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| You're going to feel a little pressure... |
Hey all- If loading in bulk (not for accuracy) what is the most efficient 5.56 (rounds per pound) powder? I would like to stock up on some plinking bullets and powder. Thanks! Bruce "The designer of the gun had clearly not been instructed to beat about the bush. 'Make it evil,' he'd been told. 'Make it totally clear that this gun has a right end and a wrong end. Make it totally clear to anyone standing at the wrong end that things are going badly for them. If that means sticking all sort of spikes and prongs and blackened bits all over it then so be it. This is not a gun for hanging over the fireplace or sticking in the umbrella stand, it is a gun for going out and making people miserable with." -Douglas Adams “It is just as difficult and dangerous to try to free a people that wants to remain servile as it is to try to enslave a people that wants to remain free." -Niccolo Machiavelli The trouble with fighting for human freedom is that one spends most of one's time defending scoundrels. For it is against scoundrels that oppressive laws are first aimed, and oppression must be stopped at the beginning if it is to be stopped at all. -Mencken | ||
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Hoping for better pharmaceuticals |
BLC-2 or AR-COMP have been the two I have been most satisfied with. Both are running about $29/lb. Getting shot is no achievement. Hitting your enemy is. NRA Endowment Member . NRA instructor | |||
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Not worth using a less than optimum powder. Most powders fall into the area of 24-26 grains while the fastest which I don't recommend uses about 20 grains. At 24 grains you get about 291 loads per pound. At 25 grains about 280 and 26 grains 269. Very small savings between 2 grains. Good luck right now finding popular .223 powders and bullets. One thing you can do is to look for the best prices and sales. | |||
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Member |
H335 will be good. The faster powders generally will use less grains per round but you can't go too fast if you're shooting a semi-auto. H335 starting load is a full 3 grains less than say CFE223 for 55 gr bullets. | |||
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Prepared for the Worst, Providing the Best |
Here's another vote for H335. As a bonus it's pretty versatile and I can use it in other rifle calibers as well. | |||
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Member |
Ramshot Exterminator should be on the list, slightly faster than TAC. | |||
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semi-reformed sailor |
I’ve used: Tac BLC-2 AA2230s Varget For 223.... and they all use about the same amount....21-24/25 grains... I’m down to the last of 16 pounds of AA2230S because I got it dirt cheap at an estate sale.... If I hadn’t put an index card in the box of ammo, I couldn’t tell the difference between them. (I load to M193-55grain FMJ) When I shoot handguns, I can tell if the powder was Unique though...it smells different from some others I’ve used. Once while qualifying with an off duty weapon (G22 instructor walked up behind me and asked if I was shooting Unique....I played dumb and didn’t admit to shooting reloads for qualification....I only had 50 rounds of Speer gold dots for the 40 Glock I was trying to qual on for off duty. Later he started chuckling and told me he used reloads for all of his qualifications for off duty guns.) "Violence, naked force, has settled more issues in history than has any other factor.” Robert A. Heinlein “You may beat me, but you will never win.” sigmonkey-2020 “A single round of buckshot to the torso almost always results in an immediate change of behavior.” Chris Baker | |||
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RN - Want to share with you something that might help - especially right now if you find popular powders mentioned above hard to find.....Reloader 10X is a GREAT 223 powder that can also be used for other rifle rounds. THe reason I mention Reloader 10X is because it is a powder that has been around a long long time and during the last powder run this was one of the powders I consistently found available in my area. Average load will be between 21-23 Grains per round if you are loading the 55 Grain bullet...Just keep this in mind if you struggle to find some of the newer more popular powders. I have been using Reloader 10X for 4 years in my 223 rounds and I am very happy with the results....Mark | |||
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| You're going to feel a little pressure... |
Great information, everyone. It doesn't seem that the faster powders are that much more efficient. I will try to stock up on the more versatile ones like Varget (hah!) and 4064 but keep an eye out for some of the others mentioned. Bruce "The designer of the gun had clearly not been instructed to beat about the bush. 'Make it evil,' he'd been told. 'Make it totally clear that this gun has a right end and a wrong end. Make it totally clear to anyone standing at the wrong end that things are going badly for them. If that means sticking all sort of spikes and prongs and blackened bits all over it then so be it. This is not a gun for hanging over the fireplace or sticking in the umbrella stand, it is a gun for going out and making people miserable with." -Douglas Adams “It is just as difficult and dangerous to try to free a people that wants to remain servile as it is to try to enslave a people that wants to remain free." -Niccolo Machiavelli The trouble with fighting for human freedom is that one spends most of one's time defending scoundrels. For it is against scoundrels that oppressive laws are first aimed, and oppression must be stopped at the beginning if it is to be stopped at all. -Mencken | |||
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I use H335 for AR plinking rounds and Varget for bolt action target rounds. | |||
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Of course common sense that the faster powders calls for lower average charge weights. Generally one uses faster powders with lighter bullets, generally. The usual number is 7000 grains per lb of powder, so divide the average/planned charge weights into that. Often, 223 loads call for about 25 grains of powder. 7000 divided by 25 is 280. For casual shooting, cheap bullets, I go with 50-55 Grain choices. Then if one wants to pinch pennies, no need for max pressure. A midlin, or less, charge is fine as long as it reliably cycles. Of course stay inside listed data charge weights. While at it, snoop around for some free brass. That brass usually lasts longer at lower pressures. Before you know it, you’re a frugal reloader. | |||
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Web Clavin Extraordinaire |
Just got 8lbs of CF223 from my shop this afternoon for a price decently cheaper than what I could get online after shipping and hazmat, so I'm gonna run with that for now. Also picked up another pound of Varget that I will probably run through my AR10. Usually use Varget for my bolt gun loads in .308 and .223. I'm surprised that my shop was decently stocked on both powder and primers. Powder had a nice variety, but mostly only 1 lb cans. Primers weren't stacked deep, but they had all the varieties. ---------------------------- Chuck Norris put the laughter in "manslaughter" Educating the youth of America, one declension at a time. | |||
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Plowing straight ahead come what may |
Hodgdon 335 or BLC 2... Ive bought Hodgdon 335 locally for $21.99 per pound + tax over the last few years...(8# tubs...cheaper w/o sales tax along with Hodgdon Universal for pistol powder for $22.99 per pound)...primers are the stopping point here...none available locally...just the European stuff...I'll admit, I left the Wolf and SB primers for others because I'm good on my primers and powder...YMMV ******************************************************** "we've gotta roll with the punches, learn to play all of our hunches Making the best of what ever comes our way Forget that blind ambition and learn to trust your intuition Plowing straight ahead come what may And theres a cowboy in the jungle" Jimmy Buffet | |||
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Member |
My standard blaster load is 25 grains of 2230 and a 55grn fmj. I bought 56 pounds of 2230 for $18 a pound. It’ll have to do. Demand not that events should happen as you wish; but wish them to happen as they do happen, and you will go on well. -Epictetus | |||
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