what is your favourite 223 load?

[andy303]

g'day guys as some of you may be aware i recently bought a ruger 223 ,what i would ask is could some of you 223 veterans share your favourite fox loads........please! i myself havent reloaded anything for it yet but iam itching to get into it, i know every rifle is different but some of your favourite fox loads would give me some-where to start eg favourite pills, powder etc many thanks andy

[macca]

Either V max or ballistic tips in front of a stiff hit of BM2 does a very good job in my rifle.Nosler shots also work well inside 400 yards as well.
cheers,
Macca

[clive]

My favorite because its cheap and because I'm not taking long range shots;

55gr soft point in whatever brand my LGS has at around $15/100 (eg Nosler shot, Hornady, Highland (rebadged PPU)).

1.68 grams (25.9gr) of ADI 2206H. I will be dropping this another 0.1gr for the next batch for 2 reasons; I'm getting slight cratering around the firing pin dent and this load is 5 - 10 mm higher (group average impact point) than factory 55gr rounds and it would be nice but not essential to have the average point of impact close for easy swapping.

CCI 400 primers (I haven't tried anything else yet, so I can't offer useful advice on primers)

These work for me in a T3 lite 223 12" twist. If you want to try, start at the minimum powder load from the ADI manual and work up.

[Rumpus]

Ive found 2206h to work well (25-26gn) Pushing Nosler Ballistics..

[damien couper]

2206H works best for me around 26gr to 27gr with a 50gr VMax but 50gr shots work just as well and half the price

[WhiteMeat]

At the moment i'm using approx (thrown) 25.5 gr 2208, CCI 400 primers and Hornady 75 grain HPBT out of a 1:9 223AI

Will be trying out the 75 grain Amaxes at some point, am hoping that the terminal effects on the bunnies is a little more to get excited about than the HPBTs...

[kjd]

At the moment i'm using approx (thrown) 25.5 gr 2208, CCI 400 primers and Hornady 75 grain HPBT out of a 1:9 223AI

Will be trying out the 75 grain Amaxes at some point, am hoping that the terminal effects on the bunnies is a little more to get excited about than the HPBTs...

Ahh see you should have got the 1:12 twist 223 and shot 40gn Vmax out to 350yds no hassles with great effects

[andy303]

thanks guys for the loads since i use ar2206h in my 303 i will start with that powder and see how it performs then if it doesnt work out i will try some of the ones listed here, what about the 40 g pills for the 223 how do they perform? at the moment i have bought some 55g ballistic tips to try but iam interested to see how the 40 grainers would go for accuracy i know they would be dynamite on small game cheers andy

[WhiteMeat]

At the moment i'm using approx (thrown) 25.5 gr 2208, CCI 400 primers and Hornady 75 grain HPBT out of a 1:9 223AI

Will be trying out the 75 grain Amaxes at some point, am hoping that the terminal effects on the bunnies is a little more to get excited about than the HPBTs...

Ahh see you should have got the 1:12 twist 223 and shot 40gn Vmax out to 350yds no hassles with great effects

not this again

the 75 grainers should be hitting subsonic by about 700m though which makes for a bit more of a challenge

[chris thomas]

A 9 twist will shoot 40 grainers and better still up to the 75's . I know what i would rather be shooting at long range.

I have been using 80 grain A max out of a 7.5 twist and they work great just . Wind drift is less than half of a 55 grainer and elevation is nearly as good due to the high bc. I wind up anyway so elevation is not a problem.

55 Vmax even shoot from my 7.5 twist 25 grains of BM2 get me around 3300 FPS from a 26 inch tube and they group around 20mm at 200m. The 80 A max i use 25 grains of 2208 for 2930 FPS .The 80's group tighter at 300m than 200m (something to do with VLD's ) groups of around 20-30mm at 300m.

A friend uses the 75 Amax with great results from his 9 twist. Hit's on rabbits and foxes out to 300m are solid and make a mess. We both enjoy shooting rabbits at long range and use a Range finder to help then wind up elevation. Hit's to 350m are not so hard but 350- 500m success rate drops of to around 50 %.

Some bloke's tell me great tales of foxes and rabbits to 350m with bog stock .223's shooting factory loads 3 x9 scopes no range finders etc,etc buggered if i know how they do it.

[trevort]

Some bloke's tell me great tales of foxes and rabbits to 350m with bog stock .223's shooting factory loads 3 x9 scopes no range finders etc,etc buggered if i know how they do it.

I couldnt do it. Distant warren, prone with Bipod, hit 3 out of 11 shots, above and below misses. No wind, it was all elevation.
Thomo was about 20m further to one side and just kept popping them off with his 204.

He went back a few days later with a borrowed rangefinder and all shots were between 210 and 260m.

So the full answer to your question is, replace the barrel, neck down your brass and put around 24gns of re10 behind a 39blitzking


Or seriously, the max ADI charge of BM2 and the 50gn SBK were very accurate and very explosive in mine when it was a 223

[kjd]

.

Some bloke's tell me great tales of foxes and rabbits to 350m with bog stock .223's shooting factory loads 3 x9 scopes no range finders etc,etc buggered if i know how they do it.

Let me say that we did in fact have range finders, a 6-24x scope with mildots with custom loads and I hit 5 from 6. I knew the distance, I knew the elevation and knew which way the wind was going.

If I wanted something to shoot really long ranges, I'd get a true long range gun. I don't see a 223 as a 700m gun I see it as useful with the right tools out to 400m and I'd take shots beyond that if I knew my points on the reticle properly but I'd be looking at something in the 6mm class for true long range. Once again for the vast majority of shooters who do not shoot out past 300 or so metres with 40-60gn projectiles the 1:9 and 1:8 twists have no benefit.

[chris thomas]

Thats good shooting Keith and well done. When you know distance half the battle is won. Do you think the .223 is a 400m gun with 40-60 grainers i would have though much better to. 300m To be honest i have only used the 80 grainers though my .223 while shooting rabbits. I might give some 55's a go and see what sort of range i can get out of them. I built this .223 as a all rounder F class Field rifle long range bunny gun and spotlighting the 80's are a bit of a over kill for normal ranges and the 55's are much nicer to shoot.

What i'm saying is that most shooters have no idea of distance and a 300m shot is really closer to 180 -200 and at times this can be a long shot.

Spotlighting is hardest to judge distance and i reckon 200m is a decent shot night.

I had a guy the other day telling me with his 30-06 that he took down a roo at 520 . 520 what i asked meters or yard he didn't know i asked him about elevation and he said he just aimed about a foot above it's head. Thats good going with a 100 yard zero.


Trevort tell me more about your mates .204. I'm a bit interested in one they sound like a heap of fun. I have a Sako L461 in .17Rem just begging for a .20 Barrel

[kjd]

Well there is really only 5-7 inches drop at 300yds with the 40gn Vmax Not really a 400m load but as long as you know the distances and your trajectory it can be. I was wanting to take the shots further out but we ran out of bunnies.

@ 400yds you are about 17inches low with the 40gners. Which is better than even the 75gn factory data that I have on hand (dont have a handload for that). I guess when its windy it comes into account but with the purchasing of a anemometer that could be accounted for to. I'm not long distance expert but it seems that raw velocity can make up for a lot out to these distances at the sacrifice of BC that being said a 80gn Amax at 3500fps out of some overbore 22cal varminter would reign supreme.

[WhiteMeat]

.
If I wanted something to shoot really long ranges, I'd get a true long range gun. I don't see a 223 as a 700m gun I see it as useful with the right tools out to 400m and I'd take shots beyond that if I knew my points on the reticle properly but I'd be looking at something in the 6mm class for true long range.

And I agree with you, though I can't afford to get another long range rifle built up at this point in time, which is why I want to run the .223 at its limit, which, is well beyond my limit at this point in time. One day i'll go all out again and get a more dedicated long range rig though

The .223 also runs less powder, recoil and noise than most 6mms, so it makes even more sense then to extend the range of the 223 with a faster bbl to start to get into the long range work without having to go all out and get another firearm specifically for the purpose. Tikka, Savage and Rem offer these sort of 223s so it then comes down to being able to run a greater range of projies through the one gun when cost is a limiting factor.