I have a question about which bullet to use in a heavy barrel 700. I have been using 55 gr sierra spitzers over imr 4895 and 4064,using cci primers new win brass. the groups have been around 1.5 to 2 inches(20 to 30 mph side wind hasn't help much) choro reads around 2975 fps. seating the bullets around .030 off the lands. i really enjoy the info on this and the other forums. going to try h322 power next. Any help would be appreciated.

The wind certainly isn't helping your groups. Try using some N133 behind the 55 gr. bullet. I haven't tried IMR 4895 but I know H 4895 works pretty well that bullet.

May I be half the man my grandson thinks I am...RiverRat

Ditto on the wind response, but you may want to also try a 50gr bullet over the 4895. I shoot the 50gr Blitzking over 24gr of IMR4895 in my 700VLS with great success.

Tom,
I agree that the N-133 is an excellent powder, but I have had better results with Accurate 2015 and the 40 grain Nosler BT bullet in my Remington 700 Varmint Special with 26" barrel. My load is Rem 7 1/2 primer, 26.0 grains AA 2015, 40 grain Nosler set 0.015" off the rifling. My velocity with that load is just over 3600 f/s. My 5-shot groups from the bench are 3/8" to 1/2" and in the field, a prairie dog under 350 yds doesn't have a chance.

Don Shearer

I don't consider it my favorite cartridge, but I sure seem to shoot a lot of it. Probably based on price of the brass and powder and bullets and how much of all the above I constantly have on hand.

I own 5 different heavy barreled 223s( Three Ruger, and Two Remington), and two lighter barreled ones. One is a heavy sporter with a 1 in 8 twist ( Ruger) and the other is a Winchester Featherweight.

If you rifle is not grouping well, it strikes me that I would play with the seating depth. I have not seen any powder that is "bad" in a 223. I have used all, except getting into the odd combos like H 4831 with a 40 grain bullet, etc.

Anyone of mine, will do minute of prairie dog out to 350 yds with no problem, with any bullet I seem to feed them, and with about any standard powder.

I tend to use the H or IMR 4198s, RL 7, H 380 , and Benchmark the most, although what I load the most of for volume shooting is a Blue Dot load. ( This B.Dot load is normally for anything under 225 to 250 yds., at 2600 fps)

Try using Benchmark, 24grns with cci BR4 small rifle primers with the 55grn bullets fps is close 3100, max load is 25.6grns you wont be disappointed, im using 55grn sierra hpbt

thank for the info guys.The local stores here carry imr, hodgon. alliant and winchester powders,so my choices are limited.I started with the coyote loads from 3m with a 50 gr hornady soft point.It would put a 10 shot group into a ragged 1.25 group. the 40 gr win varmit pack is a little bigger maybe 1.75 inch.Then the winds picked up(election year premonitions)?I started hunting with a .222 rem mag using 55 gr nosler over imr 4895 and if you did your job at aiming it did its part