Powder for 64 gr. Nosler

[golfer]

I've ordered some of the 64 grain Nosler bullets to try in my 14.5" barrel for S/D and hunting. I looked at the Hornady reloading specs for their 15" pistol barrels and the two better powders appeared to be Varget and H4895. I have found some Rem. 71/2 primers and may be able to lacate some CCI 450 if you think that would be better. I am not looking for extreme velocity and more interested in a good accurate load at average velocity. Do any of you have experience with these powders in short arrels or could you recommend I look at anything else.
Thanks for looking and happy new year.

[snowdog650]

I use Varget exclusively in my 223 loads (a 70gr Barnes TTX and 69gr Nosler Custom Competition). My groups are less than 1" and my SD on velocities is under 12fps with a 16" BCM mid-length.

I can't speak highly enough of it.

[mic2377]

Both H4895 and Varget would work fine. They are both good versatile powders for other uses as well. However they will fill the case very full, so you may get compressed loads, especially with Varget. Another issue is that they are extruded powders with long grains that don't meter that great in powder measures.

There are at least 5 other powders that I can think of that would also work fantastic, if they are more available. CFE223, IMR 8208 XBR, VVN 135, TAC, etc.

Either of those primers would work fine, as would standard CCI-400's.

[markm]

Loading .223 with Varget is nuts in my opinion. It meters too poorly, and has a horrible bulk density. I love Varget for .308, but not .223. I'd bet 4895 meters better, although that's one Hodgdon powder I've not tried.

[.46caliber]

I'll echo what markm said, Varget kinda sucks for .223. Grains are too big for the case volume and how much powder needs to go in.

Got a pound of it cause it was on the shelf, but I won't get it again till I'm loading a larger case.

[454308]

Alliant 2000mr has been working great for me with 69-77gr.

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[Pilgrim]

I'm big on TAC for the .223/5.56.

[golfer]

So varget doesn't meter well, is h4895 any better? I have not seen either in real life.
Does anyone use AA2230 anymore?
mic2377: I read your posts and can find a few loads for cfe [nothing specific to the 64 grain bullet] and very little on the others you recommended. Is there any thing you point me to?

[markm]

So varget doesn't meter well, is h4895 any better? I have not seen either in real life.

I've not seen it either. But I'm GUESSING it's along the lines of H322 or Benchmark. Both are nice metering extruded powders.

[Gunnar da Wolf]

I use Nosler's data with Varget and get nice sub-inch groups from several rifles. I drop the powder minus 0.2 grain and trickle up. It takes a couple seconds per charge. I think the last loading session with prepped brass took under an hour to load 60 rounds on a single stage press. I'm not blasting with these, so I don't load them in bulk.

[twm134]

So varget doesn't meter well, is h4895 any better? I have not seen either in real life.
Does anyone use AA2230 anymore?
mic2377: I read your posts and can find a few loads for cfe [nothing specific to the 64 grain bullet] and very little on the others you recommended. Is there any thing you point me to?

4895, whether IMR or Hodgdon meters worse than Varget , if that's possible. If you aren't worried about metering it may work very well. However, if you want to load on a progressive or just don't want the hassle of trying to throw Lincoln logs I would think IMR 8208 XBR, Benchmark, or a spherical powder like CFE 223 or maybe Ramshot TAC would work almost as well and meter better.

[colt933]

Loading .223 with Varget is nuts in my opinion. It meters too poorly, and has a horrible bulk density.

Exactly!

TAC is great, plenty accurate and meters like...ball powder.

[eternal24k]

I have had great results with AR-Comp and Nosler 64gr BSB

[DRT]

I use 25.0gr of h4895 w/ rem 7 1/2 primer. Replicates Winchester factory velocity and is reasonably accurate for a blunt , barrier bullet.

[Stengun]

Howdy,

I used BL(C)2 powder for all my .223 loads using bullets from 40gr all the way to 75gr.

Paul

[longtubeman]

I use 748 for 50 or 55 grain, when it comes to 75 gr Amax, I go to 760, sounds slow, but with a 24'' barrel, its doing 3000 fps, and 1/4 groups at 100 yards.

[ubet]

I have had great results with AR-Comp and Nosler 64gr BSB
Glad to hear that because I have about 7 lbs of it and want to reload some 64gr bsb

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[Lefty223]

FWIW my precision loads are Varget loaded by a Belding & Mull 'drop tube' measure. Between that and establishing a load shooting at the node, via the Newberry optimal charge weight 'ladder' process and my 24" AR prints 1/2-MOA and better at 200Yds. That old school measure is very repeatable, no need to trickle up ...

[billyhill]

So varget doesn't meter well, is h4895 any better? I have not seen either in real life.
Does anyone use AA2230 anymore?
mic2377: I read your posts and can find a few loads for cfe [nothing specific to the 64 grain bullet] and very little on the others you recommended. Is there any thing you point me to?

23.5gr 2230/ rem case/ rem 71/2 primer.

I tried Varget, TAC, and Reloder 15 and finally made my peace with 1.5" or slightly better groups. Never could get MOA out of my guns, but don't really need it either for that purpose.