Stick powder fro 5.56

In my match loads in 223, my ES is 9 fps with this lot so far with 77 gr smk's. 2713 fps, 20" barrel. OAL 2.280 ..tip drags on the mag a little. BR-2 primers.

In my bulk 147 gr fmj 308 plinking loads for my AR-10, 43 gr Benchmark holds moa with cheap Winchester bullets..... not an easy feat to be sure;)
 
I started loading .223 again recently, and I've used IMR 3031 to good effect, but often the grains will hang up in the Uniflow, requiring extra pressure to break them and complete the stroke. Measuring shows very little effect on the charge weight with that so far. Results have been good. Having said that - Winchester 748 seems to do everything I need now, and meters SO much nicer in my old Uniflow!
 
I've used Varget, 4064, 3031, H335 and a few others. Finally I just went with H335 for all 223 loads (40 and 55 gr BTs, 65 gr Sierra GKs, and 64 gr Nosler BSB). If I had no H335, I'd probably try Benchmark.

I did have bridging with the stick powders. H335 pours like water.
 
Maybe it's the guys being frugal, but I just change throwers.
When stick didn't want to throw through Lee charge bar throwers, I simply broke out the RCBS rotational drum which broke sticks just fine.
When Dillon charge bar thrower gave me fits with stick powder, I simply bought the adapter for the drum thrower and switched.

Just as a side note, the current crop of 'Short Stick' (extruded: Varget, Benchmark) powder seems to do fine in the new style Dillon charge bar throwers, while Lee throwers don't do so well with it.

Lee charge bar throwers have always given me fits, between plastic parts with about zero quality control and shaky mounts I just never had any luck with then.
 
Ball powder is of course the easiest as far as using a measure; most of my .223 loads use BL-C(2), W748 or H335 thrown with the Lee PPM. Really speeds things up (vs trickling) and very consistent drops. As a bonus, ball powders tend to cost a little less also. For my heavier match loads I prefer a stick like RE15 or Varget, neither of which would measure as consistently as I wanted with the PPM but both do acceptably well with a Lyman 55 I was given. As much as I like 4064 for other cartridges, the long grains and small case neck make it a bit frustrating for the .223.
 
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