I'm about to embark on loading some varmint killers for .223. I have a bunch of 60-grain Sierra bullets en route and a pile of empty brass in the basement. I'll have to get primers, powder and a set of dies for the Dillon 550 press.

I've not yet looked into my Lee reloading manual to see his recommendation for powder, though. The manual I have is also about 8-10 years old, so there may be more (and better) powders available today.

I'll have to go see The Oracle at Gunstop to pick up my 'stuff' and will surely ask him for his choice but... Who here has a pet powder for prairie-dog slaying .223 loads?

I shoot my Bushmaster AR (1:9 twist), son 1 has a Remmy 700 (1:12 twist) and son 2 has a Tika (also 1:9).

I'll also load up some 135-grain .308 for son 2's DPMS EBR. Those should be fun rat-killers!

jb

I haven't run it yet in my AR, but I picked up a pound of Winchester 748 Ball Powder via JFettig's recomendation. It's suppose to be pretty clean, and since it's ball powder it should help give you consistant drops.

Don't know much about what powder but the 60 gr bullet is kinda heavy for the Rem's 1:12 twist from what I hear.

Have you looked at the Barnes 'gernades'? http://www.barnesbullets.com/products/rifle/varmint-grenade/

From the video at Cabela's - it makes a mess of Prairie dogs.

Mostly-

The 60-grain bullets are probably getting toward the upper end of weight for a 1"12 barrel but shouldn't be badly "over stabilized". Sixty-eight or 72 probably are too heavy.

Son 1 will probably pick up a box of the 'grenade' ammo from (I think) Black Hills. They're 55 grains, so should be perfect for his 700.

We'll probably head for eastern Wyoming to find some rats. Son 2 and I went to western SD 2-3 years ago and had pretty good shooting.

jb

I have had excellent groupings from Accurate 2015. It is designed for the .22 - 6mm range and works well for me.

I use it in a DPMS w/20" bull barrell in .223

i don't have a bunch of experience reloading the .223 for my rra m4gery but from what i gleaned from some very reliable individuals in the area who have reloaded the .223, i selected H335 from hodgdon. it meters well and is not super expensive, also fairly flexible for several bullet wts and charges. from what i was finding on several other sites such as arf and arfa, the most preferred precision powder was varget. i'll be curious to see what you end up using and at what charge. after all the years i've been reloading i've determined reloading to be much like a super old country buffet where there are so many choices and many are good with some that are just bad. with good common sense and suggestions from others ahead of you in line and some taste testing, you generally settle on some old favorites that satisfy your expectations. i'm not very demanding nor exciting nor exceedingly precision oriented when reloading most of my ammo. i'm just a "meat and potatoes" reloader. but i do like to read or ear about other's tastes.

For both my heavy barrel 223's and my 221 Contender I use either IMR 4198 or Accurate Arms 2015. I had experimented with BLC-2, H335, Reloader #7 and Winchester 748 but got the best results with IMR 4198. Currently I have been shooting the AA2015, but am planning to go back the the IMR 4198 because it was the most accurate in my shooting equipment.

Update:

I've loaded about 775 rounds of .223 with Accurate 2230 powder. There's no chance of a double charge, as the case is nearly full with the recommended charge.

I also loaded some .308 but used H4895 - that also resulted in a full case, with come compression when seating the bullet. I have 110- and 135-grain bullet weights loaded, The light ones should be pretty spectacular on a prairie rat, I think!

The 2230 can be used in .308 too, but I had trouble getting load data for the 1`35-grain hollow-points I bought. I did get it yesterday form the factory, though.

My sons and I will head for Wyoming next week to lay waste on the rat population. We'll bring 3 x .223 rifles, 1 .308, 1 .17 HMR, two or three .22 LR and several handguns. All together, there'll be something like 1200-1400 rounds of ammo (.22LR doesn't count!).

jb

I have used many of the powders that the guys have talked about. They all do a good job as they said. I have used Varget the last few times, in the .223 and .308. No loss of accuracy and it is not temp sensative, and I have had that issue on other trips, zero the rifle at 65 or 80, but find it MUCH hotter on the dog town. H322 also takes care of that problem. Both of them flowed very welll in the Dillon. Have fun finding a great load!!

WIth lighter bullets, that is 52 and 55 grain, (NOT the superlights 40's) I have good luck with Varget, runs thru the meter nice, consistent whether it be 50 degrees or 90 degree.