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Posted: 12/8/2009 8:33:45 PM EDT
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What selection of powders and bullets do people suggest for developing a load for an AR15 with a 1:9" twist to be shot at 100 - 300 yards (paper targets). I am looking for the absolute best accuracy. Was considering buying the following. May be some redundancy here?
Sierra 52 grain HPBT Match Sierra 53 grain HP flat base Match Hornady 55 grain V-Max Hornady 60 grain V-Max Sierra 69 grain HPBT MatchKing Hodgdon H322 Hodgdon Benchmark Alliant RE15 Ramshot TAC Accurate 2230 Primers are CCI #400 or #450. ??? Brass is Winchester. Thanks. - Phil |
| From your list and based on my experience, I predict you will get the best accuracy with 52-53 gr Sierra with Benchmark, and 69 Sierra with Reloader 15 and CCI 450. If I was going to add powders from there try V V N140 with the 69gr. Our Moderator AERO has suggested 52 gr SMK with 27gr of Re15. I tried it with 26.8 gr and it is very accurate. I have not had the best accuracy with 55 gr Vmax but 55gr Bergers with H335 is accurate. Everyone has their favorites. All my barrels are 1/8, but bullets up through 69gr should work fine in your 1/9. I personally don't care much for H322 or A2230 and I have not tried TAC yet. |
| You list looks fine. Only your rifle can tell you which will be the most accurate. I would add Nosler Custom Comp to the accurate bullet list. My Colt love the 52gr and 69gr CC. You can get Nosler seconds for quite a bit less and they shoot just as good as firsts. |
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You list looks fine. Only your rifle can tell you which will be the most accurate. I would add Nosler Custom Comp to the accurate bullet list. My Colt love the 52gr and 69gr CC. You can get Nosler seconds for quite a bit less and they shoot just as good as firsts. This. Your rifle will tell you what it likes. Mine loves the 69gr Nosler Custom on top of 24.3gr of Win 478, using cci400 primers. Im still trying to develop a good 55gr load but powder is slim in my area and only thing i can find is Hodgden H4198. Not getting good groups with it though. But thats the fun part about reloading. Taking the time to develop an accurate load, and all the time blasting away all the reloads! |
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What selection of powders and bullets do people suggest for developing a load for an AR15 with a 1:9" twist to be shot at 100 - 300 yards (paper targets). I am looking for the absolute best accuracy. Was considering buying the following. May be some redundancy here? Sierra 52 grain HPBT Match Sierra 69 grain HPBT MatchKing Hodgdon H322 Alliant RE15 Primers are CCI #400 or #450. ??? Brass is Winchester. Thanks. - Phil with Remington 7 1/2 primers. Use the H322 with the light bullet. Use the RE-15 with both. And now it's time for the only recipe I'm likely to give out; this one will tell you how accurate your rifle can shoot; o 27.0 or 27.2 grains of RE-15. This will fill the case into the neck and is a compressed load. 26.8 grain is too light and doesn't develop enough pressure for a good seal with Winchester cases. o 52 grain Sierra MK's. o Remington 7 1/2 primers. All of the components in your list are excellent. |
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What selection of powders and bullets do people suggest for developing a load for an AR15 with a 1:9" twist to be shot at 100 - 300 yards (paper targets). I am looking for the absolute best accuracy. Was considering buying the following. May be some redundancy here? Sierra 52 grain HPBT Match Sierra 69 grain HPBT MatchKing Hodgdon H322 Alliant RE15 Primers are CCI #400 or #450. ??? Brass is Winchester. Thanks. - Phil with Remington 7 1/2 primers. Use the H322 with the light bullet. Use the RE-15 with both. And now it's time for the only recipe I'm likely to give out; this one will tell you how accurate your rifle can shoot; o 27.0 or 27.2 grains of RE-15. This will fill the case into the neck and is a compressed load. 26.8 grain is too light and doesn't develop enough pressure for a good seal with Winchester cases. o 52 grain Sierra MK's. o Remington 7 1/2 primers. All of the components in your list are excellent. AeroE, From what I can gather, you are the guru on loads for AR15, and I welcome your input. I get so many recommendations, and none are in sync. Perhaps no bad choices, but some have to better than another. Per your recommendations, I have found Remington 7-1/2 primers, as well as RE15. I thought I would try a 69 grain MatchKing. Powder for this? I have been told I do not need to use five different powders to come up with a good load. If I selected three, what other two besides RE15? RE15 is pretty slow burning compared to some other powders I was considering. Sierra says their accuracy load in an AR15 with 52- 52 grain MKs is Vhitavouri N133, which is decidely faster burning than RE15. Still learning, so forgive any naive questions. - Phil |
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AeroE, From what I can gather, you are the guru [  ; more likely have made about as many mistakes as everyone else!] on loads for AR15, and I welcome your input. I get so many recommendations, and none are in sync. Perhaps no bad choices, but some have to better than another. Per your recommendations, I have found Remington 7-1/2 primers, as well as RE15. I thought I would try a 69 grain MatchKing. Powder for this?
I have been told I do not need to use five different powders to come up with a good load. If I selected three, what other two besides RE15? RE15 is pretty slow burning compared to some other powders I was considering. Sierra says their accuracy load in an AR15 with 52- 52 grain MKs is Vhitavouri N133, which is decidely faster burning than RE15. Still learning, so forgive any naive questions. - Phil I'm the moderator. Moderator is not equal to guru; for starters, a guru knows which questions to ask, and which to avoid because you might find yourself with a moderator job. But, this forum runs very well and is practically self moderating except for one or two bumps every year. Reloder 15 is perfect for 69 grain MK's. It probably ranks #2 behind Varget for this bullet, but that's only because those shooters haven't tried it yet. It's not perfect for 52 grain MK's because it's on the slow end of the range of powders that are acceptable. But it fills the case so there's no worry about powder position because it's smashed in there tight. The speed I get from my 24 inch barrel gun is a little over 3200 fps; not as fast as possible with other gunpowders, but plenty fast for the usable range of the bullet. I started using this load when I was shooting reduced course Highpower matches and I was also new to reloading so I thought I was going to shoot one gunpowder to keep things simple and all that. I was already using RE-15 for 69 and 80 grain bullets, so that's what I tried with the 52's, and the accuracy was excellent. That load continues to shoot well in every rifle I've tried it in, including non AR's. VV gunpowders are expensive, but probably worth it for some applications. I think you should try RE-15 and a ball powder such as H335 or W748 for the lighter bullets. The good news is, it's about impossible to screw up, all the gunpowder and primers we have are good. Buy one pound bottles to start so you're not saddled with something you don't like, then buy bulk containers. H322 is a outstanding choice for light bullets in .223 Rem, and the advertising in Hodgon literature aobut this gunpowder is not hype, it's truth. In case you missed this point, .223 Remington has a large range of bullets available and gunpowders in two general burning ranges work best to get the most out of the cartridge. One for heavy bullets in the range of RE-15 and Varget, and another in the range of the 4198 gunpowders. There is a fair bit of overlap through the middle weight bullets where powders from either end work, they just might not produce as much speed as another choice or the powder charge is small and doesn't fill the case well. Peruse your reloading manuals across the range of bullet weights and you'll see the applications and the transition of gunpowder selections from bullet to bullet. |
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What selection of powders and bullets do people suggest for developing a load for an AR15 with a 1:9" twist to be shot at 100 - 300 yards (paper targets). I am looking for the absolute best accuracy. Was considering buying the following. May be some redundancy here? Sierra 52 grain HPBT Match yes Sierra 53 grain HP flat base Match Hornady 55 grain V-Max Hornady 60 grain V-Max Sierra 69 grain HPBT MatchKing yes Hodgdon H322 Hodgdon Benchmark Alliant RE15 yes Ramshot TAC Accurate 2230 Primers are CCI #400 or #450. ??? Brass is Winchester. Best would be Rem 7 1/2, Win brass is good. Thanks. - Phil |
| Phil, my experience with H322 was not extensive but it seemed OK with light bullets but I could not get quite the accuracy with 52-53 gr bullets that I got with Benchmark and V V N133. I used A2230 for quite awhile and it is a good powder but for me the accuracy sweet spot was rather narrow and with heavier bullets the pressure could go up very quickly when you reached a certain point. Also, I could never quite get the accuracy that I get with Reloader 15 and V V N140 for 69 and 77gr bullets. |
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