good .223 powder for a Rookie

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I swear I searched here :confused: What's a good powder for a rookie with a lee turret press and the pro disk powder measure? The brown truck dropped off my 9MM dies and .223 dies today. I'm loading 55GR FMJ BT. I'm looking for a powder that will work with the auto disk and not cause the rook (me) problems.

I decided on Win231 for the 9mm 115 GR FMJ. I'm buying powder tomorrow. The 9MM is all set to rock and roll in the press. Throw a couple choices at me. Thanks in advance!
 
8208xbr should work very well for you. Meters well, temp stable, and consistent.
There are many options of course and most ball powders should meter well for you.
 
I like Accurate 2230 but like VoodooMountain said, there are lots of good powders out there for 223 Remington.
 
I like IMR-4198. Loads of around 20 grains will get 350 rounds out of a pound of powder.

I have also had good experience with IMR-3031 and Winchester 748, but with loads closer to 25 grains, the yield per pound falls to around 280.

Faster burning powders are more likely to produce good results out of short barrels while longer barrels are more likely to see better results with slower powders, but that's not a hard and fast rule. You will need to experiment until you find a combination of bullet and powder that works for your gun.
 
I personally like Benchmark. 25 gr. produced less than 1" groups from my AR with a simple 4x32 scope with a 55 gr SP hornady bullet.
 
I haven't loaded/shot 223 in a good while but I had no complaints about H335 and w748. It seems that these and ramshot TAC always get great reviews. If I decided to get a 223 rifle again, I would have no problem placing an order for a couple 8lb kegs of H335 knowing that it will do a damn fine job. I have read reviews on w748 being more temperature sensitive than other powders.

Edit: And ooh, You'll like that w231 loading for 9mm as well as most any other non magnum handgun caliber. I like it enough to have 14lb of the stuff(hp38 label) stored away. works well for me in 380acp, 9mm, 38spl, 40s&w, 45acp as well as light to mid range 357 and 500 magnum.
 
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For 9mm, W231/HP-38 is a good choice as it meters very well in Pro Auto Disk being a ball powder.

For .223, I like H335 as it is another ball powder (most rifle powders are stick powders) and meters well in Pro Auto Disk.
 
I am partial to Varget.
It's accurate,
Good velocity,
Almost impossible to overcharge...I don't think you can get too much into a .223 case,
Works great in many other calibers as well

The trade off is that it doesn't meter very easily through my powder measure, being a stick powder, so I can't say how it would work through a disc meter.
 
Hodgdon H335 is a good powder for the .223 and it meters very well. Depending upon which company's powders are available you have many choices. Winchester 748 will work well in the .223. Ramshot TAC is good choice as is Accurate AA2230. Alliant AR-Comp was specifically developed for the .223. Alliant has another 6 or so powders that will do well in the .223 including RL-10x.

In reality there are probably 20 some odd powders that are suitable for loading the .223.
 
I have used CFE-223, BLC(2), Benchmark and H335. All should meter well in a disk powder measure as they are small, ball powders. They all work good in 223. They are kinda like trucks, everybody had their favorite brand.
 
I don't know which powders meter best in the autodisk but I would assume ball powders are best. IMR4198 and Hodgdon Varget (for example) are extruded powders so look into this. Your not mentioning what kind of firearm in .223 your loading for. I load .223 using IMR4198 in a Sabre Arms AR-15, this gun eats anything but not all ARs do. Just so you know IMR4198 is a hot powder for most autoloaders, consider something a bit slower. A bolt action .223 is of course no problem. The Hornady book has a great section on loading for ARs, and there is a website forum, I think its called ar15 dot com you might want to check out.

In my not so humble opinion, you should do yourself a big favor and get 1 caliber under control before the other. Especially considering that one caliber is pistol the other rifle. So holding off on powder purchases for both calibers might be prudent. I think, but would not want to go to the wall on this, but my advice is get your feet wet on 9mm, load and fire successfully 100s of rounds (1000s would be better) before moving on to .223. Both are handloading for sure but there are different techniques to learn. If you handload .223 you will probably need a case trimmer at the minimum. I personally have no good words for the Lee chamfer and deburring tools needed for rifle others my disagree with me here. You need case lube also.

Right now for 9mm the world is your oyster. Powder availability is good. W231 is good and if you see Hodgdon HP-38 it's a bit less expensive and the exact same powder. Other powders to consider and will work are Hodgdon Titegroup, Clays (regular clays), CFE Pistol, Winchester WSF and autocomp, Alliant Bullseye, power Pistol, BE-86 and Unique, Accurate Arms #2 and #5, VV N310 and N320, and Ramshot ZIP. There are others though.
 
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CFE223, H335, BL-C (2), and W748 are widely available. And should meter well, being that they are ball powders.
 
I use CFE-223 for the lighter bullets and Varget for the heavier ones. If your using the Hornady 55gr FMJBT you may find these NOT to be the most accurate due to the base. I had one gun that would not give me any thing less than 2" group at 100 yrds. But my match barrel AR will give me just under 1" at 100 yrds. For the price I paid for these (<0.08/ea) I accept that. Surprisingly these ended up with the same load but different OAL. Now I run OAL test for every year I have of LC brass. The Vmax will give you more accuracy.

I have used H335, H4198, and Tac. Of the powders I tested Tac and H335 meter the best out of my Horandy Dispenser.

Working up the loads is the most enjoyable thing about hand loading. You get to see the results of your work first hand. And it's fun to out shoot your buddies in a friendly competition.
 
ANY medium-burn-rate powder will work well in the .223.

Get the ball variety if you are using any sort of automatic powder-drop.

My favorite is VARGET - which is a stick powder, and hated by the automatic powder drop crowd. Also better for heavier projectiles.


TAC and 8208 are very popular, ball and short-stick, respectively.
 
I can only state that I use Win 231/HP-38 for ALL my pistol calibers and H335 for my .223. I also use the Lee Classic turret and the Pro disk dispenser. Both powders meter VERY consistently.
 
For 55's in my Rem 700 I'm stuck on BL-(C)2 and CCI #450's. To replicate M193 ball ammo for a carbine I'd say IMR3031.
 
CFE223, Auto Disk Powder Measure

I am using CFE223 with 55gr Hornady FMJBT for my AR-15 with good results but as others have stated there are many good rifle powders that will work.

Make certain that you start with a spherical or ball powder as flake or stick powders will not meter as smoothly with your Pro Auto Disk.

Your powder measure will probably need the Lee Double Disk Kit for your powder measure to meter rifle size loads.

If you are using a Lee turret press, you will want to get the Auto Disk Riser.

+1 on thomas15's point that you might want to get comfortable making 9mm rounds before advancing to .223. Brass preparation for bottle neck rifle rounds is a lot more involved than preparing 9MM pistol rounds.
 
I like AA 2230 for my plinker/light bullet rounds. Meters really well on my LCT turret and auto-disk setup (can't recall right now whether you need the dual disk setup to get the weight high enough).
 
.223 = 2230 / 9mm = W231

Accurate 2230 seems to work well with 55gr FMJ plinkers. I haven't developed a true "accuracy" load yet for my AR - that's on my to-do list for sure. Both 2230 & AR-Comp are in the queue to try out for that.

As for 9mm, I started off with HS-6, but switched to Win231. They meter about the same, but I found W231 to burn cleaner. Take Mike44's advice and spend a couple bucks on the Auto Disk Riser. https://fsreloading.com/offers.php?mode=offer&offerid=1871 Based on W231's volumetric density, the .43 cavity will throw consistent 4.6 grain charges. This works well with 115gr plated RN & round nosed lead bullets (as well as 230gr RN for .45ACP).

A friend of mine uses Accurate No.2 for his 9mm loads and loves it, so there's another possibility.

Ed
 
Thanks for all the replies. Went with the Win-231 for pistol and all they had for powder suggested was Win-748. All I wanted to start with was a pound of each and that was all they had so that's what I got.

Thomas15...I absolutely agree with you 100% about getting one caliber figured out on the loader first...I'm starting with 9MM. I should have stated that but it seems as if there's a shortage of reloading supplies here. The powder and primer stock as well as die stock is nil here. Wonder why:rolleyes:

I wanted to get it while the gettin was good. I ended up buying 2000 bullets in 9MM and .223 as well as the brass, (2000 once fired) at a local store for an awesome price. Couldn't turn it down....anybody in the Phoenix metro area PM me and I'll send you the info. I bought 2000 primers for both calibers as well. I'm set...gonna have my buddy come over this Saturday and set it up and load. Again thanks for the advice...I'm sure I'll have lots of questions.
 
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