223 Rem Bolt/Trainer Loads

[bbyars]

Looking for some load data for a 223 PRS build i have in the works. Anyone shooting something close to this?

-26" barrel 1:7T
-Under 3000fps
-up to 77 gr projectiles
-AICS mag length

 

[stevieb92]

I'm running a 26 inch Bartlein heavy palma 1:7 twist and 24.2 of Varget and a 75 ELD-M in starline brass with CCI400 primer. Just under 3k fps. No problem fitting into an MDT .223 metal mag.

 

[spife7980]

23.1-23.8 of 8208xbr under any 75-77 gr bullet will do just fine. Lapua brass, others just cause headaches, It’s awesome. 75eld,77tmk,77rdf etc

 

[diggler1833]

I run a 26", 1:7 Krieger.

23.5 - 25.0gr Reloader 15 and the 69gr SMKs...or drop a grain on the powder charges and use the 77gr. I've had two barrels that shoot these well across a wide range of magazine-length seating depths.

For Varget, try 24.0 - 25.0 with the 69, and drop a grain again with the 77.

Be careful what brass you're using. Some stuff is pretty thick, and you'll get into pressure quickly. Those loads I listed are for LC/Lapua brass...not Starline etc...

 

[memilanuk]

You can also 'mine' the existing sticky thread on .223/5.56 loads by searching for specific terms mentioned here, like '75 ELD' or 'AICS'. Might take a bit of reading, but that never hurt anyone (too much)

FWIW, I'm in a similar boat: I recently picked up a second Origin action, so now I don't have to play hot-swap with barrels and bolt heads. I screwed on a 26" Krieger 7tw MTU barrel, and set it up in a KRG Bravo chassis and with an older scope I had laying around (Bushnell XRS 4.5-30x gen 1). Should be plenty for plinking, practice and a loaner. Last time I did load dev on it was sometime back in '21 or thereabouts, so I'm more or less starting from scratch. But, as mentioned... there is a wealth of info out there; ya just have to dig a little.

 

[DownhillFromHere]

I am totally OVER buying Hodgdon powder for reloading because of the price. I've gone to Vihtavuori, N135 for .223 and N150 for 6BR. I still have a full jug of H4350 for 6.5CM (seldom shot anymore) for which I paid under $300...

While advice from @spife7980 is usually golden, I will disagree on "just get Lapua brass" for .223. I bought 1000 same-lot Starline cases when I started handloading .223 several years ago; it's on its 8th go-round and still gives accuracy as good as or better than Peterson (6.5CM) and Alpha (6BR). I measured case weight and H2O volume of 20 cases and, again, found remarkably consistent values. Now, whether the brass quality is as high as the premium brands I can't say - I just know that I've been happy with Starline (I have not yet run my .223 in a match, although it's certainly accurate enough to play in Tactical).

Right now my favorite .223 load is quite mild (2830fps out of 28" 1:7 Bartlein) but I shoot it to 1000 regularly:
- Hornady 75gr ELDM seated to 1.92" CBTO
- 22.8gr N135
- CCI 400
- Starline case (annealed after each firing)

I've used 23.1 IMR-8208XBR instead of N135 (all else the same) for 2940fps (This exceeds Hodgdon's max recommended .223 load). Over the past year, I've simply found that milder loads do not hold me back in any way and are often more accurate than spicier recipes. I cleaned my .223 today; with 2200+ rounds on the barrel, I was very pleasantly surprised at the VERY minor firecracking and how easy the tube came clean.

 

[bbyars]

Has anyone actually seen a difference in SD/ES in using BR primers vs Standard vs Mag in 223 across the same load once its been tuned? Ive tried this before with gas gun but it was minimal difference, figured it may be more exaggerated in a bolt.

 

[DownhillFromHere]

Has anyone actually seen a difference in SD/ES in using BR primers vs Standard vs Mag in 223 across the same load once its been tuned? Ive tried this before with gas gun but it was minimal difference, figured it may be more exaggerated in a bolt.

I've compared all three (CCI 400, 450, BR4). I am quite content with -400s for my .223 bolt rifles; even the spicier IMR-8208XBR loads didn't cause excessive primer flattening. ES/SD values simply did not justify the added expense at all.

 

[jLorenzo]

Has anyone actually seen a difference in SD/ES in using BR primers vs Standard vs Mag in 223 across the same load once its been tuned? Ive tried this before with gas gun but it was minimal difference, figured it may be more exaggerated in a bolt.

I have not.

 

[kyotekiller25]

R700 223 Wylde, 28"/8 twist HV Bartlein, 75g ELDMs, 24.7g N540, Rem 7.5, Lapua case. 3000fps and 1/2 MOA. CBTO 1.925"

80.5g Berger, 24.5g N540, Rem 7.5, Lapua case. 2970fps and 1/2 MOA. CBTO 1.985"

 

[Greenmoustache]

I went down the 223 trainer path and ended up rechambering to 223ai and have had a blast with it. It still shoots great with standard 223 loads, but it let me push a little further and I ended up finding a great load with 26gr Varget under Berger 80.5 right at about 3050 fps.

 

[bbyars]

Anyone used H335 for the heavier bullets?

 

[Chrsclnngr]

My notes say for 73 eldm, 75g BTHP and 77 tmk at AR mag length:

H335 23g ok accuracy
CFE223 25g ok accuracy/ good velocity
Varget 23.5g good accuracy
AA2520 25.6 good accuracy/ great velocity
IMR 8208 XBR 23.4g excellent accuracy/ good velocity (best load with 77 TMK, this is my hunting load, good to 600+ yds)
AA2495 24.5g good accuracy

These are all 5.56 pressure loads (all are probably over any book max)

My best load for accuracy was 75g ELD-M with 25g Varget with a coal of 2.45" (single feed these, but with aics maybe you can load them long and fit them in the magazine) This is probably what I would look to try to shoot in a PRS setup.

 

[supercorndogs]

Anyone used H335 for the heavier bullets?

H335 is gonna be low on velocity and high on pressure.

What you can get is going to depend on your chamber. For a while the wylde with its .062 freebie was very popular. Not that it's not still popular but I see some guys shooting heavy bullets going to .1 or longer for thier freebore. This is going to somewhat effect the too powder charges that can be used. For my wilde chambered bolt action 24.7 with a 75 a max was ragged edge or a little beyond @3000fps in a 28" barrel. Most other loads I have used are mentioned in this thread already, with the 8208 and rl15. My ar15 23.4 of 8208 with a 77smk or nosler CC shoots great as a fireforimg load in my 223ai also.

 

[Kaldor]

23.5gr 8208 XBR
77 SMK
2.255 COAL
CCI 400
LC Brass
2820fps from a 22" barrel

Its sub minute in every gun Ive shot it from from bolt to AR. And 8208 works great in a progressive. Could improvements be made? Sure, Im sure I could get much better ES/SD and accuracy from a Lapua or even a Starline case, but honestly, I dont care.

 

[King_beardsly]

I’m trying out 77SMK and 80SMK for this, tried 75ELD-M’s but couldn’t get that bullet to shot well enough with varget or Staball match, so figured I’d try something else.

 

[kyotekiller25]

Did you by chance do a full seating depth test with the 75 ELDMs? That's what I had to do with them to get them to shoot nice and consistent. Very picky with a small window. They ended up liking 20-25 off. I tested from touching to 40 off in 005 increments.

The 80.5 Bergers I just picked 20 off and ran with it. Shoots slightly better than the 75 ELDMs, with no seating depth test.

 

[bbyars]

H335 is gonna be low on velocity and high on pressure.

What you can get is going to depend on your chamber. For a while the wylde with its .062 freebie was very popular. Not that it's not still popular but I see some guys shooting heavy bullets going to .1 or longer for thier freebore. This is going to somewhat effect the too powder charges that can be used. For my wilde chambered bolt action 24.7 with a 75 a max was ragged edge or a little beyond @3000fps in a 28" barrel. Most other loads I have used are mentioned in this thread already, with the 8208 and rl15. My ar15 23.4 of 8208 with a 77smk or nosler CC shoots great as a fireforimg load in my 223ai also.

I got 11# i need to burn up in something...was really hoping this would be good enough to use. Theres a guy close to me that has 8-10# of 8208 for sale though. I know that stuff shoots, barrel should be done in a couple weeks. If i cant get the 75 eldm and h335 to shoot, it might be loading 77smk and 8208 but i wanna say i was closer to 22.8gr with both the 77smk and 73elm at mag length. Since there is going to be some actually seating depth in an aics mag this might be interesting.

 

[supercorndogs]

I got 11# i need to burn up in something...was really hoping this would be good enough to use. Theres a guy close to me that has 8-10# of 8208 for sale though. I know that stuff shoots, barrel should be done in a couple weeks. If i cant get the 75 eldm and h335 to shoot, it might be loading 77smk and 8208 but i wanna say i was closer to 22.8gr with both the 77smk and 73elm at mag length. Since there is going to be some actually seating depth in an aics mag this might be interesting.

I have shots loads of 50-55g bullets with it in the 223, and loads of 34-40g bullets in the 20 practical with a close duplicate.