Anyone Have a Favorite 223 load

[300 RUM]

I am looking to start loading for a 223. It will have a 24" barrel with a 1 in 12 twist, so a 50gr seems about right. I have been looking at a couple of Hornady bullets mainly just because they are readily available and I have had good luck with them in other calibers.

I am looking at the 50gr SPXS or the V-Max. I will mainly use this load for fun plinking and some coyote and prairie dog hunting with a few rock chucks in for good measure.

I like the V-Max due to the boat tail which help getting them little suckers in the case when loading.

The SPSX is appealing for the name. I like to have a good pop! when I connect.

Anyone have much luck with these or feel sharing their favorite load.

[Baldeagle 713]

I own a Remington XR-100 chambered in 223.
It likes the Black hills 50G Vmax Factory loads.
It also likes 25 Grain of bench mark pushing a 55 Grain Vmax.
The 50 Grain Vmax pushed buy the Black Hills does massive damage to ground hogs under 300 yards. In fact I almost hate reloading for my 223 be cause the Black hills stuff works so good.
I will reload for my 223 any way though I gotta get my moneys worth out of the dies.

[tooldummy]

My favorite load is a 52 grain Sierra boat tail hollow point match bullet over 22 grains of Hogdon 4198 powder. I had a friend suggest this to me and it works very well in my CZ.
I have a H & R single shot, as does my cousin, and they both like a soft point Hornady and Sierra 55 grain. I would have to look and see what the powder is though because I don't remember.
My daughters AR-15 shoots a Midway USA dogtown soft point using the Varget powder the best, followed by Vita Vouri N133.
A lot of guys shoot Hornady V-max bullets and they shoot pretty good in all my guns, but I found the above to be the best for me.

[Drew_CarreyAB]

Having used the 55gr SXSP, I would suggest it over the 50's due to the fact that it will buck the wind a bit better and if'n you like the thuwmp then go with the 70gr SP from SPEER (they make the thuwmp and make the gophers fly LOL) although they may not shoot out of your rifle..mine is a 1:12 and I get MOA @ 100 with them???? I have used the V-max from 35gr up to 60 and if your shots are 50yds to 75yds the 35gr(4100fps) V-max is a wonderful misting bullet. The 50 and 60 grs are the same as the 35's only more streamlined and have a little more weight. I have also tried the 50gr TNT (1.25" group @ 300yds) and the barnes X, as well as the NBT's......bang for your buck, try the 50gr TNT's from SPEER, IMO.

[Cobra]

Sold my NEF to a friend to get him started, wish I hadn't. Threw a 50gr Speer HP-TNT in the <1/2" area. Used 28.0grs of AA2230 and BR-4 primers. Still did around 3300fps with that short barrel. Thing still can turn a 'chuck inside out.

[Rocky Raab]

The bad news is that there's no such thing as "A" good load for the .223.

The good news is that almost ANY load is good in the .223!

I also prefer 50-grain bullets in most .223 uses, but I have one rifle that pukes at anything less than 55. Ya never know...

My favorite 50-gr bullet loads include 24.0 of H322, or 27.0 of W748. Among the newer powders, Ramshot TAC just might be my new favorite powder for the 223. It's in the same burn rate area as 748, but burns even cleaner and is temperature insensitive to boot.

The classic powder for the .223 is H335, but it produces a rock-hard fouling that's really difficult to get out of the barrel. That one aside, almost any powder between 4198 and 4895 will just purr in the .223 - and that's a LOT of powders.

[Drew_CarreyAB]

Hey Rocky..I tried looking for some Green dot loads for the 35gr Vmax and in another post you suggested to the person to use 3.5gr as a load(but not for the Vmax, I think). Is/was that a maximum or just a starting point, I know it's like comparing apples to oranges but the 218 has a max load of 5.5gr Green dot, So using that data I loaded up some rounds at 3.5, 3.7, 4.0, and 4.5. I'll let you know how it goes.

[Rocky Raab]

I've forgotten what that other person was trying to accomplish, but the only time I've used Green or Red Dot in very small cartridges was to fireform Hornets into K-Hornets. For that, I used 3.5 of Red Dot and cheap 55 FMJ bullets. I didn't expect them to stabilize, so I never targeted or chronoed them.

In the .223 (or 221 or 222) the only useful purpose for such a load would be as a fireform or very mild indoor practice or rat load. Come to think of it, it would probably just about duplicate a .22LR load.

Hmmm... maybe I'll try a few of those some day.

[Drew_CarreyAB]

I found that 4.5gr of Green Dot was shooting 1/2"@50 yds and it did sound like a 22lr or 22mag LOL How high do you guesstimate I could go with green dot? Or should I just plink away with that load(short range gopher round).....I have pushed these rounds(35gr V-max to 3900fps in my encore and do they ever make a mess at close range *G*)

[Rocky Raab]

I wouldn't go ANY higher. Things go squirrely (no pun intended) in a hurry with powders that fast.

The reason for those loads is low velocity. If you have a load that accurate, with great terminal results, don't mess with it.