Question for Iowegan about .223

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mejetski2002

Bearcat
Joined
Feb 11, 2010
Messages
8
Hi Iowegan, have a a question about .223 if you're still around. Your Varget reccomendation has yielded SUPERB results with 55gr and 62gr. I have some Hornady 68gr HP-BT bullets and I'm hoping you can help me determine a good COL to use in a AR-15. I've had ZERO failures with your previous load so hopefully you can help me on this one. The barrel is a 20" 1-9 twist.

Thanks, Pete
 

Yosemite Sam

Hunter
Joined
Mar 18, 2002
Messages
2,113
Location
Cape Cod, MA, USA
mejetski2002":359bmg17 said:
Hi Iowegan, have a a question about .223 if you're still around. Your Varget reccomendation has yielded SUPERB results with 55gr and 62gr. I have some Hornady 68gr HP-BT bullets and I'm hoping you can help me determine a good COL to use in a AR-15. I've had ZERO failures with your previous load so hopefully you can help me on this one. The barrel is a 20" 1-9 twist.

Thanks, Pete
Welcome to the forum.

I do not pretend to be Iowegan in real life or on TV, but the simple solution to your problem is a Seating Depth Gauge. You build up a test shell with loose neck tension, find where the bullet contacts the lands, pull back .005", and you've got your COL/OAL.

Now, optimum COL for your rifle is very gun and load dependent. You'll have to do some experimentation to find if your gun likes the bullet nose right into the lands, minimizing jump, or if it works better with a little jump. Guns are different, and determining these quirks is where the finesse comes in.

-- Sam
 

Three44s

Single-Sixer
Joined
Apr 7, 2005
Messages
304
Location
The better half of Wa. State
Seconding YS's thoughts on fine tuning your load.

Not to steal your thunder on Varget but I switched to RL 15 and it's also another good powder in my .223 bolt gun.

Whether it's a good one in an AR ........ I can't answer.

As much as I relish handloading, I have not loaded for my AR's as of yet ..... lack of time and not shooting them much right now.

AND .... a belated welcome to this forum.

I would also entertain joining the other ruger forum ..... you'll very likely find Iowegan there.

Regards

Three 44s
 

Yosemite Sam

Hunter
Joined
Mar 18, 2002
Messages
2,113
Location
Cape Cod, MA, USA
You know? I didn't even notice the AR-15 part.

Forget what I said about optimum OAL. Being a semi-auto you need to stick to something that'll work for "magazine OAL", meaning that it will load into a mag and feed from it. That is often quite different than chamber-specific optimum OAL.

Unless of course you want to manually feed and fire one round at a time... :)

Three44s brings up a good point: Don't be shy to check out www.RugerForum.net .

-- Sam
 

mejetski2002

Bearcat
Joined
Feb 11, 2010
Messages
8
Thanks for the warm welcome folks ! I did contact Iowegan on his forum. I took the gun for it's first outing yesterday and had mediocre accuracy so I need to determine if the chrome-lined barrel needs some breaking in since this load has worked admirably in 2 other AR's. YS, I AM a bit constrained in COL but I appreciate your suggestion nonetheless. Triple-4's, I chose Vaget because up here we have such wild weather fluctuations it seems to give more consistent performance, at least in 2 other AR's I've used. But I may have to try something different for this gun...
 

Ethang

Blackhawk
Joined
Jun 1, 2009
Messages
759
Location
Michigan
I experimented with Varget in my AR some years ago. I got GREAT accuracy but the velocity was mediocre at best. I switched to Vit N133 and like this powder much better then Varget. Great accuracy and the velocity is very good. This is with 50 and 55 grain V-Max bullets.
 

mejetski2002

Bearcat
Joined
Feb 11, 2010
Messages
8
Funny, when I chrono'd this load in my last AR I was getting well over 2,900 fps, but winchester white box .223 was just over 2,600 fps. Go figure...
 

Chuck 100 yd

Hunter
Joined
Mar 20, 2010
Messages
3,251
Location
Ridgefield WA
Many of my most accurate loads in the .223 , .22-250 , .308 (all with lighter bullets)
Have been using Varget. Also works great in the good old .30-30 Winchester.
 

WIL TERRY

Buckeye
Joined
Jun 8, 2003
Messages
1,973
Location
Single Chute, SD USA
pruger45 said:
Not Iowegan from the other Ruger forum?

He banned me for life for questioning him!

ME TOO !!! A real mouthy blowhard . He blamed Taffin and Linebaugh for ALL the blown up guns in America. This is a fine measure of his firearm IQ.
And so it goes...
 

daveg.inkc

Hunter
Joined
Nov 14, 2015
Messages
2,503
Location
Kansas City, MO
WIL TERRY said:
pruger45 said:
Not Iowegan from the other Ruger forum?

He banned me for life for questioning him!

ME TOO !!! A real mouthy blowhard . He blamed Taffin and Linebaugh for ALL the blown up guns in America. This is a fine measure of his firearm IQ.
And so it goes...
You got that right. Kind of a "Know It All"
 
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