Home Forums Reloading Varmint Rifles Anyone tried IMR 4895 in the 223?

I too, have shot some good groups with adequate velocity with 4895 (both H and IMR) in my old Savage .223. It seemed to really like the 50 gr Siera bullet if I recall. H-335 worked pretty well, too. I had no luck at all with H-4198, mediocre accuracy and lousy velocity with 50 or 55 gr bullets. If you are interested, a couple of other powders you might consider trying are Accurate 2015 and my current favorite, Ramshot TAC. TAC measures great, is very consistent and temperature insensitive. It also gives good velocity and seems to burn very clean. I have shot some of my best groups with 2015 and it also gives very good velocity with 40 and 50 gr bullets. But I hear what you are saying about the wisdom of keeping versatile powders on hand that can perform reasonably in several calibers. The 4895's certainly fit that bill.

I've got a pound of TAC but I haven't used it yet. From everything I've heard it's good stuff. The two high volume shooters I know say what you do about it burning clean. I'll probably stick with the 4895 till it's gone. It's 12 years old and since it works I'll use it up first.

A fellow at work was showing me some groups he shot using 4895 and 90 gr. VLDs from his Savage.
They were a little under an inch.

Not bad load/shooting for 320 yards.

Thats about all we used in both .222's and .223's at the ranch that I used to work at. Four triple deuces and a lot of .223's.

It seemed kinda strange to me at the time......... like using 4831 in a .308.
But, it worked well with both accuracy and velocity.

Also helped to have a 100 lb. keg of surplus 4895 on hand!

Funny how some of us can agree whole heartedly on one thing and then totally disagree with the other....

I don't waste the money on Hodgdon's 4895... If I am going to buy some Hodgdon powder for 223 use, it will be H 322, Benchmark, and Varget long before their 4895...

Yet IMR's has been a staple of the 223, 22.250, 220 Swift for a lot of varmint shooters for as long as I have been alive and those cartridges have been around..

goes to show, we all have different tastes and different luck..

yet at the same time, I will not question the opinions of guys like Varmint Guy, DMB, Ol Joe, and Dave Skinner...

I've read their posts enough, to know that their writings are based on a lot of experience...

so if the can is going to say 4895 on it.. mine is going to say IMR on it also..regardless of cartridge..

loaded some 22/250 with IMR 4895 and Nosler BT 55's and first three shots went thru one ragged hole at 100 yrds,next 2 shots opened things up a bit but the gun and load was still well under 1 inch and a 3 shot 200 yrd group was aroung 1 1/2" . Speed was around 3400 fps. I think I will stick with this load combo for a while.

Amen, I forgot about Benchmark in the 223. 25.0 gns of it, or close, shoots great groups.

So many powders work very well in the 223 which may be why certain combinations are not as well known. However, IMR 4895 is such a flexible powder in so many different applications it is no wonder that it works well in the 223. It isn't the fastest, but it is easy enough to develop a fine shooting load IME.