Home Forums Hunting & Shooting AR and Tactical Rifles Powder choice for the 65gr. Sierra Gameking SBT

As the title says I am seeking information on powder choices for loading the 65gr. Sierra Gameking Spitzer Boat Tails for my 16" DPMS Oracle 1 in 9" Twist .223.

The powders I have on hand currently are H-4895 and Varget.

Any and all information will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Larry

I have a bunch of these and found they shoot well in my gun with 25.5 grains of varget. Its a compressed load IIRC have not shot them in a while. Shooting heavier bullets these days.

25.5 is pretty standard for 69s FWIW. With Varget and BR4s in LC cases.

4895 was accurate but never got great speeds without pressures.

Varget

The 65 grain SGK is, IMHO, a great deer bullet in the .223. I load them in Remington cases, with a CCI 400 primer and 27 grains of Varget. This is a real case full of powder and sometimes requires shaking the case a little to settle it. It fills the case to just above the bottom of the neck. My LOA is .010 short of whatever the max is for my AR mags. It shoots well in my 7 and 8 twist AR's and my 9 twist Remington 700.

Thanks guys. I just installed an air conditioner in my man cave yesterday so maybe now I can stand to be in there to load up some test loads. Varget it is and yes I am loading the 65gr. Sierra Gamekings to hopefully be used on Whitetails.

Larry

Varget will not be over-pressure no matter how much you decide to cram in the case, as you can't fill it too full. That is one nice asset that it offers, along with good velocities with the heavier bullets.

Thats not totally true on Varget but its about 99%.

If one were anal, and used a long drop tube and swirled the powder in... lets just say in LC cases I"ve made it up to 28 grains for a different project with a lighter bullet. 70 grains and 28 Varget might be scary just a bit.

I have never shot an animal with these, has anyone used them on deer?

2 WT does last season.. Very effective.

you think they would bust a shoulder?

I punch lungs. If I was shooting bone and I wanted a sure thing, I'd go with TSX's.. but this is just me. I will defer to those with more experience with the GK bullet.

I am liking the 75 grain Swift Scirroco 2.

Are any of you guys shooting the 65gr. SGK out of a 1 in 9" Twist 16" AR? Just curious as to what you are achieving for muzzle velocities?

Thanks

Larry

I have with 26grs of Varget. No idea on MV as I never put them through a chrony.

I load 25 grains of Varget and get great accuracy in my 1/9 twist AR.

Varget and TAC work great for my .223 AR loads. I shoot mostly 69gr and 77gr SMK's.

I use 25 grs. Varget under a 65 gr. Sierra GameKing, but you might also like the bonded 64 gr. Nosler. I was testing some loads through another rifle and had five rounds left using the 64 gr. bullet over 25 grs. Varget. These I fired in a Colt 6920 carbine. Velocity was 2757 ft/sec. for the 16 inch barrel with a 1.2 inch group at 100 yards. That was with an Aimpoint. Anyway, the results will motivate further testing of this load.

While Varget is certainly close to the top of the list for this combo, I recently found a powder that might be better with the 65gr Sierra. IMR8208XBR a bit faster burn rate but excellent accuracy and even cleaner burning than Varget.
For the 69's and heavier Varget is still better but for 55 to 65gr I Love the XBR

Thanks guys. I shot my test loads yesterday (Saturday) and think I came up with a combo I can live with. 26.0grs. of Varget with the 65gr. Sierra Gameking Spitzer Boat Tail in FC Brass with CCI #41 Primers. I started at 24.6 and went up to 26.0 1% at a time. 26.0grs. shot the best group. I loaded up a few more and shot a few groups today. I never measured the groups with a dial caliper but just looking them over the average should be 1" or maybe slightly less (had a couple of the groups 3/4" or less.

I am thinking this should work for what I want it for.

Thanks again for all of the info guys.

Larry