.223 for the AR

[7P's]

I have a 1:7 twist AR and I haven't found any powder that will shoot 52/53 grain bullets into a small group. With 55 grain I have found CFE223 to be the only powder to group small but only when loaded on the top-end using the Hodgdon reloading site. Mid-level loads shot poorly, like 3 inches at 100 yards.

Varget groups well with 69 grain bullets but the best powder for my particular AR is Vihtavuori N-135 using 77 grain bullets.

I can't get Varget to throw any better than +/- .3 in my LnL Progressive but the CFE223 and N-135 throws on the money every time.

Small group with my AR is around the 0.500" mark for 5-shots only with 77 grain Nosler Match bullets - can't get that grouping with lighter weight bullets. That's using a mighty fine aftermarket trigger, 32X scope with fine X-hairs, solid rest and shot indoors. Some groups are smaller but not all that consistent, so they go from 0.3 to 0.5 inches. Outdoors with my 2moa red dot and shooting off-hand - I can keep most rounds in a bushel basket at 200 yards - sometimes I find a round or two that just don't want to play with the others.

Prairie dogs at 250 to 300 yards - I can miss them fairly consistently. If they give me two sighters, they might be in trouble.

 

[rockquarry]

I've had very good accuracy with the Sierra 53 grain MatchKing in two 1 in 7" twist Colt ARs. All of the 55 grain bullets that I've tried (4 or 5) have also shot well. I really didn't expect any better than mediocre performance from light bullets in such a fast twist bore.

I would have to go through notes to check on best powders for individual bullets, but I've used CFE223, Benchmark, TAC, and H4895. H4895 may be the most useful overall in assembling accurate loads with TAC not far behind. However, H4895 requires a degree of patience as it doesn't meter like a ball powder.