I've read about, and tried, a couple of reduced loadings for the 223 which duplicate 22 hornet performance. Only problem is my loadings weren't very accurate. So far I've tried 10.5 grains of BlueDot with a 46 grain bullet (max load for my gun), and 10 grains of SR4759 with a 50 grain bullet (not max load).
The Bluedot loads gave grapefruit sized groups. The 4759 loads gave a 5/8" x 2-1/8" vertical string, all at 100 yards. These are out of a rifle that will consistently shoot sub-MOA with 25.5 grains of H335 and a 50 grain bullet.
Think maybe Unique would work? If so, how much? Any other powder/load suggestions?

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Originally posted by Max503:
I've read about, and tried, a couple of reduced loadings for the 223 which duplicate 22 hornet performance. Any other powder/load suggestions?

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I have shot some light loads useing 700X and have come close to MOA in my ruger rifles which don't make MOA with normal loads. Point of impact can be quite different though.

Oh, I loaded 8.2 grains of 700X last time I loaded for my .223.

I had 2150 fps with 8.0 grains of 700x and a win psp 55 gr bullet in a 22 inch barrel.

I started with lymans cast bullet loads and found 8.5 grains still appeared rather mild, but expect pressures would go up fast above this.

JerryO

Don't give up on the Blue Dot yet. I loaded some under the 40 gr. Speer, and my best group so far is 3-shots in .62" at 200 yards.
It goes without saying that's not the norm, but the potential is definitely there.

I have worked up a lot of reduced, cast and schutzen loads over the years. I use IMR 4759 for these "hornet" loads.

I just looked up the max. load for the .223 with #4759 and 50 gr bullets and it's 17.5 grs. The velocity is 2935 fps which is not way above "hornet" velocities.

So I conclude you are not using enough powder.

I would use about 14 grains. If you can find some magnum primers for these reduced loads then use them. That's what I do.

Any 4759 load with reasonable pressure should shoot as well as any other load at 100 yards.

[This message has been edited by Don Martin29 (edited 11-23-2001).]

Don,
I upped the charge of 4759 and got my sub-MOA groups - on a windy day no less. Only thing is, these aren't a whole lot quieter than my standard load of H335. I can tell they are slower though, because there was a lot more drop at 200 yards. I will experiment with this load more.