Home Forums Hunting & Shooting AR and Tactical Rifles H335 and 50gr. V-Max's

I'm going to start reloading for my BM Varminter (.223). I will be using this powder, bullets, Fed. 205's (M's maybe) and fireformed (in my AR) LC brass.

Any suggestions as to the amount of H335 to get me close to 3,300 fps out of my 24 in. barrel. This velocity will duplicate the BH's factory loads I've been using up until this point.

Thanks in advance.

I use AA-2015-br for the 50 grain bullets out of my AR's. I have shot tens of thousands of them with the 2015 and the only thing that would be better would be if the 2015 would meter just a little better. I never had any luck with the H-335 and the 50 grain pills. Your mileage may vary.

Thanks Dtech. I'm not familiar with 2015, but it must be small extruded powder, not spherical. I sure like the idea of ball powder for the metering ease, but if accuracy is less, hardly a good trade-off. I'll try to find a small amount to try with my 50's.

Thanks again for the input.

Yes, it is about the same size as Varget. I think you will find that the velocity and accuracy you will get will make it well worth working with. It's one of those powders that dares you to go another.2 grain. The loads always seem to end up at or near max.

Most of my loads seem to end up near or at max.

Thanks again Dtech.

No problem, let me know how it works out for you.

I have had very good luck with 25.8 gr of 335, 25.5 gr of Benchmark and 26.5 gr of H4895 when using 50gr vmax. All three loads shoot very well out of my 1:8 RRA, I use winchester and lake city brass with winchester primers. All loads are below max. Hope that helps.

Another powder to consider, especially with your 24" barrel, is AA2460. It's a ball powder and has given me great accuracy in .223 bolt guns. I'm currently burning AA2230C and have found the results to be excellent for the price (roughly half of the other AA powders), and the burning rate is a little faster than 2460. Unfortunately, AA Data2200 is gone now, but it was a ball powder with a very similar burn rate to 2015 and only half the price. The stuff disappeared quickly once word got out.

I have some of the AA 2200 Data powder. It didn't give me quite the accuracy or velocity that the AA 2015 does. I still use it for feed and fucntion tests and barrel break-in but I have fallen back to the AA 2015 for all of my varmint hunting.

I wish we lived closer--------I'd try to talk you out of your powder. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Thanks to all of you for your suggestions.

I reload 9 bolts from 22-250 thru 300RUM, but have never loaded for a gas gun. So, there are a few "what if's" for me concerning powders, powder volume to ensure proper cycling, best primer (if any - probably not) and the like.

I will seat to the OAL to the ogives so I'll measure the BH's factory 50 gr. V-Max's I currently use and duplicate that measurement. It's a very accurate load, so I feel confident that when these powder and primer questions are finally put to rest, I'll have a load that is accurate enough for "gopher" purposes. And as we all know, those loads need to be pretty accurate!

Thanks again

The brass-belchers are pretty straight forward to load for. I have found a few powders that work great in a bolt-action but have been unable to get good results in an AR. The 2015 is not one of them. It works great in a bolt as well.

AA site shows 24.5 gr. of 2015 out of a 24 in. tube @ 3.310 fps. Good pressures as well. I've got a few good powder suggestions from you guys to try out. Just part of the process, actually.....I really enjoy the load developement part of the reloading process. But it's always nice to have as many good suggestions as possible as there are sooooo many components these days from which to choose.

Thanks again.

By the way...... Since I expect those that responded, and/or at least reviewed this post, due to the 50 gr. V-Max being noted in the title, Midway has the 250 count boxes of the 50 gr. V-Max's on sale for $25.49. That is a very good deal if you've priced them lately. Beats the 100 counts by a long shot. They had 700 boxes of that offering in stock as of a few days ago.......688 now....grin.

Thought this could be useful info being "gopher" season and all.......

If you're going to burn through a lot of powder look at WC 844 which is milsurp pulldown from the 5.56 ammo.

I have had good luck with it in 55 gr bullets and my compadre has had good luck with it in 50 gr bullets.

You can get it from GIBRASS in 8 lb kegs for on the cheap. May be worth a look.

We both shoot it out of our AR's.

Wow!! $80 a jug! Unreal. I don't blame you for shooting that stuff. Makes the powder costs almost free! Well, 50% less $ is damn close.

I've got a few powders on hand to try with some friends that will supply other powder's I don't have. None include WC 844, but that's because I don't think anybody (me or mine) has knowledge of it like you do.

I'll post results in a week or two as most of my components are coming in this week.

Thanks for your help...once again.

I forgot to mention it is the equivilent of 335.

your welcome.

That makes it even more appealing.

I use 26gr of benchmark and a 50gr vmax out of a 24'' barrel and get 3330fps out my ar15 and there super accurate.

Range day.

Took several loads to the range today with several different powders. Not going to go into the specifics of all of them, but most shot fairly well.

"THE LOAD" so far is using a max load of H335, 205's, LC brass, all seated to the exact same ogive as the BH's BB 50 grainers. Velocity average of 50 rounds was 3,427 fps @ 20 ft making it about 3,440 at the muzzle (tighter than average barrel me thinks - Oehler 33 chrono). Very accurate load and functioned perfectly out of the Varminter. So much for the 3,300 fps I was looking for. No pressure signs whatsoever with the H335 either.

Not done yet, need to tweak the powder amounts to see if I can get even better groups. It did shoot 4 shots into a 1/4 inch cluster, but the other 4 were about 1/2 inch out @ 11:00. Probably me and some heat.... need to test some more. Oh darn....

I'll post new results as soon as I can get some more loads together.

Thanks again to all that gave me suggestions. They were of much help.