Anyone with a hornady load book...

[slowyellow]

And also CJ, I'm not trying to be confrontational, or am I challenging your knowledge, but..... Why does my Lee book list H335 for a 75 and 80 grain projectile? Like I said earlier, I just have quite a bit of it and would like to use that, lol.

[dee]

http://www.hodgdon.com/burn-rate.html

This may help you with your powder choices.

What barrel length do you have?

As far as OAL goes I would seat to mag length then mark the bullet and check for contact with the lands and adjust from there.

[CJ]

And also CJ, I'm not trying to be confrontational, or am I challenging your knowledge, but..... Why does my Lee book list H335 for a 75 and 80 grain projectile? Like I said earlier, I just have quite a bit of it and would like to use that, lol.

I just know from personal experience it isn't the best choice. H335 is similar to WC844 which is a quick burning low .223 grain powder, it's good for 55gr, up to 62gr, but over that it's out of it's optimal target. Another thing is for accuracy you want to fill that case all the way up, the less air in the case the better. When the powder falls out of it's optimal category it shows in accuracy and velocity. It will work for you, but I think you'll see much better everything using varget compressed loads. Looking at that velocity - 2600fps I cringe - but that's because I shoot long range and I need every damn bit of velocity, if you don't plan on shooting over 400 yards than what I'm talking about probably doesn't mean much for you. But I'm willing to bet you varget would really benefit your accuracy.

As for that load I posted - it's all about finding the right charge, COL, bullet, etc. Your load is pretty much 80% of your ability in a competition, and guys are real secretive about it. I had to work that load up and down in .1gr increments shooting 50 rounds each time. Then repeat with a different COL to find the best one, it's a very intricate and tedious process. I can't describe how many powders, bullets, charges, and lengths it took to get it right.

It's a very similar load to the new military .223 marksman load made by black hills. If you pick up some Black Hills blue box 77gr that's very similar to the load I've posted - see how your gun shoots that and it will tell you if you should look into it. All rifles are different of course.

Dee posted up hodgdon's burn chart, you can see H335 is 81, and varget is 99. I can tell you from looking at that load data it's very conservative - which is true for most commercial guides. Now, I'm loading mine pretty hot and I'm getting 3020fps on a 77gr w/ a 24" barrel - that's as much energy as a .223 will ever deliver. Out of a 20" barrel that should do around 2900. So 2600 is pretty weak. All this depends on the quality of your barrel and gun. Generally Hornady is average for load data, and Sierra is usually slightly more conservative.

[slowyellow]

I just know from personal experience it isn't the best choice. H335 is similar to WC844 which is a quick burning low .223 grain powder, it's good for 55gr, up to 62gr, but over that it's out of it's optimal target. Another thing is for accuracy you want to fill that case all the way up, the less air in the case the better. When the powder falls out of it's optimal category it shows in accuracy and velocity. It will work for you, but I think you'll see much better everything using varget compressed loads. Looking at that velocity - 2600fps I cringe - but that's because I shoot long range and I need every damn bit of velocity, if you don't plan on shooting over 400 yards than what I'm talking about probably doesn't mean much for you. But I'm willing to bet you varget would really benefit your accuracy.

As for that load I posted - it's all about finding the right charge, COL, bullet, etc. Your load is pretty much 80% of your ability in a competition, and guys are real secretive about it. I had to work that load up and down in .1gr increments shooting 50 rounds each time. Then repeat with a different COL to find the best one, it's a very intricate and tedious process. I can't describe how many powders, bullets, charges, and lengths it took to get it right.

It's a very similar load to the new military .223 marksman load made by black hills. If you pick up some Black Hills blue box 77gr that's very similar to the load I've posted - see how your gun shoots that and it will tell you if you should look into it. All rifles are different of course.

Dee posted up hodgdon's burn chart, you can see H335 is 81, and varget is 99. I can tell you from looking at that load data it's very conservative - which is true for most commercial guides. Now, I'm loading mine pretty hot and I'm getting 3020fps on a 77gr w/ a 24" barrel - that's as much energy as a .223 will ever deliver. Out of a 20" barrel that should do around 2900. So 2600 is pretty weak. All this depends on the quality of your barrel and gun. Generally Hornady is average for load data, and Sierra is usually slightly more conservative.

Ok, I gotcha now. And I know that LaRue recommends a 77 gr bullet for the best accuracy out of my gun. I just figured I'd give the 75's a try. Like I said earlier, I shot some 69's out of it the other day and they were very impressive compared to the 55's that I shot that day. I'd like to try some 77's after I get through the rounds that I have. And I have a LOT of 55's that I picked up off of a guy cheap that I need to burn through. So, I can get through the powder and use something else for the 69, 75, and 77 grain bullets when I get to them.

Also, isn't Varget more of a stick powder? And IIRC those don't meter well in the dillon powder measures. Not that the H335 does much better. I was super pissed at my first rounds, they were probably 3 MOA ish, but it was all vertical. So I got home and threw some powder charges and they varied up to .4 grains. I'm a little upset about that. Any tricks I can do to improve that accuracy?

[slowyellow]

http://www.hodgdon.com/burn-rate.html

This may help you with your powder choices.

What barrel length do you have?

As far as OAL goes I would seat to mag length then mark the bullet and check for contact with the lands and adjust from there.

I'm running a 16" LaRue PreditAR. I'm using it for 3 gun competitions, I just would like to build an accurate load. I'm not saving as much as I do with the pistol stuff, so to me the benefit comes from the accuracy that I know that I can achieve by reloading. It's just too much damn work to not get 2 x's the accuracy that I'm getting with factory loads.

[slowyellow]

And CJ, when you say Varget Compressed load powder, is that different than just Varget? I haven't heard that term, maybe it has something to do with the amount of powder that is actually in the case. I do have some varget laying around, that's what I use in my 308 rounds.

[dee]

No he means a compressed load of Varget, compressed loads usually burn more evenly cause less deviations in velocity and are more accurate by nature.

[slowyellow]

No he means a compressed load of Varget, compressed loads usually burn more evenly cause less deviations in velocity and are more accurate by nature.

Ok, gotcha. That's what I though, I just wanted to make sure that CJ didn't have some special power that hodgdon makes him, lol. So it's just basically a round where there is no room between the powder and the bullet huh?

[CJ]

And CJ, when you say Varget Compressed load powder, is that different than just Varget? I haven't heard that term, maybe it has something to do with the amount of powder that is actually in the case. I do have some varget laying around, that's what I use in my 308 rounds.

Like dee said, it means you get a crunch when you seat your bullet, as in there is zero air gap so it's more consistent. Varget in .308, that's interesting - I've never done that. Make sense though given it's burn rate. I use it for .223 77gr because of it's volume primarily, and it's also pretty effective with large temperature swings.

[slowyellow]

Like dee said, it means you get a crunch when you seat your bullet, as in there is zero air gap so it's more consistent. Varget in .308, that's interesting - I've never done that.

Are you being facetious?

[slowyellow]

Like dee said, it means you get a crunch when you seat your bullet, as in there is zero air gap so it's more consistent. Varget in .308, that's interesting - I've never done that. Make sense though given it's burn rate. I use it for .223 77gr because of it's volume primarily, and it's also pretty effective with large temperature swings.

Damn ninja edit, lol.

[CJ]

Like dee said, it means you get a crunch when you seat your bullet, as in there is zero air gap so it's more consistent. Varget in .308, that's interesting - I've never done that. Make sense though given it's burn rate. I use it for .223 77gr because of it's volume primarily, and it's also pretty effective with large temperature swings.

Get comfortable with your rifle and shoot your best groups with what you have now, and then try some varget and see how it does.

[CJ]

Damn ninja edit, lol.

I usually edit every post 4-5 times, haha.

[slowyellow]

I am very comfortable with the rifle. It's purpose built, when I'm shooting 6-9 inch plates at a couple hundred yards I don't need pinpoint accuracy. That's why my scope reticle is the way that it is. It is just very frustrating when trying to test loads for accuracy. But for instance, I would think that I would get better accuracy out of the 55's that I shot the other day. They were probably 2-3 moa @ 100, pretty shitty IMO even with a 1 moa reticle dot. Especially when I shot right at a moa with the 69 grainers 5 mins later. I just wonder if the varget would tighten that up in the 55 grainers. I guess there is only one way to find out.

[CJ]

I am very comfortable with the rifle. It's purpose built, when I'm shooting 6-9 inch plates at a couple hundred yards I don't need pinpoint accuracy. That's why my scope reticle is the way that it is. It is just very frustrating when trying to test loads for accuracy. But for instance, I would think that I would get better accuracy out of the 55's that I shot the other day. They were probably 2-3 moa @ 100, pretty shitty IMO even with a 1 moa reticle dot. Especially when I shot right at a moa with the 69 grainers 5 mins later. I just wonder if the varget would tighten that up in the 55 grainers. I guess there is only one way to find out.

Well varget is really not the powder for that, it would not have a full burn. Varget is for heavier bullets (69gr+), the more complete your burn the more consistent the pressure will be, as it stabilizes the longer it burns. 2-3moa is terrible at 100 yards, something is definitely not right there. It may very well be your leade distance. 55gr is a considerably shorter bullet, it's possible the bullet is just flying through nothingness in your barrel before it collides with your rifling. Try increasing the COL and bring that bullet out further in the case. I bet it will tighten up.