Home Forums Hunting & Shooting AR and Tactical Rifles Your go to powder..........

Thats all I use

On my powder shelves I have H4198, H335, Shooters World Match, AA 2015, AA 2230, IMR 4320, CFE 223.
I don't want to give any of them up and I keep the shelves full. They cover everything from 40gr V-max to any 69gr Match.

You don't need that many to cover that range.

MM

Not to laugh, but its funny how many guys actually believe they do. Those are all good powders and they work, but far too many. I take the KISS approach. Give me one that drops out of the powder measure like water, is sub moa accurate for many bullet weights and other cartridges (thats a bonus). When you find a powder that you can drop your charges in and load 300/hour and still maintain sub moa 10 shot group accuracy, you know you have a good one.

Varget.

Varget is a great powder & almost boringly very accurate.

But sorry, it's time has come & gone in the 223/5.56.....................it's considerably slower, velocity wise, than is attainable with other powders & is horrible through a powder feed, especially in a relatively small case where variations matter more than in a large case.

Maybe for the competitor who hand weighs or trickles his charges & wants/need the very last drip of accuracy, but for everyday Joe for plinking & general shooting, even in SPR type rifles, there are numerous much better choices today.

MM

In the middle of 2 lbs of it , Can't fault it, but something tells me it's not the 'one'........

I have the same feeling about CFE223...........it has never been the most accurate powder in any rifle I have tried it in
don't care if it flows good through a measure if it is not accurate

When Varget came out in 1995 I bought in big time..........enough to last me until just a couple years ago.
The original Varget was absolutely the do all anything in 223/5.56
When I ran out a couple years ago I bought a new 8#'er and found out quickly it is not the same powder. The original was not the "EXTREME" that is on the packaging of today.
to find other powders that work I use VVN133 or Benchmark for 55grainers , for heavies IMR8208XBR or RL15

My favorite powder for 69 - 77 gr. bullets is H4895, Varget is a close second. Double base powders that "pour like water" have never measured up accuracy wise to single base powders, for me, when shooting past 300 yards.

Here is a series of real world tests on a variety of powders in the 5.56 (Wylde) attempting to duplicate the factory loading of MK 262 as produced by Black Hill, 77 gr SMK.

When you open the link, the entire series, by test episode, will come up on the right.

In almost every case, his results have pretty closely mirrored my results with the same combinations, so that's why I say it real world.

MM

Duplicating MK 262 from Black Hills

Your link isn't working for me.

Same here.

OK, thanks.......................I edited it & it works now when I test it so try again.

MM

It works ok in a 223 with 62 and heavier bullets, but for me it's one of the best for my 17 rem besides 4320.
2 powders that I really like for 223 & 308 is AA2230 & Shooters world match. Other than that
now a days you get what you can get and try to make it work.

Has anyone tried Accurate 2460 with heavies in an ar?

No but looks like it'll work.

TAC or AA2230. CFE223 sucks - the most temperature sensitive powder I've ever used.

I don't push it or get anal about it, but if I can load a good load that offers velocity & accuracy, & it does it with fewer grains I consider it. I don't go with he fastest burning & least used. But, if a powder gives me what I want in a high usage shell like this & it needs 24 grains, & another powder needs 28, the 24 grain load might get the nod in these trying times. It adds up with high round counts & trying to keep shooting with what ya got .

I think ammo companies look at the things like this just for profit. Nowadays I think about it sometimes just for my sustainable inventory.

I’m not nearly as up to speed on powders for .223 as you guys, I just like varget mainly because I can use it in a half dozen other cartridges and, 26 gr under a hornady 55 shoots well enough for my needs from 3 ar’s.