Newbie here: I bought a cooper m21 223 and have yet to find a good load for it. and I have tried hard. Using BR 4 Primers 50 Gr. VMax
A good one would sure be appreciated.

Does the rifle shoot any ammo well (factory or reloads)?
My Cooper excels with Benchmark or H335 powders, usually behind Sierra 53gr MK or 55hpbt, but has done quite well with various 40-55 gr pills. I typically use Rem 7-1/2 or CCI BR4 primers.
A great "baseline" (and cheap) factory load is the Win USA white box 45gr HP..easily does .75" /5 shot groups from my Cooper. Might give it a try, and if it pukes that, contact Cooper!

Hey Slay, H322 was always an excellent Powder in my 223Rem. Also H4895, WW-748 and BL-C2. But onc eI tried "Benchmark", it set a new Accuracy Standard for me.

When you were using H322, how did you go about Developing the Loads? Maybe it is something there.

Used 748 originaly and 27 grns was quit good, however not very consistant.
As for trying to find a load:
Shoot from 200 yds looking for vertical changing 1/2 grn at at time to 24 grns. (hogdons max. rec.) Then proceeded to
100 with the best which was still 1" off vert. The best it has done is 1" with 23.2 grns of 322 with 50 grn vmax. I did find out this am that cooper is now using benchmark. 25.5 grns with 50 blitz...oh I do shoot moly as well.

I've had good luck using Varget and 50gr Noslers and 55gr Sierras. 26.0 and 25.5gr respectively; primers are CCI's. My rifle is an H&R single-shot with a 1:12 twist, so I don't know whether that compares to your rifle or not.

quote:

Originally posted by Slay:
...oh I do shoot moly as well.

What Mulerider said about 45gr.Win. (I get 5/8")
You prob know more about it than me, BUT, if you've shot it a lot is the barrel fouled up with stuff?? (including moly?)

Some of us here get good results with 55gr.Hornady 26gr 2206 but apparently you don't get 2206 over there. Hodgdon's H4895 is close.
My little toy Zustava shoots well with just about anything but will get over 1.5" with cheap mil or Nozler partitions.

Tried several of the recommended powders in my .223. What I ended up with is IMR 3031, 24.9 grs and Hornady 50gr. Can't complain because I am getting .45 to .55 at 100 yrds. Best I got from commercial was the white box win at .9

Try H 335 and Winchester 748. Also try a different brand of primers.

I find it is harder to find a bad powder for the 223 than it is to find a good one.. way too many seem to work just great in a 223... of course each rifle does have a place of honor for some powders over others.....

I think the worst powder I have tried in the 223s I own is H 4895.. yet many people swear by it.. I swear at it... but based on others luck, I don't call it a bad powder.. I just don't load it in a 223 that I own is all...

I'd have to say RL 7, IMR 4895, IMR 4198, H 380, H 335, and Benchmark see a lot of use in my 223s....and W 748 is not up on the list basically because of availability is not as consistent as the above powders locally....of course I have to go out of my way to get RL 7.. so what am I complaining about??

cheers
seafire

That darn "white box" .223 stuff avilable at the WallyWorlds and such(never seen it in a real gun shop!!) is a tough little number to beat in a lot of .223's!! Almost will make you quit reloading the darn things!! .....it did me on a custom XP-100 in 223!! Never seen it be "unusable" in any .223! And the "white box" 22-250 suff with the 45 grain bullet is a tough little bugger in a lot of rifles too! GHD

My Cooper M21 .223 REALY LIKES THE WHITE BOX stuff. It has shot .187 to .361. And I was looking forward to reloading for it. Well at least I was smart and bought three cases of that lot number
338vt

quote:

Reply

I didn't expect to be going to wally world, but just
may be doing that with those groups.

quote:

Originally posted by Slay:
...As for trying to find a load:
Shoot from 200 yds looking for vertical changing 1/2 grn at at time to 24 grns. (hogdons max. rec.) Then proceeded to
100 with the best which was still 1" off vert. The best it has done is 1" with 23.2 grns of 322 with 50 grn vmax. I did find out this am that cooper is now using benchmark. 25.5 grns with 50 blitz...oh I do shoot moly as well.

Hey Slay, I shoot Moly too.

Looks like you are working up the Loads similar to what I do as well.

I do like to begin Developing Loads for a new rifle using "Match Bullets" seated about 0.005"-0.010" Into-the-lands. Then if I can get good Loads with the Match bullets, I have a goal to work toward with the regular bullets.

Otherwise, it looks like you are on the right track.

Oh yes, occasionally a rifle just prefers a different "weight" bullet than what we want to use. I also prefer the 50gr bullets, but you might want to try some of the other weights the folks mentioned.