wife went off to a girly lunch, so I dragged out the 223 and 260. The 260, as always was dead on. That Vortex Viper scope has been thumped and bounced and knocked into stuff, and the zero has never ever changed. I'm impressed and pleased.

The 223, now that I've gotten familiarized with how to shoot that light rifle, just stacked the 40 grain Nosler BT's one on top of another. I'm happy, since that's the standard reload that I use. Then I found my 55 gr Nosler BT reloads and my 65 gr Sierra GK reloads and was less impressed with those reloads. I'll choot em up and try again to work up loads. I'll probably stay with H335 on the 55's, and that's what I use with the 40's, but I'll try another powder with the 65 gr GK's. And that's where ya'll come in. I have Varget, IMR 3031, AA2230, BL-C(2), IMR4064, and the H335. Those of you that shoot the Sierra GK 65 grainers, please share with me your pet loads. With the last barrel on this rifle, I used AA2230 with that bullet, but with the new barrel I don't want to just assume that's the best. Plus, AA2230 isn't that easy to find around here, if I needed more.

Mine likes Benchmark with 60 grainers.

Mine loves 55 grain Sierra Gamekings with Win 748

I don't shoot that bullet, but if I did I would choose Varget from that list of powders for my first try.

With bullets 60gr to 90gr in the 223 I use Varget and from that list would be my choice. Going to try some CFE223 in it though since it meters so well and is a little slower burning and I bought several lbs for the Grendel.

My 20" 1:8 rifle liked 65gr SGK's with 25.1 gr of Varget.
I would step ladder around my load.

My 1:7 16" rifle doesn't like anything yet.

Varget

Well...by golly...Varget will be tried out with that bullet. Thanks.

yep

I use H335 - IMR4064 - and BL-C(2) with the Sierra 65 gr Gamekings with very good results out of my Savage 12 FLVSS and all 3 of my AR-15's.

What twist?

Varget would be fine with that weight bullet
I like AA2230 /XTerminator(same powder) as well
I was given a can of BL-C2 and I just used it to make some 3-gun ammo and was quite surprised how well it shot. It would work well with heavier bullets too very similar powder to CFE223

It's a 1 in 9 twist. I'll get after this load testing tomorrow. Looking forward to it.

I shoot the 65 gr SGKs. I'm going off of memory since I don't have access to my records, but should get you in the ball park.

First load I worked up was with Varget and I think I settled on 25.3 gr. But that's just about a full case with LC brass, and I wasn't really all that happy with the accuracy, about 1.25 MOA. It wasn't really moving that fast either (16" barrel). Plus it's really a pain to load into the small case mouth too.

Currently, I'm shooting CFE 223 at about 26.6 gr. It's a little more accurate at just over MOA, and a little faster. But I'm still not totally sold on this powder either.

Due to my propensity to shoot in all weather between 10-100 degrees, I really want to stay in the temp stable powders, and Varget certainly fits that bill, but I still think there are better powders for the .223. I think H322 is my next choice for testing.

After I finish my coffee, I'll head to the workshop and set up to load. After a bit more thought on the issue, the reason I used AA2230 with that bullet was that it was the Lyman 49th accuracy load. I do think I'll start with that powder instead of Varget. The 65 gr Sierra and AA2230 were extremely accurate in the original barrel on this rifle.

Here's my last test results from my Ruger #3 .223 1-10" twist using the 65gr GK. The little light weight Ruger has a tendency to vertically string which it did badly with Varget. I settled on H380. All groups 5 shots at 100yd. I have shot 4 hogs with the 65/H380 load but they were all in the head so that doesn't prove much...LOL

Looks like H380 is your Huckleberry.

I just loaded up a batch of Sierra 63 gr. SMPs in my .223AI for pigs...planning on head shots only. Please post your results with the 65gr. GK when you get some body shots. Thanks!

So, I went out to the barn and set everything up. Sat down and read my notes on that 65 gr bullet in this rifle. The notes said that the moderate load was an excellent shooter, with H335. Well, it shot not so good a couple of days ago. So rather than take apart a bunch of ammo, I thought I'd go shoot a few. So I did, and they went into a great group right where the 40 grainers print. Gotta say that I have no idea why they shot poorly last time. Further, the other day there were pressure signs. Not so today. All I can figure is that I had some loads that I loaded wrong. Very odd. Has to be my fault.

Now that deer season is over, I'll park the 260 and hunt with the 223 for a while. Pigs and coyotes.

I never could get H335 to shoot well with the 65gr SGKs or 69gr SMKs. I switched to R15 and my groups shrunk considerably. I keep my H335 to 55gr and lighter.

I've loaded the 65 gr, and used Varget. It did ok with different charges. since then, went to all 53 gr. v-max, a bit more to my preference on grouping.