[clepidus]

So my wife has blown through almost 500 rounds in the last few months and I need to load her up some more. I have brass, primers and bullets but my powder of choice and actually the only powder I have used for her is gone...(IMR 4831) I haven't found any at the store I frequent the most so I am branching out tomorrow.

I had a load of 42 grains of the IMR 4831 pushing a 87 grain V-max that was accurate so I stuck with it. I was hoping for some powder suggestions that have worked for others with a same or similar load so I can broaden my search. I know I have to work up loads for the specific gun but for some reason I have it in my mind that if it is good in yours, it may be a good spot to start with mine.

Any suggestions are welcome. Maybe some opinion of how clean it burns, flash and recoil as well. Only reason I consider flash is we do a lot of coyote hunting and some of it is in the dark.

Thanks,

Mike

 

[soundguy]

in order of 'favorites for me:

imr4064
varget
imr4350
imr4895

i've loaded for 85 and 90gr projectiles, though havn't loaded for any poly tipped ammo yet.. though I o have some nosler on the shelf. just havn't loaded any yet.

imr 4064 is my overall favorite powder for most of the rifle loads i work up. seldom do i find one i like better as a prrimary load.. though varget has come close,and in some cases made 'equal' marks on paper for me.

 

[clepidus]

Thanks SoundGuy, I have about 1.5 lbs of Varget on the shelf but I have been saving it for my 5.56. I guess I should just quit being stingy and give it a try. I will see what I come up with on my little run tomorrow first though. I should have all her brass prepped and primed tonight.

 

[soundguy]

varget should do fine.

varget is my 2nd most used powder. I like imr4064 best.. but varget for sure has it's place.

be safe. work up from minimum loads.. etc. but you know that

 

[clepidus]

For sure, I am kinda paranoid when it comes to hot loads. My equipment is to expensive and I don't think I can replace my face no matter how simple it may be. Most of my loads fall into place in the mid range of the books with the exception of my Accuracy Systems built Mini-14. It likes them pretty hot but still not quite max.

 

[myfriendis410]

RL19 is a good choice and my personal favorite in an 80 gr. load is with Superformance. It will give you at LEAST 200 fps over any other comparable powder. Only up to 80 gr. loads though. I have to shoot copper out here so have been loading the Barnes TTSX with fantastic results in my BDL both on paper and on animals.

 

[rawright54]

I've been loading 100 gr softpoints with 32.5 gr of Reloader 15 powder, the only rifle powder I've been able to find in the past 6 months. It's not the fastest, but the accuracy has been good through my BLR. If you want to stick with your 87 gr bullet, my Speer book shows that between 34 - 38 gr of Reloader 15 should give you decent performance, if not the hottest on the block.

I haven't tried firing any at night, so I can't report on flash, but what I've been shooting is certainly noisy, though with very little recoil. I haven't noticed any major residue, either, certainly no more than factory stuff from Remington.

Did I mention it's noisy? Whew! Others at the range were guessing what I'm shooting last weekend, and the smallest guess was .270; most were thinking much larger. It also punched 1/2" holes in 1/2" steel plate, which I was not expecting from a soft point. :thumbsup:

 

[clepidus]

rawright54,

Loud is an understatement with my wife's .243. It has a definite crack which is louder than my .270 and louder than my stock .243 was before I had the custom work done to it. I have been trying to find RL-15 around here but haven't had much luck. I load my .270 with RL-22 and it loves it.

Thanks for the input everybody I am off to bed finally got the brass done for my wife all I need is a couple lbs of powder and a few hours to load it.

Mike

 

[lcn]

I don't have a .243 but with my .257 Roberts I stick with the old standby, 4064.

 

[dbach]

I have a Remington 788 in .243. The best shooting reload I've made was:

Hornady 100 Grain SST
35 Grains Varget
Large Rifle Primer (any will do, can't be picky now days)

 

[clepidus]

Well the question is answered. I ended up with RL-15. I am going to try a few rounds with it in both .243 and .223 to determine if one likes it more than the other. The looser can have the Varget.

It was a great day for supplies though. I went to a semi-local store as they were unpacking a load right off the truck. I was able to pick up 3 lbs each of Varget, RL-22, Blue Dot and RL-15. They also had all size primers so I walked out with 1k of each. The best part was that the price was reasonable. 19.95/lb for all the powders but Varget, it was 23.95/lb and the primers were 29.99/1000 even the CCI 41's. There is hope as I saw a pretty bright glimmer of light today. They were almost fully stocked with guns too. I saw a nice Sig tac Ops .45 I have been thinking about for a while.


The expensive part was the muzzle loader my wife has been asking me to buy the last 6 months. It was on sale for about $120.00 less than anywhere I have seen it before so she got a new "big girl" toy as she put it. Too bad she is in Reno for the next week and I get to play with it first thing tomorrow morning!