Home Forums Reloading Varmint Rifles seafire question on pistol powder & 223

Seafire you have a ton of data using Blue Dot and 40 gr in the 223 I was wondering if you had tried Unique and 40 gr bullets in the 223? I have a lot of Unique and lot of Hornady V-Max 40 gr bullets that I would like to use up.

Any replies will be appreciated.

Thanks, drover

I've used Unique in 223 bolt guns for both cast and jacketed bullets. What velocity are you looking for?

My advice is to start low and work up, watching for pressure. It will come on fast when you get near the top end.

I love using various handgun powders in small-bore rifles. They work very well if you don't want or need top-end velocity, are very economical with powder, and produce little heat, so you can shoot a bunch in a string without worrying about your barrel getting too hot.

Drover,

I have farted around with both Steel and Unique... in fact with Unique, I've probably loaded up and shot about 900 to 1,000 rounds of those loaded with the 40 V Max and Unique....

with those and 50 grainers also....My rifles have been digesting 12 grains of Unique with those bullets just fine...

primers have been CCI SR or S & B SR...

accuracy has been fine.. although not as tight of groups as Blue Dot...

This is new batches of Unique, older batches would only allow about 10 grains of it...before it became a hot load..

I worked up to the 12 GR @, 2/10s a grain at a time...

More than that, I figured I would start defeating the purpose of a good economical load...but wanted to see where the Sweet Spot and the max safe load existed...it was 12 grains in my bolt actions...

economy, if you are just plinking or shooting for groups at the range on a nice day, I do 10 grains, the 700 rounds per pound of powder loads...I picked up a couple of 8 pounders on sale...that is alot of economical trigger pullling fun...


also bought about 6,000 40 grain V Maxes for a dime apiece also....

Steele works well with the 40 grainers if you see it for a good price... on that, I use up to 14 grains with it...

Thanks for the info it is greatly appreciated. I also have a lot of cheaply bought 40 gr V-Max and too much Unique since I shoot pistol very rarely anymore, so I am thinking of short range gopher loads 100 - 150 yds. Should be lots of fun next spring.

drover

Thanks for the info it is greatly appreciated. I also have a lot of cheaply bought 40 gr V-Max and too much Unique since I only reload pistol rarely anymore, so I am thinking of short range gopher loads 100 - 150 yds. Should be lots of fun next spring.

drover