.223 for bear, mountain goat, deer, elk, and moose.

[Plague]

I didn't read through all 677 pages of material here so forgive me for searching for a quick answer. My son has a Ruger American Gen2 .223 with a 1 in 8 twist. I have been doing some load work-up for it using varget and 77gr TMK's. Question for this group, what velocity should I expect this to get to with a 20" barrel once I work up to a near-max safe load? I'm limited to 2.260" OAL seating depth.

Also, varget is just what I have on hand. Has there been a different powder that has had consistent results for most people that are using the 77's?

2600 ish. Plus or minus a bit. I run 8208 for my 223 loads. But Varget is just fine.

 

[NWBLKTAIL]

Got an email today that alpha has 223 brass.

I’m long on Starline 5.56 brass I’ve been using, but for you lapua brass shooters maybe another premium alternative?

 

[waspocrew]

Got an email today that alpha has 223 brass.

I’m long on Starline 5.56 brass I’ve been using, but for you lapua brass shooters maybe another premium alternative?

I saw that - Alpha is good stuff, but I’d hate to lose expensive brass. I don’t feel too bad about losing Lake City, Etc.

 

[Chris in TN]

I didn't read through all 677 pages of material here so forgive me for searching for a quick answer. My son has a Ruger American Gen2 .223 with a 1 in 8 twist. I have been doing some load work-up for it using varget and 77gr TMK's. Question for this group, what velocity should I expect this to get to with a 20" barrel once I work up to a near-max safe load? I'm limited to 2.260" OAL seating depth.

Also, varget is just what I have on hand. Has there been a different powder that has had consistent results for most people that are using the 77's?

I use Benchmark for my AR magazine length 5.56 75-77s and get 2575' with a 16". I'd think you could realistically hit 2725' or a bit more, with Benchmark. And you should be able to push that a bit higher with Varget, which is a slower powder.

I'm using Varget right now (I'm still relatively new to this particular info....FWIW) for my 2.395" bolt gun (18") .223/75/77 loads. With LC brass, GRT is predicting 2785' and the speeds I'm actually getting are 2790'ish with my charges. That's very close - beyond the ability of a model to predict and well into the realm of what I'd call chance. Models just aren't that good.

Looking at data in GRT I'd predict that if you took my Varget load and switched from my current 75eldm to the 77tmk (which I have used, but am out of at the moment), loaded it to 2.26" in LC or similar brass, you'd hit max pressure somewhere in the 24.5 grains of Varget ballpark, and you'd likely be at a speed of 2800'ish in a 20" barrel.

Warning: What I said just now is very dependent upon brass capacity. I'm using LC brass (for the very technical reason that I happen to have a bunch of it) for my 2.395" bolt gun loads. I check every case before seating bullets and I've had a couple of pieces of AAC brass get into my LC brass. The difference is immediately obvious as the powder in the LC brass comes to the base of the neck, but in AAC brass it fills the neck. So the 24.5 figure I refer to assumes high capacity brass. Don't just guess at that. Start low, work up.

Varget may not be the absolute perfect powder for every 5.56 load but it is THE powder I'd choose if I had to choose just one. And yes, it measures well enough (my measure is a RCBS uniflow) to get a low enough ES for use inside of 600 yards.

 

[NWBLKTAIL]

I saw that - Alpha is good stuff, but I’d hate to lose expensive brass. I don’t feel too bad about losing Lake City, Etc.

Yeah same here