powder

[scope eye]

Hi I am just starting to reload and after finely getting all the equipment I needed,that's alot when you have nothing to begin with. Now the question is are there any powders that have a wide range of applications from 223 threw 300 win mag and every thing in between. I want to stick to one powder if I can because after equipment bullets primers and powder noe moe doe. I will get differant powders later but for now any break would be welcome.
thanks Dean

[laportecharlie]

That's a pretty wide range of cartridges you have there! H4895 comes to mind but it would be too fast for the 300 mag.
Charlie

[tammons]

H4895 or Varget.
You can download H4895 to 60% of max for reduced loads.

Varget is a very good powder for 223.

You really cant do it all with one powder though, although those do work well for a general powder.

For light bullets you want a faster powder, heavy bullets slower powder.

As far as Hodgdon....

Just in general H322 or H335 are good fast powders.
H4198 is faster still a good one for very light larger bore loads like 110-125 grain 30BR.

A decent all around heavy bullet powder is H4350.

It is best to start out with just one powder though, until you get used to it.
If you get them mixed up you can get into trouble.

The RL powders are really good too.

That said I almost always use H4895 for all my loads unless I am trying to max them out.

I have used it in 223, 308 from 110 to 220 grain bullets, 7mm-08 under 163 gr amaxes,
338-284 with 160 gr barnes up to 225 gr barnes, and 375 ruger under 225 gr spitzers, slightly reduced.

Its very versitile and you dont have to worry much about undercharging.
Its accurate, but best suited for somewhat middle loads, IE not so much heavy bullets.
It was designed for the military for the 30-06.

With very light bullets like in the 223 you will run out of case room before you hit max velocity with H4895.

Best to go strictly by company data.
Go to the hodgdon site and look up your round and any bullet listed (which pretty much runs the gamit for normal rounds) to use with H4895 can be safely loaded and also down loaded to 60% of max load shown.

IE the hodgdon site lists H4895 for 223 from 36gr up to 80 gr pills.

For the 300WM it list from 110 gr up to 168gr pills.
Heavier than that and its too fast for a 300 WM.
Not an ideal powder once you get heavier than 130 or 140 gr in a 300WM

H4350 is listed all the way through for the 300WM.

[82boy]

Tammons has stated it very well.

[JCalhoun]

I started with Hodgdon's Varget, H4895 (for the Garand), and BLC 2.

[Woodser]

Depends entirely on what you are wanting out of all cartridges you plan to reload.
If you are looking for max velocity out of the 300WM, no powder mentioned above will do the job. If you are looking for max accuracy out of the 223 and mid-range loads for the 300WM, H4895 and Varget are hard to beat.

If I only had one powder for any loading, it would without a doubt be H4895. I currently use it in 223 Rem, 6mm Rem, 308 Win, 30-06, and 8x57 Mauser with excellent results. It does not give max velocity in any but the 223 and 308, but it does indeed yield excellent accuracy in all.

[sinman]

you will defiantly want a couple different pounds of powder, I have 18 different I think.

[dolomite_supafly]

Depends entirely on what you are wanting out of all cartridges you plan to reload.

If I only had one powder for any loading, it would without a doubt be H4895.

Have you tried Varget at all? How does it comapre to H4895 as far as consistency?

The reason I ask is I am a fan of Varget but I am always looking for something to squeeze a little more accuracy out of my guns and thinking H4895 might be worth a try. I only load 223 and will be loading subsonic 7.62x39 as soon as my project gets out of the shop but that is it. The 223 has shot .3's using 68gr Hornady's. Since some work to the gun it doesn't like the 68's anymore but likes 69 SMK's, which is fine because Hornady seems to be inconsistent as far as their quality goes. The SMK's will shoot 1/2" but rarely go any smaller.

Thanks
Dolomite

[tammons]

For me Varget shot the tightest only with 52 gr amaxes.
H4895 not quite as so tight.

Shooting a 223 1:7 and 80 grainers, bergers shot tighter than SMKs. I finally got my best groups with N140. N540 shot slightly tighter than varget

I started shooting 6mmBR and 105 lapuas with Varget. Never got it to shoot super tight. Switched to H4895 and it shot very tight on the first outing with no load development. Shot a 4 shot .75" group at 300 yards, with 2 in the same hole.

[diriel]

In no particular order:
H4895, Varget, RL15, WW748, and IMR8208 XBR.

As stated above for the 300 win mag none of these powders will be optimal. You will likely give up between 100-200 FPS on many loads in the magnums, possibly more. But it IS do-able. I have a friend who used to use RL7...yes Seven... for ALL his stuff. Talk about sub optimal! But he did kill A LOT of Game! He is an Avid hunter :)

Gary

[groupshooter22]

In no particular order:
H4895, Varget, RL15, WW748, and IMR8208 XBR.

As stated above for the 300 win mag none of these powders will be optimal. You will likely give up between 100-200 FPS on many loads in the magnums, possibly more. But it IS do-able. I have a friend who used to use RL7...yes Seven... for ALL his stuff. Talk about sub optimal! But he did kill A LOT of Game! He is an Avid hunter :)

Gary

Where are you getting the 8208 isnt that not supposed to be out next year?

[Woodser]

Depends entirely on what you are wanting out of all cartridges you plan to reload.

If I only had one powder for any loading, it would without a doubt be H4895.

Have you tried Varget at all? How does it comapre to H4895 as far as consistency?

I have not tried Varget, as I purchased a large bulk quantity of H4895 and IMR3031 some years ago, and have concentrated on those two since then.