Reloading for the .223 Remington

[ovenpaa]

I need to load for a .223 and have just been going through my powders, I have the normal stuff for slightly larger cartridges such as Varget and N140 which I would have thought were a tad slow for a 55 grain bullet however I just spotted a tub of Ramshot X-Terminator on the shelf. Has anyone experience of it with the .223? It is a 21.5" barrel with a 1:8 twist so a bit on the quick side however I have very few bullets between 55 grains and 80 grains.

[Daryll]

Varget seems to be the "go-to" powder for the US shooters for .223... lots of data online for it.

[Sim G]

It's brilliant stuff! I was using X-Terimator and Tac in my .223. Tac was more suited to heavy bullets but as I keep N140 for heavy .223. It seemed pointless. If the X-T had better availability locally, I would have continued to still be using it, but I found sketchy to get.

My longstanding .223 powder, H335, still gives great performance in just about every .223 I've had, and I've had a few, and just about everywhere seems to stock it...

[BlackburnBuccaneer]

I have found RS50 to work very well with bullets in the 80-90gr range, I shot some 1500 80gr VLD's and 82gr BT's through my 1:8 Tikka 20" before having it re barreled and am now using the same powder with 80gr and 90gr VLD's in a 28" 1:7.

In the 20" Tikka barrel I was getting about 2840fps with a fairly substantial charge of RS50, I also used N140 but velocities were somewhat lower - this chamber however was fairly large by .223 standards resulting in a case capacity of some 32 grains, so the I wont post the charge weights.
I am now pushing the 80's at around 3040fps from the 28" barrel with 25.3 gr of RS50 in a lapua case with CCI 450's in a .223 match chamber with a .150" freebore so if you start somewhere below there and work up you should find a sweet spot depending on your chamber / throat length. I also use 90gr VLD's with N550 and RS50 at 2806 and 2774 fps respectively but these would not work in an 8 twist.

One rule of thumb I have found is if a powder will work well in a 308 with ~ 155gr bullets it is probably a fairly good match for .223 with 80gr - 90gr bullets as well - think RL15, RS50/52, N140, N550, Varget, H4895 and the like.

Looking at Ramshot X-Terminator in QL it looks like it may be a bit down on velocity but should work but Big Game or Wild Boar might well be a better bet if you want to boost velocity.

With reference to Lighter Bullets in a 1:8, I did shoot about 100 52gr A-Max in mine without problem, but did not chronograph them, accuracy was very good and the twist didn't seem to have an adverse effect.

[Andy632]

Approx 24grains of Varget behind a 69-77 grain bullet; Bob's your aunty.

[Rarms]

Approx 24grains of Varget behind a 69-77 grain bullet; Bob's your aunty.

I use that with 77grn SMKs in my AR to good effect.

Used it behind 55grn before too.

[kennyc]

I use N140 with 55grn Vmax and Xterminator with 50grn Blitz's and 40grn Nosler BT all seem to work well although the rifle I have Remmington Mod7 with 181/2" barrel seems to be slow as I am not getting hyper speeds with any of the loadings, accuracy is good and the 55 Vmax are devastating on stadium concrete steps (Lord Flashheart will be along to giggle shortly )

[shoppe]

in my savage accu stalker i use 25 grains of vt133 with a sierra 55grain blitz king at 3300fps,
very very good.

[takbok]

Xterminator worked very well in my .222 with 53gr Matchkings @ 3250fps. I was also getting about 3450fps with Barnes 45gr TSX but accuracy wasn't the best.

Its a pity that it isn't easier to get hold of these days with it being manufactured so close by.

[Daryll]

Xterminator worked very well in my .222 with 53gr Matchkings @ 3250fps. I was also getting about 3450fps with Barnes 45gr TSX but accuracy wasn't the best.

Its a pity that it isn't easier to get hold of these days with it being manufactured so close by.

Yes, i'm slightly confused why the RamShot powders seem to be scarse... I've been recommended Wild Boar for .223 and .308, but I can't get any locally... apparenlty its imported by Kranks, and when someone asked them when they were getting some more in, they were told "this year...."