What's the flattest low-ish powered 40 grain .223 Remington load???

[chaz]

As above folks, I'm going to do a little experiment on low weight V-Max heads out of my .223 Rem with a 1 in 8 twist.

I'm looking for the flattest shooting round i can get, even if it means going higher up the scale with powder weight.

I bought a box of 40 grain V-Max, and have IMR 8208XBR, BLC2, Vhit N133, and Vhit N135 powder to have a go at creating a flat round out to around 200-250 yards. The flat trajectory is more important than the powder quantity. But if i could get a nice flat 40 grain V-Max out to 150-200 yards, with a low powder charge i'd be happy with that.

I suppose i'm asking for 2 things really. But realistically, a low powered (Rabbit) load pushing the 40 grain V-Max as flat as possible out to 150 yards would be a good compromise...

I have made some nice accurate sub moa Nosler 45 grain SP's in the past that worked a treat. I only had 3/4 of a box though, and they're discontinued now... But they we're on the hotter end of the powder range, (Which created a lot of noise!) The bullets were quite short, but thanks to some well experienced members on here, I was advised to seat the bullets, at least as deep as the width of the bullet. Which worked a treat, so thanks to them.

Some/any experienced advice would be very appreciated.

Thanks

Chaz.

 

[BlueBoy69]

Chaz,

 

This might be a helpful guide?

 

Cartridge : .223 Rem.
Bullet : .224, 40, Hornady V-MAX BT 22241
Usable Case Capacity : 26.987 grain H2O = 1.752 cm³
Cartridge O.A.L. L6 : 2.260 inch = 57.40 mm
Barrel Length : 24.0 inch = 609.6 mm

Predicted Data for Indicated Charges of the Following Powders.

Matching Maximum Pressure: 60000 psi, or 413 MPa or a maximum loading ratio or filling of 105 %

Powder type Filling/ Charge Vel. Prop. P max P muzz B_Time
Loading Grains fps Burnt psi psi ms
Ratio % %
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SNPE Vectan SP 10 104.5 27.8 3809 96.4 60000 6969 0.843
Hodgdon H335 104.7 28.4 3805 96.4 60000 6954 0.840
ReloadSwiss RS 36 97.1 23.5 3762 100.0 60000 6134 0.840
Alliant Reloder-7 101.9 24.5 3761 99.7 60000 6338 0.849
Hodgdon H4227 97.8 22.3 3748 100.0 60000 5928 0.834
Vihtavuori N120 105.0 23.9 3716 100.0 58043 5796 0.854
Hodgdon H4198 103.1 24.1 3712 96.9 60000 6254 0.840
Lovex S053 98.8 22.0 3706 100.0 60000 5635 0.845
IMR 4198 105.0 23.4 3703 99.5 55014 6235 0.859
Alliant Reloder-10x 105.0 24.6 3691 98.7 52338 6618 0.893
ReloadSwiss RS 40 105.0 26.6 3657 93.6 53476 6665 0.884
Hodgdon H322 105.0 25.4 3604 94.9 48629 6610 0.909
Alliant Reloder-12 105.0 26.6 3579 95.3 50028 6404 0.908
Vihtavuori N530 105.0 26.3 3575 90.4 49515 6589 0.912
Ramshot X-Terminator 105.0 27.9 3571 89.1 53202 6405 0.899
Vihtavuori N130 105.0 24.4 3545 97.9 49334 6090 0.919
Alliant AR-Comp 105.0 25.3 3537 98.1 42581 6599 0.956
Hodgdon Benchmark 105.0 25.7 3514 91.3 49774 6225 0.920
IMR 8208 XBR 105.0 26.1 3486 89.1 46340 6352 0.941
Lovex S060 105.0 25.4 3392 86.7 45817 5948 0.956
Vihtavuori N133 105.0 23.9 3340 94.4 40460 5787 0.993

 

Tables never format correctly unfortunately even though it was fine in the text editor, so apologies for its wonkiness!

 

If you want low power, a bit below 22 Hornet level, use 7-8 grains or Trail Boss for around 2060-2250 fps.

 

Neil

[chaz]

Chaz,

 

This might be a helpful guide?

 

Cartridge : .223 Rem.

Bullet : .224, 40, Hornady V-MAX BT 22241

Usable Case Capacity : 26.987 grain H2O = 1.752 cm³

Cartridge O.A.L. L6 : 2.260 inch = 57.40 mm

Barrel Length : 24.0 inch = 609.6 mm

 

Predicted Data for Indicated Charges of the Following Powders.

 

Matching Maximum Pressure: 60000 psi, or 413 MPa or a maximum loading ratio or filling of 105 %

 

Powder type Filling/ Charge Vel. Prop. P max P muzz B_Time

Loading Grains fps Burnt psi psi ms

Ratio % %

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

SNPE Vectan SP 10 104.5 27.8 3809 96.4 60000 6969 0.843

Hodgdon H335 104.7 28.4 3805 96.4 60000 6954 0.840

ReloadSwiss RS 36 97.1 23.5 3762 100.0 60000 6134 0.840

Alliant Reloder-7 101.9 24.5 3761 99.7 60000 6338 0.849

Hodgdon H4227 97.8 22.3 3748 100.0 60000 5928 0.834

Vihtavuori N120 105.0 23.9 3716 100.0 58043 5796 0.854

Hodgdon H4198 103.1 24.1 3712 96.9 60000 6254 0.840

Lovex S053 98.8 22.0 3706 100.0 60000 5635 0.845

IMR 4198 105.0 23.4 3703 99.5 55014 6235 0.859

Alliant Reloder-10x 105.0 24.6 3691 98.7 52338 6618 0.893

ReloadSwiss RS 40 105.0 26.6 3657 93.6 53476 6665 0.884

Hodgdon H322 105.0 25.4 3604 94.9 48629 6610 0.909

Alliant Reloder-12 105.0 26.6 3579 95.3 50028 6404 0.908

Vihtavuori N530 105.0 26.3 3575 90.4 49515 6589 0.912

Ramshot X-Terminator 105.0 27.9 3571 89.1 53202 6405 0.899

Vihtavuori N130 105.0 24.4 3545 97.9 49334 6090 0.919

Alliant AR-Comp 105.0 25.3 3537 98.1 42581 6599 0.956

Hodgdon Benchmark 105.0 25.7 3514 91.3 49774 6225 0.920

IMR 8208 XBR 105.0 26.1 3486 89.1 46340 6352 0.941

Lovex S060 105.0 25.4 3392 86.7 45817 5948 0.956

Vihtavuori N133 105.0 23.9 3340 94.4 40460 5787 0.993

 

Tables never format correctly unfortunately even though it was fine in the text editor, so apologies for its wonkiness!

 

If you want low power, a bit below 22 Hornet level, use 7-8 grains or Trail Boss for around 2060-2250 fps.

 

Neil

 

Thanks for taking the time to do that for me Neil.

Looks like its the Vhit N133, and the 8208XBR then.

Much appreciated.

Chaz.