Favorite powder for 223 plinking?

dave421

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I’m getting ready to start loading my first rifle rounds after loading 9mm exclusively. I plan on picking up some of Butter’s 55gr seconds for projectiles but since I’m new to the rifle world, I thought I’d see what powder people liked for plinking ammo. I’ll be shooting steel at 200-300 yards with ARs or a Savage bolt action if it matters. I’m heading to SC later this week and thought I’d get some ideas and run by Cabelas while I was close to pick some powder and primers up.

And yeah, I know 223 isn’t really worth reloading. I just want to get to know if before I start making up some heavier target loads.


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CFE223 for me
(And 223 IS worth reloading unless prices drop even further -which I don't see)
 
Reloder 10x
Light charges, good accuracy.

Tac, H335, CFE, x-Terminator, Benchmark, if it's got data and meters half decent I'll use it.
 
And yeah, I know 223 isn’t really worth reloading. I just want to get to know if before I start making up some heavier target loads.

Using TAC powder and Butters cheap bullets Im loading more accurate ammo than the "cheap" factory stuff still saving a pretty good amount.
 
In my research CFE223 seems like the best bet and is great for .308 as well.

A friend has a ton of 4895 so we used that but I'm not a big fan. It meters pretty poorly on his 1050. I'll be using CFE223 and Butter's bullets once I get dedicated .223 progressive.
 
I’ve been happy with cfe223 here.

Can’t blame the powder as I haven’t tested others or verified, but last winter it hit 0 degrees and for some reason I felt the need to shoot. My plinking loads (1ish MOA out of at least 5 different rifles). Went scattershot, could hear the difference with every shot. Gave me pause. But have 20lbs on hand and happily loading away.

Like Tac as well. Had one rifle that wouldn’t do crap with heavier projectiles and cfe223. My usual loads that do well in everything else. Were only decent in this one.

Loaded up with Tac and the setup came alive.
 
Two powders not mentioned yet that are usually easy to find and work well in .223Rem are Hogdon BL-C(2) and W748. They are #104 and #103 respectively on the relative burn rate chart. CFE223 is #105 for reference
 
Reloder 10x. 23.0gr @ 2.240”. Pretty quick 3100fps load. You can drop down to 22.5gr and have a nice, accurate, soft shooting load that’s in the 3000fps range

You can also load some stupid accurate 52gr SMKs with it

It’s an extruded stick powder so it doesn’t meter as easily (but still doesn’t meter badly) as CFE223 which is a close second choice for me, but honestly I think it’s cleaner.
 
I’ve been happy with cfe223 here.

Can’t blame the powder as I haven’t tested others or verified, but last winter it hit 0 degrees and for some reason I felt the need to shoot. My plinking loads (1ish MOA out of at least 5 different rifles). Went scattershot, could hear the difference with every shot. Gave me pause. But have 20lbs on hand and happily loading away.

Like Tac as well. Had one rifle that wouldn’t do crap with heavier projectiles and cfe223. My usual loads that do well in everything else. Were only decent in this one.

Loaded up with Tac and the setup came alive.

From some real world data from a gent over on 68forums, CFE223 is temp sensitive. I Don’t remember right off the top of my head what the velocity drop was per 10 degree drop in temp but CFE does drop a little more than other powder in a similar burn rate range

But I still use it for plinking lol and what might pass as something near accuracy lol
 
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Thanks guys. I had H335 and CFE223 on my list so I think I’m going to try to pick up some of both and see which one I like more.


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I really like 4198 for my AR pistol loads. I use only 19.0gn powder behind 52-55gn bullets, so if I bought everything in bulk I could get the price per round down to $0.18. For my mid-length carbine, I have to bump up to 20.5gn to reliably cycle the gun and lock the bolt open on empty, but it makes for a good load for under 100 yards.
 
H335 for plinking and general 5.56 nonsense like mag dumps and varmint dispatch. H4895 for HD, hunting rounds, and other serious endeavors. H4895 is oblivious to cold/hot temp swings and is far far more consistant than any other powder I have used in .223
 
What are recipes for CFE223? My highpower round with 335 is 25.2 over 55 FMJ, while my fun round is 22.8 over Butter's bullets.
 
Win 748 user here. 26gr with 55gr fmj. Any primer.

Got 8lb of h335, so will be using that next as Im out if 748.
 
From some real world data from a gent over on 68forums, CFE223 is temp sensitive. I Don’t remember right off the top of my head what the velocity drop was per 10 degree drop in temp but CFE does drop a little more than other powder in a similar burn rate range

But I still use it for plinking lol and what might pass as something near accuracy lol
Funny all mine go in the same hole which seems to be accurate to me.
 
BLC-2 or CFE223.
Like some wC844 pull down when you can find it.
H4198 has worked for me very well also
 
ding ding ding... another Win748 user here. Great powder and meters great through the Dillon 550. I do have 16 lbs of WC844 pulldown as a backup though. It was too cheap not to buy it.

Indeed. My goal is to go to all ball powders for 223, 308, and 06. 748 might make a return to my stockpile... want to try blc2 next.
 
For all my precision loads, I dump powder with my Chargemaster, so I am not concerned about stick powders, and lately I have gotten good results out of 8208. But for 100 yard or less plinking ammo, 4198 is pretty good and economical. It is a stick powder, but very fine grains, and I have my Dillon 550 toolhead setup with a Lee Autodrum measure that has no problem with the stick powders (better than the Dillon measure, IMHO). But for most powder measures, the ball powders do measure better than the extruded powders.
 
BLC-2 or CFE223.
Like some wC844 pull down when you can find it.
H4198 has worked for me very well also

Didn't have good luck with BLC-2 in .223, velocities weren't consistent. I switched to 748 for .223 and kept the BLC-2 for .308. Both meter very nice in my powder dispenser.
 
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