Powder for 5.56 that meters well

[LTUME1978]

Question for 5.56 reloaders. I have been loading 5.56 with Varget but it does not meter well in my powder through (RCBS). I am getting about 1 grain varitaion in weight (+ or - 0.5 grains). The varget is very accurate but it takes a lot of time to weigh out each charge. Is there a ball of flake powder that meters well and shoots well in this caliber? Bullets are 55 grain, 60 grain and 77 grain.

Thanks,

John

[Sputz]

I like h335 and h322 the 332 is good for light loads and has a nice controllable recoil good for 55gr. H335 is more versatile for different bullets in my opinion and is pretty consistent.

Sputz

[longtooth]

BLC2 meters well. I have not loaded very much 5.56 but what I did was very accurate & my powder thro then was RCBS also.

[Munson]

I'll second the H335. Good stuff, works great for various rounds, and meters well

[MoJo]

Accurate 2230 it was made to load .223/5.56. It measures as accurately as water. I love it!

[Sputz]

Accurate 2230 it was made to load .223/5.56. It measures as accurately as water. I love it!

I'd like to try that one out if it ever makes it down to local shops.

Sputz

[NcongruNt]

I've not had a lot of luck with Varget. What length barrel are you shooting with your Varget loads? I tried working up both 55 and 70 grain loads, and couldn't get them to group well enough out of my 16" barrel. From what I've gathered, it's better for the heavier loads and longer barrels in .223, and I gave up on trying.

Ramshot TAC meters like a dream. Flows beautifully like water, and very consistently. Easily the best-metering and most consistent-throwing powder I've EVER used. I use it paired with Speer 70gr Semi-Spitzer bullets for my hunting load. There does exist 5.56 pressure-spec data for it in the 68-70 grain bullets, as the guy over at 223reloads.com corresponded with Ramshot to get that data. If you do go that route, make sure to work up the loads slowly from the bottom end. The data seems to be good, but there's a point where 5.56 pressures will start to pop uncrimped primers, and loose primers don't play well in the action of an AR.

I've also had good experience with IMR 3031, though you have to compress those loads to get decent velocities at the top end of the .223 data.

My favorite powder so far is Vihtavuori N135. I can get sub-MOA groups out of my 16" AR with the 55gr loads I've developed using this powder. I've heard from a lot of folks that they really like VV N135.

And yeah, just about anything will meter better than Varget.

[LTUME1978]

My rifle is a LMT with a 16 inch barrel, 1 in 7 twist. I am loading a 77 grain sierra boat tail spitzer bullet that is being pushed by 25 grains of varget. Accuracy is great, have had many groups at tight a 1/2 inch at 100 yards when I do my part (that is with a 6 - 20 power scope on the rifle with it dialed up to 20X). When I put the ACOG 4X on, I can still keep them under an inch at 100 yards but I have to work hard at that. I know this is a hot load but the primers don't look that bad. I am trying to duplicate the military load for the 77 grain bullet they shoot.

Is the TAC a ball or flake powder? Stick powders just don't seem to meter well with my gear.

Thanks for all the input.

John

[NcongruNt]

My rifle is a LMT with a 16 inch barrel, 1 in 7 twist. I am loading a 77 grain sierra boat tail spitzer bullet that is being pushed by 25 grains of varget. Accuracy is great, have had many groups at tight a 1/2 inch at 100 yards when I do my part (that is with a 6 - 20 power scope on the rifle with it dialed up to 20X). When I put the ACOG 4X on, I can still keep them under an inch at 100 yards but I have to work hard at that. I know this is a hot load but the primers don't look that bad. I am trying to duplicate the military load for the 77 grain bullet they shoot.

Is the TAC a ball or flake powder? Stick powders just don't seem to meter well with my gear.

Thanks for all the input.

John

It's a ball powder, relatively small, spherical, and slick as snot. It truly is a wonder for metering. From what I read, it's best for heavier bullets. I've heard good reports from folks using it with 55-grainers as well, though.

3031 is a stick powder, but considerably smaller than varget. In fact, it's looks like miniaturized varget. It's no good at all for anything heavier than 55gr, though. I tried it with 70-grainers, and got dismal velocities of maybe 2400fps at the top end.

VV N135 is also a stick powder, but again much smaller than Varget.

[beardking]

For those of you that have found that great metering powder, what powder dispenser system are you using? I'm reloading with a Lee AutoDisk setup, so any suggestions for that would be great. I've reloaded a total of about 25 rounds of .223 using Varget, and it seemed decent although this is only the 2nd powder that I've used since I started reloading. One of these days I'll actually get to shoot those 25 rounds. :)

[Sputz]

For those of you that have found that great metering powder, what powder dispenser system are you using? I'm reloading with a Lee AutoDisk setup, so any suggestions for that would be great. I've reloaded a total of about 25 rounds of .223 using Varget, and it seemed decent although this is only the 2nd powder that I've used since I started reloading. One of these days I'll actually get to shoot those 25 rounds. :)

H335 and H322 meter well in auto double disk.

[medalguy]

H335 is one of the best powders for 5.56 ever developed. It's a dream to measure. This evening I was loading some 5.56 on a Dillon 550 and about every 100 rounds I'll drop 4 measures into a cup and weigh, just to be sure the measure is correct. I'm loading 25.0 gr of H335, and if I remember correctly the test loads for 4 drops were 100.0, 99.8, 100.2, and 100.1 in my loading 500 rounds of ammo. It doesn't get much better than that.

By the way if you load a lot of 5.56, check out Pat's Reloading. They have 8 pound jugs of pulldown WC844 powder which is the same as H335 for $85 per 8 pounds. It's cannister grade powder but the price is sure right.

[Munson]

H335 is one of the best powders for 5.56 ever developed. It's a dream to measure. This evening I was loading some 5.56 on a Dillon 550 and about every 100 rounds I'll drop 4 measures into a cup and weigh, just to be sure the measure is correct. I'm loading 25.0 gr of H335, and if I remember correctly the test loads for 4 drops were 100.0, 99.8, 100.2, and 100.1 in my loading 500 rounds of ammo. It doesn't get much better than that.

By the way if you load a lot of 5.56, check out Pat's Reloading. They have 8 pound jugs of pulldown WC844 powder which is the same as H335 for $85 per 8 pounds. It's cannister grade powder but the price is sure right.

Not questioning you, but how do you know it'd the same as H335? Is that the data you are using?

[RiverRider]

Because no one mentioned Hodgdon Benchmark, I felt compelled to register and post a reply to this thread. So here I am.

I started out with H335 in .223 Remington many years ago, but learned that pressures and velocities can vary according to temperature (and it is perfectly reasonable to expect accuracy to vary as well). I also learned that there are powders available that outperform others when it comes to consistency vs. temperature.

I shoot 50-grain bullets exclusively in my .223 bolt-action (love that V-Max!) and have found Benchmark to provide excellent accuracy and maximum velocity. It does not flow quite as well as some of the sphericals like Ramshot TAC and H335, but I have found that I get very acceptable charge weight consistency using my Uni-Flow with the small drum and a baffle in the hopper.

I tried Ramshot TAC, and it was not a bad performer but I was missing about 150 fps of velocity when compared to Benchmark---but that was with 50-grain bullets only. I never tried X-Terminator in .223, but I have some I'm using in .222 Remington and may try it in .223 one of these days. Some folks highly recommend X-Terminator for the .223 Remington and they may well be on to something.

For what it's worth: Benchmark, H322, TAC, and X-Terminator are relatively immune to the effects of temperature. I have heard reports that AA2230 is also, but I am not sure.