Oly

Tried my first loads with H4895 in both .223Rem and .308Win today and it's very promising.

In .308Win loads around 44.5gn and 45.5gn with Fed210M primers and 150gn Gamekings are grouping in one ragged hole sub 0.6" and worthy of investigation.

Likewise in .223Rem loads around 25.6gn and 26gn with Fed205M primers and 55gn Gamekings are also grouping in one ragged hole sub 0.7" and worthy of more work.

I would recommend anyone who's thinking about reloading with one powder for both .308Win and .223Rem to consider H4895. Details of my rifles are at the start of this thread and all loads showed no signs of excess pressure in my rifles.

Cheers,

Oly

Cheers guys much appreciated. Still interested to hear if anyone uses it in 223...surely I'm not the first!

Well, I've decided to try it out with H4895 - as it's readily available, supposed to be better for shorter 20" 308 barrels and it slap bang in the middle of the burn rates between the "ideals" for 308 & 223...plus if it doesn't work I only have a 1lb tub of it!

So - can any of you boys with Quickload tell me where my optimum load should be and where I should start?!? (Primers are Fed 210M's and 205M's)

Cheers for your input so far, it'll be interesting to see where this experiment goes from here!

Hiya Oly,

 

My gut reaction was Varget for both, however I have just ran "Quickload and if you really want a powder to do both the .223rem and .308win using 55grain and 150 grain respectively Quickload is suggesting Viht 530 as a starting point. For both calibers you get a case capacity between 95-100% with good velocity too.

 

Varget is a great powder in the .223rem when using heavier bullets, I had consistent sub 0.5" groups at 100yds with my .223ai using Varget, but its not a good choice for the lighter bullets.

 

If you give Norman Clark a ring I am sure he would have the Viht 530 on the shelf.

 

If you want more quickload info just PM me.

 

Hope this helps.

Varget was my first thought, but then like you say, it does prefer heavier bullets in .223 Do most other gun shops stock N530? Given how close it is to N130 is there any reason not to go with this one?

Oly, I went back over old records. I used Varget compressed in the 223 with a 50grn Nosler ballistic tip. It was an excellent load.

 

I switched to Benchmark pushing a 50grn Nosler ballistic tip for accuracy and speed and I seemed to be able to buy it more readily. H335 was an absolute stunner with 55grn, but hard to find in those days.

 

All loads were using Lapua brass and Fed GM205m primers. The CCI never returned the same velocity or ES as Federal. The rifle was a bog standard Sako 75 varmint laminate stock with a Reflex suppressor.

 

Take your pick. Click

 

 

ATB

Many thanks, that is very interesting. Having just looked over the Sako website think the 75 varmint laminate had a 1 in 8 twist and mine is a 1 in 12 twist - I can't work out if is this likely to help or hinder the load in my rifle!! Any ideas?

I was thinking along the lines of varget, but have heard that you can't get enough in to properly power the lighter 55gn rounds. And my twist isn't fast enough for much heavier.

I'm getting back into reloading after a period of absence and inaccuracy! However, I'm keeping it simple and cheap, so...

Ideally I'm after one powder to serve both my .223Rem with 1:12 twist and .308Win with a 1:11 twist. Both rifles have 20" barrels and are only really for hunting purposes, with a small amount of range work out to 300yards. Therefore accuracy of 0.5" at 100 yards is perfectly acceptable! I'm thinking about using 55gn Gamekings in the .223Rem (for fox and small deer) and 150gn Gamekings in the .308Win (for deer)

From what I have read, Varget and H322 (N140 and N130 comparably) are either too slow or too fast for either one or the other calibre. So, in the middle ground burn speed between these we have H4895 or the Viht equivalents N135 and N530.

I know many on this forum are looking for much greater accuracy than I am, but given my intended applications am I being realistic in what I want from one powder to perform these two roles?

Also, am I likely to find reasonable stock/supply of H4895, N135 and N530 in the UK?

Which out of the three should I go for and why (pro's and cons - e.g. price, availability, temperature stability, clean burn etc)?

Does anyone already use any of these powders for these calibres, if so, do you have any good loads to share?

Finally, how much effect will quality brass have on this operation? From my period of non-reloading I have a reasonable amount of Prvi once fired brass, but am contemplating buying new Lapua...just wondering whether it's worth it given my opening paragraph (although I do have both full length and neck sizing dies).

Thanks in advance,

Oly