well also. I kind of lost interest in those two for the small bores when I got my 204. Had trouble getting them into the case.

223
H335
55 grain FMJ
25 grains actual
COL - 2.23
Case length - 1.76

Shoots great in most any weapon.

Western powders Reloading data for Ramshot X-terminator and Accurate 2230 is identical, they have been the same powder since 2005 when Ramshot acquired Accurate.

From Western Powders website:
A2230 Data matches Ramshot X-Terminator
I’ve noticed on the updated data for the 7.62×39 (5.0.1) that the powder charges for Ramshot X-Terminator and Accurate 2230 are exactly the same, all entries are exactly the same. Is this correct data for these two powders?

In this case, it is correct. Ramshot X-Terminator and Accurate 2230 are the same powder used by both powder lines.
The Lab

To each his own, but X-Terminator is just a tad too fast for my liking.

I prefer TAC, it's just a *bit* slower and more forgiving.

I went through an X-Term/TAC eval period a number of years ago. I saw a lower ES and ED with TAC, but it could just be my rifles.

Use what shoots straight!!

55 grn Hornady FMJBT over 24/25 grns of WC844 in LC brass

Set off with a CCI SRP

Benchmark is this shiznizzle. My load is a bit hotter, very consistent 3365 FPS from a 20” barrel

My garden variety load is a surplus 55 grain FMJ over 24.5 grains of Ramshot X-Terminator with an OAL of 2.245".

Not because it's proven to be superlative. Just that it's somewhere in the ballpark of the old 55 grain military load and X-Terminator meters very well out of a powder measure.

I'm very meticulous about my handloads as far as making sure that they're constructed properly,....primer pockets are scratched out,...brass tumbled until it shines,..and of course, I use propellants that are appropriate to the chambering. But I don't dig for the Nth degree of accuracy for ammo that's to be fired from a pencil barrel AR-15 in a defense situation.

"Minute of muhfuggah" is plenty good enough,...and a 55 grain FMJ pushed to mach 2.7 with Ramshot X-Terminator seems as if it would fill that role without any problem.

80 grainers out of 1:9 barrels going real slow so they tumble like a gymnast sounds kinda cool. 😂😂

Here's a few things I've found to work behind 50-55gr Nosler .224 bullets in the 5.56 or Wylde chambers. Hornady bullets typically have greater bearing surface at the same weight, so reduce loads, and work up accroding

28.5gr BLC-2
27.5gr H335
27.5gr TAC.

Most any brass except Federal.

CCI-450 or, when you can get them, S&B small rifle primers.
OAL, GI magazine length.

Good statistic on bearing surface to file away for later...

Thanks A.S.

I encountered the bearing surface situation with the first .243 load I ever constructed. I used the Hornady 100 grain round nose bullet and H4350. Just to be prudent, I usually start out a good bump below maximum and work my way up.

I didn't have any data for the 100 grain Hornady round nose, so I used load data for a 100 grain spitzer and backed down to 4 grains below maximum. The 100 grain Hornady round nose (now discontinued) was almost *all* bearing surface.

At 4 grains below maximum for 100 grain spitzers in the .243 with H4350, I was getting very flattened primers with the 100 grain round nose bullet.

I knew that the bearing surface of a bullet would affect pressures. Common sense should tell you that. But I was surprised that backing off what amounted to 10% below the maximum data for spitzers still wasn't enough to allow for the additional bearing surface of the 100 grain round nose bullet.

I'm not surprised that Hornady removed it from their offerings.