.223 recipes

I have Savage model 12 in .223 with a 1-9 twist and was wondering if anyone has any knowledge of a good recipe to share. I would like to use a Sierra 69 grain Matchking. Will be using this gun on Praire Dogs.

XBR 8208 has been my best friend with a 69gn NCC ( hint the same bullet )worked up to 24.5 but had pressure,so I went with 24gn.( case over all length is at 2.290 )Now I have worked up a load with a 70gn Berger VLD at 23.5gn and it too shoots great.( all so long )They even blow up at the fps they are going,but at a short range.I haven't YET been able to get a coyote yet to see how well they really do.

some will say Varget so be ready,Not saying its bad just choose XBR tharts all.I love Varget in my 308 and some 223 loads.

I have never messed with that powder before but I will get a pound and try it. I also have some 65 grain sierras BTSP I would like for some hunting coyotes ans bobcats.

im one thats says varget ;-} 25 to 26 gns should be good to go.

my load is 25gns varget in a win. brass with cci small primer set at 2.30

I shoot Varget too.... love that powder for the 69 matchkings out of my Bushmaster Predator but it has a 1/8 twist. The same load out of my son's rifle.... which is the same as mine with a 24" barrel and a 1/9 twist wont shoot them nearly as well.... my load is 25 grains of Varget.

I just picked up some 77 grain matchkings that I am going to work up a load for my Rock River.... any ideas?

+1 on the Varget

For the 69 gr matchkings, I found RL-15 worked pretty well around 25gr. But, for PD shooting, I would use a different bullet. I shot the 69 gr matchkings for a while, but heard way too many ricochets with them. You want a bullet that will blow up on any impact. The matchkings also tend to go blasting through PD and keep going. I switched over the the awesome 53 gr V-max, and got better ballistics to boot. The 69 matchking is a great coyote round.

25.3 grs of Varget with 69 gr Match Kings is what shoots best in my Bushmaster AR 9" twist. This just happens to be the suggested accuracy load out of the Sierra manual also. I have killed some groundhogs with this load and I get golf ball size exits and no crawl offs.

I love RL-15 I have 5 guns different calibers and they just feed off of RL-15 and if I can get this Savage .223 eating it that would be a whole heck of a lot better cause I buy the 8 pound jug.

I'm shooting the 65gr Sierra game king over 25gr of H4895 in a LC case and CCI 400 primer. My upper is the varmint model from White Oak with the 24" barrel in 1:8. Once I found this load the gun has shot 3/8", 5 shot groups with boring repeatability. I stopped there with load development and it has been a terror on big hogs down here in south Louisiana. Hope this helps.

Sorry cant help you with loads as we quit useing hollow-points of any form after a couple of seasons of video showed that be it a TNT or MK they bounce around the prairie way too much for my likeing. Just be aware of the backstop!!

MachV you have a good point and I was not aware of the scrapnel I guess the SMK's will be paper punchers.

I have had great success with WC844 from Jeff Bartlett and Sierra 60 grn HP Varminters. I have been using BLC-2 data, as the lot that I have is slower than H335.

Here is a 5 shot group @ 100 yds out of my Model 10PC:

Shooting rem 700 using benchmark 26.6 gr nosler 40gr bt .076 group at 100 yards 3559 f/s