ball powder for 223 and 22-250
- Thread starter hustler
- Start date
COYOTEKILLERMILLER
New member
I have had great luck with w748, but I don't know about Temperature sensitivity with this powder.
I don't think that Hodgdon ever claimed that any of their ball powders were temperature insensistive. This is from their website. http://www.hodgdon.com/smokeless/extreme/page4.php
H380 is a great powder for the 22/250 but can get tempermental in the cold. Keep loads at the high end of the scale help minimize this. H335 and 748 both are good in the 223. Ball powders sure meter nice.
Dogleg
H380 is a great powder for the 22/250 but can get tempermental in the cold. Keep loads at the high end of the scale help minimize this. H335 and 748 both are good in the 223. Ball powders sure meter nice.
Dogleg
BroncoGlenn
New member
Varget meters fairly well with an RCBS Uniflow. Powder measures with plastic drums (ie Lee) might have a difficult time with it.
Give me 6-8 weeks and I'll be able to tell you how it works in a Dillon powder measure.
Give me 6-8 weeks and I'll be able to tell you how it works in a Dillon powder measure.
swift one
New member
H335 was working great in my handi for cold weather hunting, but during hot weather, it caused alot more exapnsion of the spent shell and quite frequently it got stuck in the barrel. I switched to H322 (extruded) and have had no problems since.
The only reason that I switched from H335 is because I did not want to mess with resighting my scope from summer to winter and so forth. I wanted one load that would work in all weather conditions.
The only reason that I switched from H335 is because I did not want to mess with resighting my scope from summer to winter and so forth. I wanted one load that would work in all weather conditions.
Furhunter
New member
BroncoGlenn
Varget measures pretty good on the Dillon equip, so does H335,H322,H380,A2230,Benchmark,748, ohhhh the list could go on. I however must say in volume reloading with the Dillon, You can set it right on the money, be sure your powder is settled in the hopper, mine is always +or- one tenth. It does not like the long stick powders, but that is a common problem as with any powder measure
I use alot of H380 in my 6mm. rem, cold weather seems not to have much of an effect.
Varget measures pretty good on the Dillon equip, so does H335,H322,H380,A2230,Benchmark,748, ohhhh the list could go on. I however must say in volume reloading with the Dillon, You can set it right on the money, be sure your powder is settled in the hopper, mine is always +or- one tenth. It does not like the long stick powders, but that is a common problem as with any powder measure
I use alot of H380 in my 6mm. rem, cold weather seems not to have much of an effect.
bigbearclaw
New member
I had problems with temperature changes and H-380 changed to Varget and love it in my 22-250. Also use Varget in my sons 243 and 308.
For ball powders, the Ramshot powders are supposed to be temp insensitive and I've been reading some good things about them. They recently bought Accurate powders, so they should start becoming available more places. I think Powder Valley stocks them.(www.powdervalleyinc.com)
BroncoGlenn
New member
Furhunter:
Have you been running any compressed Varget loads on the Dillon equipment? My .223 load calls for 27 grains of Varget which pretty much fills the case. The workaround for my single stage to fully seat the round likely wouldn't work on a progressive, although a longer drop tube would likely go a long ways towards helping.
Have you been running any compressed Varget loads on the Dillon equipment? My .223 load calls for 27 grains of Varget which pretty much fills the case. The workaround for my single stage to fully seat the round likely wouldn't work on a progressive, although a longer drop tube would likely go a long ways towards helping.
Squeeze
New member
I just went through a temperature sensitivity problem
with H-380, in my .22-250 Rem. I was working loads up,
this last Spring, starting at 38.0 grains, and working towards
40.0 grains. Last spring I shot all of the groups, except some
of the 40.0 grain groups. The couple of 40.0 grain groups
I shot last Spring had no signs of pressure. Accuracy was
tailing off, so I thought I would just shoot a few, and check
if to see that they were opening up, and I was just not
having a bad day last Spring. In the first group I fired, I had
one sticky bolt lift, and the primers looked a little flat. One
the second group, all bolt lifts were sticky, and the last shot
was downright stiff. 40.0 grains is 1 grain below the published Max./ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gif
So I pulled the last two groups worth of bullets, and
have decided to switch to a different powder for load
development. I have some new loads, with Varget, ready
to test. This is a darn shame, since the rifle was shooting
3's with 38.5 gr. of H-380, pushing a 50 gr. VMax bullet.
Varget didn't show me much with the 55 gr. Nosler
Ballistic tips, so hopefully Varget plays better with
50 gr. VMax bullets, in this rifle.
Squeeze
with H-380, in my .22-250 Rem. I was working loads up,
this last Spring, starting at 38.0 grains, and working towards
40.0 grains. Last spring I shot all of the groups, except some
of the 40.0 grain groups. The couple of 40.0 grain groups
I shot last Spring had no signs of pressure. Accuracy was
tailing off, so I thought I would just shoot a few, and check
if to see that they were opening up, and I was just not
having a bad day last Spring. In the first group I fired, I had
one sticky bolt lift, and the primers looked a little flat. One
the second group, all bolt lifts were sticky, and the last shot
was downright stiff. 40.0 grains is 1 grain below the published Max./ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gif
So I pulled the last two groups worth of bullets, and
have decided to switch to a different powder for load
development. I have some new loads, with Varget, ready
to test. This is a darn shame, since the rifle was shooting
3's with 38.5 gr. of H-380, pushing a 50 gr. VMax bullet.
Varget didn't show me much with the 55 gr. Nosler
Ballistic tips, so hopefully Varget plays better with
50 gr. VMax bullets, in this rifle.
Squeeze
Furhunter
New member
BroncoGlenn
Not to sure what you mean by workaround, however compressed loads are not a problem, long as the powder doesnt overfill the case. You just hear the kernels crunch as the bullet is seated /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
I have only one compressed load in my rifles!! My 6mm rem, its been awhile since I have had to load it, as with a dillon and a couple hundred rounds of brass for a gun that is only fired to kill something, I spend 2 hours and load enough ammo for 3 years!!! I drop 53 grains of H380 in the 6mm rem case, if memory serves me right thats about 2/3 up the neck, then I press that little 55gr baltip on top. Maybe thats why I dont have much of a problem with tempature/pressure. The primers show a little crater in the summer but is fine in the cold winter, Stays on zero though.
Guys
I do 85% of my shooting and hunting in the winter, hence most of my loads are developed in the winter, some do show signs of presure in the summer so I have had to alter them a little, We have a pretty large temp swing here in western co. Could be 100deg in the day time and cool off to 50 at night, Plus factor in you developed your load on a 60deg day @ 4500ft elevation. But your calling yotes in 5deg weather @ 8500' it is such a pain to keep track of it all !! I dont care what the manufactures say about which powder isnt temp/sen, add altitude in the mix and most still are IMHO
Not to sure what you mean by workaround, however compressed loads are not a problem, long as the powder doesnt overfill the case. You just hear the kernels crunch as the bullet is seated /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
I have only one compressed load in my rifles!! My 6mm rem, its been awhile since I have had to load it, as with a dillon and a couple hundred rounds of brass for a gun that is only fired to kill something, I spend 2 hours and load enough ammo for 3 years!!! I drop 53 grains of H380 in the 6mm rem case, if memory serves me right thats about 2/3 up the neck, then I press that little 55gr baltip on top. Maybe thats why I dont have much of a problem with tempature/pressure. The primers show a little crater in the summer but is fine in the cold winter, Stays on zero though.
Guys
I do 85% of my shooting and hunting in the winter, hence most of my loads are developed in the winter, some do show signs of presure in the summer so I have had to alter them a little, We have a pretty large temp swing here in western co. Could be 100deg in the day time and cool off to 50 at night, Plus factor in you developed your load on a 60deg day @ 4500ft elevation. But your calling yotes in 5deg weather @ 8500' it is such a pain to keep track of it all !! I dont care what the manufactures say about which powder isnt temp/sen, add altitude in the mix and most still are IMHO
BroncoGlenn
New member
By workaround I meant running the ram up a second time.
Don't know how much .223 loading I will do on the 650. I got it basically to do .45ACP for competition. Maybe if I get into 3 gun shooting I'll crank 'er up.
Don't know how much .223 loading I will do on the 650. I got it basically to do .45ACP for competition. Maybe if I get into 3 gun shooting I'll crank 'er up.
tcman
New member
I figure that Hodgon Benchmark powder is about as close as you can get to being a Ball Powder and still be an extruded powder. In essence, that granules of powder are real, real short....got to be one of the easiest "extruded" powders to ever go through a powder measure. The plus is that is an Extreme rated powder. I have not had a chance to work up a load with it yet as I just bought my first pound of Benchmark. I sure hope it lives up to it's name.