again 24.5grn AR2206 Mate...mild and shoots great.

Elvis wrote:

for you unbelievers...and for you too Slim today I had a rising 2 year old red hind pause side on at 150ish yards 55grn TTSX poked along by 24.5 grns AR2206 went in shoulder and out far side ribs...

Elvis, I'm glad you didn't group me with the non-believers. I've been testing the .223 bullets more lately. Here is a shot of a test series from 25 to 300 yards of the 62gr TTSX and TSX (24" barrel). The TSX is in front but I didn't have any bullets left over to show the before.

Nice harvest, BTW. Got some good eating coming.

Congrats on the new rifle. I have a Savage in the same calibre and twist. I have worked up loads using a variety of powders and bullets. Like the .308, the .223 seems to digest different combinations easily. The longer, heavier bullets are known for tumbling once they hit. This was one selling point for their military use. I am typing this on my cellphone so I don't have access to my references but I found that the best weight bullets were in the 50 to 70 grain range. If you would like I can send you my best recipes by PM. Have fun.

Thanks Mac...we have no shortage of recipes as my shooting buddy has been shooting this calibre for years.

Initial loads I will be trying will be 50gn bullets pushed along by 26gn of Varget. Will fine tune from there. Another powder that is showing a lot of promise is Benchmark 8208 from ADI Thales. Its not the cheapest powder at $99 a kilogram (2.2 lbs), but it is a short grain powder that meters well and is very versatile from all accounts so far.

Elvis, I am trying to restrict my loading to just one or two powders to make life easy. My primary loads use 2207 (cast .243 bullets) and 2208, although I may well end up replacing 2208 with 8208.

My boy's axis has been really solid and accurate, we are very happy with it thus far... my only complaint is spare magazines are kind of pricey.

Good job! For bullets, give those new Sierra 65grn SPBT's a look, I'm getting .4" groups with them in .223 (using Varget)

-DallanC

I have only played with 55 and 60grn projectiles in a 223
Had great results from AR2207 (H4198), AR2208 (Varget) and BM2 (Benchmark).

I've been advised here to try Sierra's 63 grs SMP in my .222 and that advise was a good one for me. Not so good for roedeer as they have lost several relatives on that nice bullet. For varmints I still like the Sierra's 45 gr Hornet-bullet in the .222, what I consider a very safe round. When I had to do larger game with a .222 without head or neck-shots, I probably put my nose in the Barnes reloading book. But because I only have Barnes's bullets in .284 and they finally got a decent groupe in the 7 mm RM (not in the 7x57(R), 7x64 nor the .280 Rem !), I already have a good choise for any size of game (when I don't have to carry that rather heavy rifle too far).

At this moment I'm playing with 61,5 grs bullets in the .22 Hornet, using Trailboss. And for brush-hunting I think that FMJ BT placed upside down might be a winner... I even did some rounds like this with Vihta's N120, but they are still waiting for a trip to the range.

There was a time that I was convinced only the .300 WM was made for hunting and the rest was for the range... now I cannot remember when was the last time my .300's came out the safe (and even then it was only while looking for another rifle).

All calibers seem to have their reason to exist and it's upto the shooter to chose the right bullet that would work for him. And that's a never ending search...

69 SMK is most accurate in my. 223 but not really a hunting bullet. My favourate is the Hornady Varmint in 60 grain.

55 V-max with 27.1 gr. Varget is an accurate coyote killer in my AR's.

I normally avoid posting recipes in the open forums but since you mentioned BM 8208 which is our IMR 8208XBR I decided to make this exception.

Hornady 60 Grn Varminter HP
21.5 grns IMR 8208
Lake City Full Length Sized
CCI 400 SR
C.O.L. 2.250

Avg. Grp. .40
Max. Grp. .46

I don't have speed as I didn't have my chrono with me.

Congrats on the new rifle. I have a Savage in the same calibre and twist. I have worked up loads using a variety of powders and bullets. Like the .308, the .223 seems to digest different combinations easily. The longer, heavier bullets are known for tumbling once they hit. This was one selling point for their military use. I am typing this on my cellphone so I don't have access to my references but I found that the best weight bullets were in the 50 to 70 grain range. If you would like I can send you my best recipes by PM. Have fun.

Mac, are you going to send this every week?

I have a range day programmed for this coming Friday and it can't come quick enough.

I have a couple of different factory loads to run in the barrel. I have a box of British NATO FMJ and three boxes of Wolf (with the steel cases). Once I have run the barrel in and I am happy that all is good, I have a few different hand loads to try. If I can find the time this week to do a little reloading I should have some more, although at the moment I only have AR2208 (Varget) powder and I want to try some 8208 which has shown great potential in my mates rifle.

if you can find any Norinco fmj with the yellow box grab it with both hands...awesome round on animals and brass is ok for reloading. I broke mine in with 100rounds of it and shot a heap of goats,wallabies,hares n bunnies before it ran out.

I'll keep my eyes open Elvis, although I have a heap of once fired Winchester cases and about 500 or so projectiles. My shooting buddy also has a 50gr mould in .224 which we are going to experiment with.