Powder recommendation

hadjii

Looking for advice on what powder would provide the best accuracy in a 222 remington, using a 55 grain bullet. Thank You

PA Shootist

An old standard from nearly 50 years ago, and which has served me very well, was IMR 4198. I know many new powders have come along, but I would suspect it is hard to beat.

62fuelie

+1 on that. My Sako L-46 loves 19 grains of IMR 4198 a CCI small rifle magnum primer and the 55 grain Hornady SX bullet. It's been putting them where I want them for more than 50 years, now and no sign of grouping degradation.

The standard twist rate for the .222 is/was 1-14" so many people say they won't stabilize above 53 grain slugs. I say work with your rifle and it will tell you what it likes best. Mine is in its third stock now and it seems to prefer being fully free-floated to an inch or so in front of the receiver ring then a good glass bedding job.

MIKE WISKEY

IMR 4198, BLc2, 223cfe, are all good

hadjii

Is there a considerable difference between H4198 and IMR4198, because the one powder I have loaded in my 222 is H4198, and perhaps I'm expecting too much, but a 1 inch group is all the better I can get with 18.5 grains, and then 20.0 grains of the H4198.

62fuelie, I'm inclined to agree with you about not stabilizing the 55's, because I shot some 30+ year old factory rounds that were 50 grainers, and the rifle had them stacked up into less than a half inch. Today I bought a fresh box of remington ammo with 50 grain accutips, and if they shoot how I think they're gonna shoot, then I believe I'll have my answer.

charliemeyer007

Finding the sweet spot(s) for your rifle is the challenge. Having the rifle glass bedded, free floating the barrel except for about 5 pounds of up pressure at the end of the stock is where I like to start. Perhaps it is 45 or 50 grain bullet instead of the 55. Then too the powder, primer, and case plus your loading equipment and technique come into play.

My old 722 in 222 does fine with IMR 3031. 1 click on the scope moves the point of impact at 350 yards to the other side of the cross hair. Dad loaded IMR 4198, which is IMHO tedious funneling those long skinny grains down the neck compared to a 45-70 or 458. We shot a lot of BLC lot 2 back in the day - was good enough for varmints. I shot my first birds out of the air with that load. The I change to cast bullets and AL-8 for many thousands of rounds.

Ambrose

At last count, I have 9 rifles chambered in .222 (!) A load that works well in most of them is 19.7 gr. of IMR4198 with the 55 gr. Sierra blitz. Velocity is just shy of 3000 fps.

Of course, IMR4198 works well with 50 gr. bullets, too. An accuracy load with 50 gr. Sierra spt is 22.8 gr. of AA2015. Primer brand does not seem to make much difference: I have a lot of Rem. 7 1/2 so I often use them.

And, velocity-wise, there does not appear, from my notes, (21 pages!), to be much difference between H4198 & IMR4198.

Tflogger

Going with the crowd, imr4198 in .222 or .223 with 50 or 55 grain bullets works well.

Arby

I have loaded 223 using Varget with good results. It is an extruded powder so digital metering is better than using a powder throw.