I've owned a lot of rifles over the last 30+ years but I'm late to the game with the 223. That has been corrected and I just bought my first .223, a CZ 527 American with a 1-9" twist barrel. It is mostly going be a range gun for myself and my 8 year old daughter. It might see use for the odd coyote and it may well get used for my daughter to start deer hunting.
I know that many here love the .223 for a broad range of uses. I'd like to know what others would suggest as a single load for my intended uses. Any favourite load suggestions would be appreciated.
I’d start with a 55 grain bullet but wouldn’t limit myself to just one bullet for all of the above. You should be able to get away with about any cheap bulk bullets for range shooting/plinking with your daughter or try something like a Nosler Ballistic Tip for a better all around range and varmit bullet and Barnes TTSX for deer. Obviously you have a lot of choices but that would be about as good of a start as any.
hornady 60gr sp and a good stiff charge of reloder 15 or tac doesn't suck across a lot of my rifles
Thanks for the suggestions. I have been thinking of something 55-60 grains and I bet the 60 grain Hornady would be good.
If I find a good load for all of my uses I might look for an improved load for deer whether the TTSX, 60 grain Nosler Partitions, the factory Federal Fusion load that I've heard good things about or something else altogether depending on what advice I get.
Kinda hard to beat the Hornady 55 gr SP as a general purpose bullet, but I don’t run heavies in mine.
GreggH
CFE 223 is good powder to start with and Sierra's 55, 62 and 65 grain Game Kings are good all purpose bullets. Oddly, Lapua 223 brass has been readily available lately and reasonably priced. Primers? I hope you have some! The Game King of your choice, whatever primer you can find, Lapua brass and a healthy charge of CFE 223. There's your single load.
55 grain Sierra Gameking.
Any suitable powder and a good SR primer.
Kills deer better than it should.
cfe 223 sucks balls for temp stability
not sure how it's anyone's go to hunting powder..
maybe if ur in the arctic it won't bite ya.
Fraser: I have posted about this many times in the past on this forum and others. I am VERY close to a family of 6 who uses their 223 Remington 700 to harvest many many dozens of Whitetailed Deer here in SW Montana over the last 23 yearss
The limit is 5 or 6 a year per person and they Hunt with the 223 until they fill their freezers with this wonderful meat, each year.
Anyway I myself have seen at least 20 Whitetails taken with their lone 223 Remington Rifle - all one shot kills! And they always use the factory Remington 55 grain PSP (Pointed Soft Point) 223 ammunition.
Best of luck with your young one and the 223.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy
cfe 223 sucks balls for temp stability
not sure how it's anyone's go to hunting powder..
maybe if ur in the arctic it won't bite ya.
Varget doesn't. It's pretty temp stable and works well with the .223.
I got a bunch of Fed Fusion 62 gr. from Rocky Mtn Reloading back when they had them. I should have gotten more.
Those kill stuff way above their weight class, and they're accurate.
Those over Varget, about my fav .223 general purpose load.
DF
Didn’t spec that I use 25.0 gr of Benchmark under the 55’s
GreggH
55 grain Hornady SP over 25 grains of H4895
Kinda hard to beat the Hornady 55 gr SP as a general purpose bullet, but I don’t run heavies in mine.
GreggH
Agreed. They work on everything from prairie dogs to deer.
Take your pick on easy metering ball powders:
Tac, H335, WW748, BLc2, or if you're able to come across some surplus WW844/846
55 grain Hornady SP over 25 grains of H4895
That sounds too easy man.. I'll bet that load would also work very well for 55gr Hornady fmj's...
55 grain Hornady SP over 25 grains of H4895
That sounds too easy man.. I'll bet that load would also work very well for 55gr Hornady fmj's...
Rocky Mountain Reloading has 55 gr FMJ's at a good price.
They're now making their own bullets right there in CO, starting with 9mm.
Check'em out.
https://www.rmrbullets.com/shop/bul...ady-lead-core-full-metal-jacket-bullets/DF
55 grain Hornady SP over 25 grains of H4895
I like the sounds of that since I always keep plenty of H4895 on hand. I know Mule Deer is a big TAC fan but it is hard stuff to find in Canada.
cfe 223 sucks balls for temp stability
not sure how it's anyone's go to hunting powder..
maybe if ur in the arctic it won't bite ya.
I hunt in the woods.
There are lots of good powders for the 223 and midweight bullets, I use both IMR4895 and H322 with Hornady 55gr FMJs, 55gr SPs or 50gr Vmax. It is not hard to make most 223s shoot well.
A 55 grain bullet with Benchmark is very accurate and stable. You can also use IMR XBR 8208 for the 55s up to the 69s. With Benchmark and a 55, your accuracy node will be somewhere around 25 grains of powder. Work up to it.
My fastest twist .223’s are 7’s, my slowest is a 9 and I have one 8. They all shoot the same two loads extremely well and with excellent terminal results: 60 grain Sierra HP or 65 grain SGK over 27 grains of Varget, CCI 400, COAL .010 short of max that will work through AR mags.
General purpose for my 223 means small to coyotes sized animals. I like a soft 40 to 50 grain bullet pushed with H4895, I 4895 and BLC2 variously. I would put together load specifically for deer if I didn't have a bigger gun, not saying the 223 doesn't do good duty on deer chip shots.
My "standard" .223 load has been 55 Hornady SP + 26.8gr. CFE-223. Dammed accurate in my 1-9" AR, and equally so in my Browning Low Wall 1-12". It's the recipe I followed when I loaded up a couple thousand for "comfort", although I'll confess to liking a bunch of lighter bullet loads too for the Browning strictly for varmints/paper punching.
CFE-223 temp sensitive? So what? I ain't bench shooting if it's colder than about 40 degrees or hotter than maybe 90 degrees anyway, and if I go afield for eastern whitetails and it's 20-30 degrees outside so what if the bullet impacts an inch or so off because the powder is sensitive to the cold. Colder than that and I'm sitting someplace warm anyway, with a drink and a good book.
I bought some bulk Hornady 62 grain BTHP from Midsouth as a cheaper alternative to Barnes of the same weight. Using the same stiff load of Varget they go to same POI as the Barnes and considering how well they work on feral hogs I would use them on anything in Louisiana. One day I spotted a big blue sow in a food plot and accidently picked up the .223 from the back seat instead of the matching Weatherby Vanguard 2SS in .30-06. The .223 true to form put her on the ground. The Barnes is an excellent bullet also at about 5X the Hornady bullet price.
I like 62 grain Bear Claws or 62 Barnes with CFE 223
Always interesting to hear what a .223 is "adequate" for. One of my friends here in Montana has used one for years on everything up to and including elk, and not at "chip-shot" ranges. He's killed at least one cow elk at 400+ yards. But he started hunting when very young on his father's ranch, and had both his hunting and shooting skills refined by the U.S. Army, where they were put to use in the Middle East.
Several years ago Phil shoemaker introduced me to a couple of brothers in their 20s from "bush" Alaska. AR-15s are pretty popular there for hunting, especially for kids, due to the light recoil and stocks adjustable for length-of-pull. The brothers had not only killed plenty of black bears and caribou with theirs, but moose and grizzly.
Can't remember what ammo they preferred, but evidently they didn't handload--at least at the time. Not long before they'd been in Anchorage and decided to pick up a case of ammo at a big sporting goods store. When the clerk (like many sporting-goods clerks apparently an expert on everything) found out they intended to use the ammo on big game, he refused to sell to them. So they bought it elsewhere....
.223 out of a 16" barrel had no problems killing two hogs yesterday at 60 and 165 yards... both about 300 lbs that had to be drug out with the atv. But, they were both head shot.
Always interesting to hear what a .223 is "adequate" for. One of my friends here in Montana has used one for years on everything up to and including elk, and not at "chip-shot" ranges. He's killed at least one cow elk at 400+ yards. But he started hunting when very young on his father's ranch, and had both his hunting and shooting skills refined by the U.S. Army, where they were put to use in the Middle East.
Several years ago Phil shoemaker introduced me to a couple of brothers in their 20s from "bush" Alaska. AR-15s are pretty popular there for hunting, especially for kids, due to the light recoil and stocks adjustable for length-of-pull. The brothers had not only killed plenty of black bears and caribou with theirs, but moose and grizzly.
Can't remember what ammo they preferred, but evidently they didn't handload--at least at the time. Not long before they'd been in Anchorage and decided to pick up a case of ammo at a big sporting goods store. When the clerk (like many sporting-goods clerks apparently an expert on everything) found out they intended to use the ammo on big game, he refused to sell to them. So they bought it elsewhere....
Reminds me of the young man from Barrow who came into the shop one day. When asked if he’d been hunting lately he showed a pic of a pretty damn big polar bear that was fully dead. His reply when asked what he shot it with was, “my Mini 14”. He later said that he was using that yellow box ammo, referring to the UMC 55gr FMJ we had on the shelf.
Always interesting to hear what a .223 is "adequate" for..
My hypothesis is that it is all about what weight rifle is shooter adequate to carry.
Men 10 pounds.
Boys 5 pounds.
Now find the best rifle in that weight class for accuracy and range, work backwards, and say that is adequate for what ever they are hunting.
As an example, the most common elk cartridges must be adequate. So if we scale off those cartridges, the size of the elk, the size of mule deer..... then 223 is overkill for the largest mule deer.
Why is this false?
Because the 223 did not fully utilize the man's rifle weight carrying capacity.
Always interesting to hear what a .223 is "adequate" for. One of my friends here in Montana has used one for years on everything up to and including elk, and not at "chip-shot" ranges. He's killed at least one cow elk at 400+ yards. But he started hunting when very young on his father's ranch, and had both his hunting and shooting skills refined by the U.S. Army, where they were put to use in the Middle East.
Several years ago Phil shoemaker introduced me to a couple of brothers in their 20s from "bush" Alaska. AR-15s are pretty popular there for hunting, especially for kids, due to the light recoil and stocks adjustable for length-of-pull. The brothers had not only killed plenty of black bears and caribou with theirs, but moose and grizzly.
Can't remember what ammo they preferred, but evidently they didn't handload--at least at the time. Not long before they'd been in Anchorage and decided to pick up a case of ammo at a big sporting goods store. When the clerk (like many sporting-goods clerks apparently an expert on everything) found out they intended to use the ammo on big game, he refused to sell to them. So they bought it elsewhere....
So then all those bigger rifles you own are going up for sale? If I shot everything with a 223 I would have no reason to have all the other rifles I own. But that won't happen until the 223 can do everything my 7-08 does as well or better. Or my 243, 257 Roberts, 7x57, 308, 270 etc. No rules subsistence hunting is a lot different than what hunting I get to do. Did Phil give up his big guns and switch to a 223?
I could certainly do that with ease here in my environs. But, I don't have bears, moose, elephants, etc. to contend with, nor particularly long range deer killing either.
A 60 grain Partition would be hard to beat.
with the one in 9 twist, I'd ted to lean toward the 68 grain BTHP and Up to the 75 and even 80 grainers... that would add longer range ability to the list....
if you are chasing velocity.... then I'd be looking at RL 15....and accuracy is never bad with it...
If you are chasing accuracy first, and velocity second, then I'd take AR Comp....its suppose to be even more temp insensitive over RL 15 if severe temp swings are a concern.
of course I am referring to my experiences with the heavier grain bullets... 68 to 80 grains...
we kill a lot of mule deer, antelope, and plains whitetail with a 75gr eld or 77gr tmk
don't know how you can improve on bang flops.
do 7mm-08's quarter it for ya?
i'm sure boomers like the 300 pack it out too?
I have a CZ 527 like the OP, my fav load for that rifle is 55gr BT's with VVN133.
It also likes 65gr SGK's with Varget
My fastest twist .223’s are 7’s, my slowest is a 9 and I have one 8. They all shoot the same two loads extremely well and with excellent terminal results: 60 grain Sierra HP or 65 grain SGK over 27 grains of Varget, CCI 400, COAL .010 short of max that will work through AR mags.
What kind of cases are you using to get in 27gr of Varget ?????? I'm crunching at 26.5gr
A 60 grain Partition would be hard to beat.
It would be hard to beat.........except for the fact I have never been able to get them to shoot well in any rifle I have tried them in.
with the one in 9 twist, I'd ted to lean toward the 68 grain BTHP and Up to the 75 and even 80 grainers... that would add longer range ability to the list....
if you are chasing velocity.... then I'd be looking at RL 15....and accuracy is never bad with it...
If you are chasing accuracy first, and velocity second, then I'd take AR Comp....its suppose to be even more temp insensitive over RL 15 if severe temp swings are a concern.
of course I am referring to my experiences with the heavier grain bullets... 68 to 80 grains...
RL-15 is temp insensitive? 😂😂😂🤣
55 grain Hornady SP over 25.5 grains of REL 15.
NOT A COMMON USE FOR THE POWDER I GATHER. I DO HAVE LOTS OF IT. SEEMS TO WORKFINE. I GOT IT OUT OF LEE'S BOOK.
A 60 grain Partition would be hard to beat.
It would be hard to beat.........except for the fact I have never been able to get them to shoot well in any rifle I have tried them in.
They are generally a deer bullet, I have always been able to get deer accuracy out of them. If you haven't been able to get deer accuracy out of them, try my load. In my Savage LWH, they give sub 3/4 inch groups with 25.5 grains of W748 and a Remington 7 1/2 primer.
I've used Varget in the past and suspect I will continue due to the shortage issue. Does anyone know if Dogtown bullets are still being made? IIRC either Midway or Natchez?
Speaking of .223's, I remember ads for the Nylon 66 which showed Eskimos (their word) killing seals with .22's from their umiat - sealskin boats. Typically showed the 66 in a pool of saltwater and blood to prove its "toughness".
24.5 gr. of H335, 65 gr. Sierra gameking. Use it in AR’s and my Montana. Does the job. 62 gr. tsx’s over Varget for deer sized game.
reloder 15 is a hell of a lot more temp stable then cfe 223
early antelope season or prairie dogs to winter coyotes or late season anterless can be 110-120 degrees temp swings.