My first post in the reloading forum, I suppose this has been covered a bunch...

Bought a Savage 12FP last summer and am currently shooting UltraMax 52 gr. HPs and building up my supply of brass and having fun doing it.

I have a very modest reloading outfit with a powder measure. However, I mostly reload for my .270 and have found the powder measure to be a bit unreliable. My solution is to pour in a few grains less, bring the pan to the scale and trickle in a few more grains, then pour the powder into the case, then repeat.

Because of the much higher volume of rounds shot, I'd like to get something to work in the powder measure for the .223.

I'd like a recipe for a 40 gr. HP (any brand suggestions?) in a powder that my be more reliable in a powder measure so I don't have to trickle each load. Are ball powders really more accurate in a powder measure than flake or extruded?

Any thoughts? Two daughters with braces, horse riding, gymnastics, etc. lessons has reduced the budget for an electronic scale at this point. Any help would be appreciated.

I have a Savage 11 223 that shoots good groups with 25.5grns of Win 748, Hornady 50 Vmax, CCI 450 primers with OAL of 2.300 to fit the mag. I use a Lee powder measure to throw the charge.



sorry made a mistake, its 27.5 grns of win 748 instead of 25.5.

I've been using 40 grain Nosler ballistic tips, Remington brass, CCI small rifle or Rem. 7 1/2 primers, and H335 for my .223 at 27.5 grains (I'm going from memory here since I'm at the office), and it meters just about perfectly. I only check about every 20th round now. The accuracy has been superb and reloading has gone MUCH faster. So far, Rock Chucks hate this load! - Sheister

Al, Try 25.3grs. of H322, max is 25.5 in the Hodgdon manual, this powder will go through powder measures as well as any "ball" powder, + or - 1/10gr. with either type powder, done tests with both, of course the H322, Benchmark and H4198(also excellent powders) are all small extruded powders, larger extruded, that's a different story. Alliants RE10 could be another powder to look into. Jay

Most any ball or fine powder will go through a powder measure within a tenth of a grain or so. If you have a good load it will tolerate a couple tenths of a grain difference in the powder charge with no noticible difference in accuracy. My Harrels powder thrower is not much more accurate throwing powder charges than my RCBS, it's just smaller and more convienent to take to the range when I load at the bench. Benchrest shooters are accuracy nuts and you won't see them weigh individual powder charges for each shell as they have found out that consistency of powder volume is more important than the weight of the powder charge within reason. It has been shown that exact volumes of powder can very in weight when compared, thats how come no matter how much you spend on a powder thrower you will never get thrown charges that always weigh the exact same.

You should have plenty of success with this project. Re the 40 gr hp's, although I also use the various poly-tipped bullets, the Sierra 40hp is considerably cheaper, and shoots very well out of my 223, and 221 Fireball. I have also just started with some Barnes Varminators, which are also very reasonably priced, and seem equal to the Sierras.
Almost all of my components come from MidSouth; great prices!
Suitable ball powders (Win748, AA2230,etc)will certainly reduce your error in charge weights, but I do prefer Benchmark for light bullets in the 223. Outstanding accuracy and speed.
If you can find some AA2200 (surplus powder; some may be available), it is also perfect for the 223 (and cheap).

What Sheister said....27.5 gr. of H335 (max, my gun only, blah blah, yadda, yadda, work up slow...) with the 40 grainers.....meters great! Shoots little bug holes in my Cooper VE21... Once I discovered how good this load was for high volume Prairie Dogs I bought an 8lb. jug of H335...GLUG GLUG.......also, 50 gr. Speer TNT's in bulk pack are a good value on sale....

For a light bullet load in 223 I would recommend that you try 10X. 335,748,2230 all work well but I think 10X is the cleanest of the bunch and works great in light bullet loads. I saw a new Alliant guide out that will list appropriate charges......DJ

I've loaded thousands of rounds with BL-C2 and only use a powder measure set up by scale.

Ball powders are really good for a measure.