I have a few rifles and I handload 223 Rem. and 308 Win. I have several different one pound jars of powder and have found which of them and in what amount groups best at 100 and 200 yards with which bullet in which gun. There seems to be a hundred or more different powder labels. How do you choose which one to buy (whenever that's possible) for your application? The labels provide little information.
A question regarding smokeless powders
- Thread starter snowman
- Start date
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I stick with powder I can get load data on through the hornady book of load data. I only have 1 lbs of powder I have no data on but it has recommended amounts on the label. And still I start under what they recommend and work up if needed. But I'm sure you know a lot of factors come into play when getting a good base line with bullet weight to powder charge ratio.
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Get multiple reloading manuals.
Study the data.
I tend to look for things in a certain order.
Velocity
Pressure
Amount of powder used.
Also. Some powders measure better than others out of the Uniflows and Lil Dandy Powder measures I use.
With some experience you'll develop favorite powders for each caliber.
Study the data.
I tend to look for things in a certain order.
Velocity
Pressure
Amount of powder used.
Also. Some powders measure better than others out of the Uniflows and Lil Dandy Powder measures I use.
With some experience you'll develop favorite powders for each caliber.
Bigchillin83
Well-Known Member
https://www.hodgdonreloading.com/
very good page to referance and free IMR and hodgdon data
but agreed.. look at several diff books... Its amazing how much the load data changes from book to book with same caliber,primer,powder,bullet... and remember load down and work your way up
very good page to referance and free IMR and hodgdon data
but agreed.. look at several diff books... Its amazing how much the load data changes from book to book with same caliber,primer,powder,bullet... and remember load down and work your way up
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Snowman, there are several good powders you can use that will Work in both .223 & .308. H-335, Benchmark, CFE223 & IMR 8208 XBR are just a few you can use. Varget and W-748 will also work but they are extruded powders and are hard to get done the neck of the smaller cartridges. Like BigChil said, use the Hodgdon information and all the manufacturers have sights as well. Just so you know, Hodgdon owns IMR & Winchester powders and now the own the Wester powder line, that’s Accurate and Ramshot powders. They have not included that information onto their sight for those at this time.
Bryan
Bryan
Request Dust Off
Well-Known Member
There are not a hundred choices that are remotely appropriate though. Load data from a manufacturer is the first step.
In .223 & .308 there are a ton of proven loads. So a proven powder and proven load will give you a ballpark to about what you can expect with a given bullet. You still have to work up the load, but when a bunch of guys are all pretty close with a certain powder/bullet weight within a few 10ths of a grains, you should be able to work up to it safely. Some variables are bullet brand, primer, lot of powder, barrel length and individual barrel.
.223 has proven loads specifically for service rifle. Both have FTR loads the are pretty universal.
OCW is a good method to quickly work up where to find a sweet spot for a higher velocity accuracy node. In 1 OCW test you should be able to narrow down what the charge weight range is to focus on within less than .5 grains or less.
In .223 & .308 there are a ton of proven loads. So a proven powder and proven load will give you a ballpark to about what you can expect with a given bullet. You still have to work up the load, but when a bunch of guys are all pretty close with a certain powder/bullet weight within a few 10ths of a grains, you should be able to work up to it safely. Some variables are bullet brand, primer, lot of powder, barrel length and individual barrel.
.223 has proven loads specifically for service rifle. Both have FTR loads the are pretty universal.
OCW is a good method to quickly work up where to find a sweet spot for a higher velocity accuracy node. In 1 OCW test you should be able to narrow down what the charge weight range is to focus on within less than .5 grains or less.
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Gator 45/70
Well-Known Member
As I said I haven't used it in a while but, IIRC you can choose the cartridge, the bullet you want to shoot and it gives you the max pressure. It will give you a list of powders from the highest velocity down. It will also tell you the percentage of case fill. It will give you more info than that and will also let you customize COAL if your chamber will allow you to stretch the cartridge out. You can also change the volume of the case to account for a change in volume after you've fired the case in your chamber and then you don't fully resize and just neck size. It will also allow you to design wildcat cartridges. It will do much more than I can ever use.
https://www.neconos.com/quickload-ballistic-prediction-software/
https://www.neconos.com/quickload-ballistic-prediction-software/
