.223

That's a hard one because every rifle is unique unto itself. I have one bolt action that shoots anything I've thrown at it with sub MOA groups. Those same shells in other rifles will sometimes group reasonable well but not to those rifles best accuracy potential. Started loading for the 223 in 1974 with WW748 powder. Moved to H335 and H322 later settling on H335. Recently tried VV N130 and VV N133 but wasn't impressed with the results. Have tried Varget, Benchmark, Reloader 10, AA2520, AA2230 and BL-C(2). H335 is still my favorate most versitle powder in this caliber. I couldn't get the 40 grain bullets to group well from 1-9 twist barrels. They worked very good on 50 and 55 grain bullets. Any of the reloading manuals for various powders I've listed have starting and maximum loads. My best most accurate loads were far from the published maximums in those manuals.

Poppa, I shoot a Savage 12FV 223 with a 1-9 twist. My standard load is a 55 gr Sierra Blitzking aheead of 21.5 g H4198. This load shoots consistently .5 inch or less. Start at 10% less and work up.

Have a Savage .223 that shoots Hornady factory ammo with amazing results. Haven't been able to reproduce the results yet, but a member here suggested w748 as a go to powder with 55 grain v-max.

I do have a load worked up with H-335 and Sierra 69gr. SMK's that's always printed under an inch at 100. Have to get my load data and see what the charge is.

In my Savage FVSS in .223 with 1-9 twist I have had excellent accuracy using 55 gr. Hornady V-Max with 26.3 gr. Varget. This has been my longrange prairie dog load for years.
Always remember to work those loads up starting from the low end. Good luck to you on your load development.

Never could get the Varget to group like I know the rifle is capable of. I burned many a grain of Varget and never found a load I really thought nailed it. It sure fills a case though!

My Savage mod 11 shoots tiny groups with max loads of H322 and Benchmark with 40 gr vmax , and it's not shabby with 1/2 grain under max with H335. Don't try real frangible bullets like Blitz or SX WITH MAX loads or you will be looking for bullet holes that aren't there! The 1-9 twist would suggest 50 or 55gr bullets would group best, but my rifle seems to love 40's. It also shoots tiny groups with the old Speer 70 gr semi spitzer, which I wouldn't hesitate to take small deer with at 150 yds or less. There are lots of suitable powders to choose from that I've yet to try, but haven't seen the need. Have fun!

My two favorite bullets are the #1320 sierra 50 grain softnose, and the 37 grain Calhoun double-hollowpoint. I've used various appropriate ball powder loads with these two and they are excellent in the accuracy department. Calhoun has load data on their site for Blue Dot and the 37 grain bullet that goes down to 4.5 grains and 1200 fps if you need to be more like a rim-fire around the house. I'm lazy and throw max charges of BLC-2 right out of the hopper most of the time and it works well.

poppa5685 said:

can anyone share an accurate hand load for the .223. i'm shooting a stevens 200 with a 1-9 twist. i'm new to the forum and your help will be apreciated.poppa

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my stevens model 200 223 rem,seem's to shoot quite well with win.srp,honady 55gr v-max,win brass,and a near max load(depending on wich load manual you use),of 23.5 gr of h335
I'm extremely happy with the accurracy of this rifle

H322 will likely produce the most accurate loads, if not the fastest. One of my pet accuracy loads is a CCI BR2 primer, WW brass, 24.0 H322 and the 50 Ballistic Tip. It only develops a bit under 3100 fps from my 21" barrel, but it shoots fly-speck groups.

Poppa,

I have great luck with the 75 gr Hornady TAP ammo ( dime size groups all day @ 100)

As for reloading , I have had great results out of Reloder 7 ( 21.5 gr) with both Hornady 55gr V-Maxs and Sierra 53gr HPBT match projectiles in Rem brass and CCI SRP

Though the guys are right , every rifle can be different in what it likes to make ragged holes.

Good luck with your load work up,


Lokota

My Kimber is a 1:9 twist. It shoots the Sierra and Nosler 40 grain bullets very accurately with several powders. It shoots 60 - 70 grain bullets really well too using Varget and BL-C(2) but I can't get the 45-55 grain bullets to shoot worth a darn.