Starting over....223

[skizzums]

I have a new barrel for my cheap 16" poly lowered AR. Nothing wrong with the old one, was an inch and a quarter, slightly less somedays. I like it because it stays at one and quarter out to pretty long distances. The barrel has around 5k through it, pretty much all the same load of a Hornaday 75gr HPBT(not tipped) on top of 22.5gr of 4064. Love that load and will absolutely keep it in the vault. Although this barrel is not shot out, I have a new 16" barrel for free, so I will leave the old barrel for another day or another rifle in the future. I am replacing with another cheap barrel(although not quite as cheap) in the same 1:7NATO 16". It's from PSA, has no markings and a substandard phosphate finish. I am going to give it a try.


So, starting over, this is what I got. What would you use with what? All will be primered with Federal Gold and loaded to mag length. I also have a bulk pack of 60gr HRN SP's, but I have a bunch so will just load those for plink with h335. So any opinions? I know I have a few, but would like to hear yours. If you have any pet loads with a combination of whats available below, now's the time to get it off your chest

 

[Unclenick]

With that fast military twist (designed to stabilize the very long M856 tracer bullet) I would not try to drive lighter bullets too much faster than the heavy ones, figuring that may open groups up. So I would run a powder like Reloader 15 or maybe even IMR4198 with those at less than maximum and work up. For the longer bullets you will likely have to try everything you have. The H335 and BL-C(2) and 748 have old style deterrent coatings and may do best with magnum primers. You'll want to check for that by looking for what produces the lowest velocity standard deviation. Federal now makes a GMM205MAR primer that is for the AR, specifically, in a standard strength for stick powders and modern sphericals like Ramshot that don't necessarily benefit from a magnum primer.

At any rate, you've got some experimenting ahead of you. Have fun.

 

[603Country]

I'm not saying that what I use is the best for all, but I push Nosler 40's, Nosler 55's, and even Sierra 65 gr GK's with H335. And I use standard CCI BR4 primers. I have a new barrel (bolt gun, with 1 in 9 twist), so I started over in the search for good loads. I expected H335 to do well with the lighter bullets and was surprised to see that it worked great with the 65's. I can't speak for heavier bullets, since I don't shoot them. If the rifle didn't shoot so darn well with the H335, I'd be tempted to try some other powders and maybe some other primers.

As for IMR4064, I use it in several other rifles. I do believe that it's one of the best all around powders you can use in many calibers, even with the advent of all the fancy new powders that folks are buzzing about.