Benchmark in .223 Remington

[hdwhit]

Years ago when I started loading .223 Remington, I worked up loads using the powders that were available to me at the time. I was shooting a Mini-14 with an 18 inch barrel at the time and so ended up settling on a 60 grain Soft or Hollow point bullet over either IMR-4198, IMR-3031 or WW748. In time, I was able to get performance out of all three so rounds loaded with them could be interchanged and the point of impact would remain the same (within my limits to shoot consistently).

Powder supplies have become more plentiful recently, but locally my three go-to powders remain scarce. The local Gander Mountain, however, is well stocked with Hodgdon's Benchmark. And while Gander Mountain seemed to have raised their prices on everything, their powder prices didn't change and with the 15% or 20% off coupons they send every other week, it is comparatively cheap.

I bought several pounds of Benchmark. I haven't developed a new .223 Remington load in 20+ years and I have no experience with Benchmark. So for those that have used it, is there anything out of the ordinary that I need to be aware of with it (i.e. problems with how it meters, particularly clean or dirty, etc.)?

Thanks in advance for anything you can share.

 

[Sunray]

Gander Mountain is supposedly in Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Reported as such on this or another forum. Don't remember which.
Anyway, working up a load with Benchmark is no different than any other powder. Do it the sane way you did before. How a powder meters etc doesn't matter when working up the load. You should've just bought one pound though.

 

[ants]

For 223 Rem, I like it a lot. I use lots of it.
I believe Benchmark is one of Lyman's accuracy loads for 52 grain bullets.
It works rather well with 55 and 60 and 62 grain, but not so much 69 and 77.
It's a stick powder but the kernels are so short it meters very nicely.
Also works well in in other cartridges with light bullets.
I would have bought many pounds if the price is right.
I usually buy Benchmark in 8# keg.

 

[Axis II]

Love it!! Use it for 2-223 bolt guns. Makes 55gr v max touch holes at 100 yards time after time. meters well in my lee ppm.

 

[n6yga]

^^this.
I use it for ARs and bolt guns. Meters perfectly for me and my accuracy with 55g HP and FMJ rounds is better than I can shoot.

 

[hdwhit]

Sunray wrote:
Gander Mountain is supposedly in Chapter 11 bankruptcy. ... You should've just bought one pound though.

Gander Mountain in Chapter 11, but their restructuriong plan calls for the firm to be actioned off in May.

I actually bought five pounds of Benchmark. In addition to the other powders I have, I anticipate this will be sufficient to last me for therest of my life. I have no doubt as to my ability to eventually work up a load comparable to my other loads, I was just looking for any caveats or short-cuts in that development.

 

[glc24]

I just got back from my brothers camp yesterday. I shot a bunch of my Benchmark loads, and have to say, it is indeed a very accurate powder. I was shooting 55 gr. FMJ's out of a 1:7 twist 16 in. barrel. I should have taken a couple pics of the 10 shot groups at 100 yds. Very impressed.

As for Benchmark metering, in my case it's not the easiest. If you're on the high end of the powder charge, you don't have much, if any, leeway. I use a Frankford Arsenal Platinum powder drop for my AR reloads. It's darn accurate, but with Benchmark, it will sometimes throw an errant charge up to 2 grains over. I did 3 sets of 30 test throws measuring with a digital scale writing them all down. Very few were at 25 grains. From under to over, as much as .5 -.7 grain swing with a crazy 2 grains over at least once in all three sets. So because of that I decided not to take any chances, and measure out every throw to 25 grains.

 

[djmurf]

Love benchmark... 24.8 grains over hornady 55gr sp's is a great load for my AR... That's at the top of the scale, so don't start there! It also meters well, and is supposed to be less sensitive to temp changes... You should be pretty happy with it.

 

[Axis II]

Wow I've never had a swing like that. 23-24gr 55gr v max shoots lights out for me but start low and go up. I get consistent drops out of my lee measure.

 

[glc24]

Wow I've never had a swing like that. 23-24gr 55gr v max shoots lights out for me but start low and go up. I get consistent drops out of my lee measure.

I hear that.
I'm not sure what's up with that deal. The measure is definitely "broken in", as it measures CFE 223 ball on the money every single throw.

 

[grandpawj]

Benchmark is my go to powder for the 223 Rem 55 to 60 grain bullets. About to run out of it, wish I had 8 more pounds. In my neck of the woods, sometimes they got it and most times not.

 

[someguy2800]

My favorite 223 powder as well. I weigh with an electronic dispenser. I have found benchmark to be pretty sensitive on pressure. The pressure goes up very quickly with charge weight. Not a problem for me but I wouldn't use it if I was loading on a progressive or just dumping loads from a measure

 

[glc24]

My favorite 223 powder as well. I weigh with an electronic dispenser. I have found benchmark to be pretty sensitive on pressure. The pressure goes up very quickly with charge weight. Not a problem for me but I wouldn't use it if I was loading on a progressive or just dumping loads from a measure

This is exactly why I weighed out every Benchmark charge. No trust whatsoever in the powder measure accuracy with that powder. I really like Benchmark too, so I've decided the electronic measure is a must.

 

[hdwhit]

Thank you all for your replies.

I reload on a single-stage press and I throw every charge light and trickle it up to weight, so once I find a load that works, getting cosnistency won't be a challenge.

After nearly four decades of loading .223 with IMR-4198, IMR-3031 or WW-748, it felt kind of awkward to be thinking about adding a new powder I've never used before (like starting to date after thrity years of marriage), so I appreciate your suggestions and encouragement.

 

[KansasSasquatch]

It's a great powder. When I started reloading 5 or 6 years ago Varget was the first powder I used for .223. I loved it other than it's not always so friendly in the "throws consistently" department. But it's been pretty forgiving for me as long as it stays within 0.3gr of the target charge. Anyways, I kept looking for a powder that I liked just as much but that metered more consistently and never jammed my powder measure. Then I stumbled upon Benchmark a couple years ago. It's become my go-to powder for .223 when I want accuracy above all else, when using 40-60gr bullets. If I can give up a little bit of accuracy and want more velocity with heavier bullets, I go back to Varget. If it's just "blasting ammo" I use CFE-223 because it's accurate enough and I have quite a bit of it.

But with Benchmark just start at the bottom like usual and work up. In all of the rifle/bullet/Benchmark combos that I've tried, I just about always find the most accurate load somewhere just above the middle of load range for listed data. But loads on the low end tend to shoot good enough for blasting ammo.

 

[hdwhit]

KansasSasquatch wrote:
But with Benchmark just start at the bottom like usual and work up.

I've always consulted my various manuals to find a "concensus" starting load and then for rifle loads, I'll go up 0.2 grains at a time. Where I shoot, I rarely have more than 100 yards open and the longest open area I have is just over 200 yards, so for me "accuracy" is getting at least 9 out of 10 rounds in the circular divot on the side of a plastic milk jug. Mostly what I will be trying to achieve is interchangability with my existing loads so that I don't have to adjust my sights when I switch to rounds loaded with a different powder.

The first .223 load I worked up was 20.3 grains of IMR-4198 under a 60 grain Hornady bullet. At the time, it was a less than maximum load per Hornady Handbook, Volume 4. Later editions reduced maximum load so that load is now above maximum, but I have no intention of disassembling the 800 or so rounds (out of an original 2,000) that I still have since the first 1,200 worked fine. My hope is to get a middle-of the range load of Benchmark that will give me the same point of impact as my IMR-4198 loads. I'm hopeful.

 

[earplug]

In my AR-15 Benchmark seemed to leave a bit more carbon on the gas system then H335 and H4895.
Accuracy was equal with sporter weight military style rifles.

 

[hdwhit]

earplug wrote:
In my AR-15 Benchmark seemed to leave a bit more carbon on the gas system...

How did you deal with that carbon build-up?