as I dive further into reloading the lead and the boom boom juice is kind of confusing. I'm wondering if i'm on information overload at this point. research is giving me redundant basic info or scattered scarce info. I'm sure there are 100,000 different answers.

I'm starting off my reload process with target 5.56 rounds. looking for some recommendations on both powder and lead. Just trying to get an idea to narrow more research.

Need to find out what twist your barrel is and what you want to do with the ammo.

Longer/heavier bullets will require a faster twist rifling to stabilize. From there you can get more specific.

AR or bolt action?

AR

Barrel Twist 1 in 8" 5R- more research I need to do bc I really have little knowledge what this means

It's by far not the one and only or even the "best" bullet choice but I'd highly recommend getting at least a couple to several hundred Hornady 68gr bthp match. They are relatively cheap and in my experience consistent enough to be accuracy and while not wasting money on expensive bullet trying to learn how to reload.

Have you purchased and read a reloading manual?

I have a couple on the way one of which will be here today.

One revolution over eight inches.

5R means 5 lands, 5 grooves.

Your barrel has features I really like.

Look at Hodgdon's burn rate chart. H-335, AR Comp and many others in that burn rate area are appropriate for .223 Rem in an AR platform. As KR said, those Hornady 68 gr HPBT are a very good one to start out with, and inexpensive. The 75 gr HPBT are also one of my favorites.

While you're looking at the burn rate chart notice pistol and shotgun powders on the far left, at the top. As you progress to slower burn powders you'll see H-110, H-335, H-Varget, then H-4350, then H-4831, then H-1000, then H-Retumbo. And of course some IMR powders mixed in. Some examples of where those fit:

H-Varget for .308 Win and 7mm-08, and many others.
H-4350 for .243 Win, 6.5 Creedmoor and many others
H-4831 for you long action, non magnums like .270 Win, .284 Win, .280 Rem and many others.
H-1000 and H-Retumbo for your long action magnums like 7 Rem Mag, .300 Win Mag, even the short mags work great on H-1000.

Hopefully that combats some of the confusion you're having.

Just starting out keep it simple. You will be limited to buying what you can find. 55-77 grain .224 Bullets will all stabilize in your barrel. If you plan to hunt with it a 65 grain Sierra game king is good. Heavier is better for longer range target shooting. 55’s are fun out to 250 yards. If you want to load quantities a ball powder will meter best and be easiest to work with. If you want precision an extruded powder is what I would use. The first two extruded powders I would look for are 8208XBR and Varget. 223 is very easy to load for. A lot of powders will work well. The how to section in your manuals will tell you all you need to know to work up an accurate and safe load. Read it. It will answer your questions. When I first started loading it was pre internet. Reading a manual and loading is how we all learned back then. Welcome to the addiction. Enjoy!

Edit to add: there is a lot of experience and good people on this board that are more than willing to share what they have learned if you ask a particular question. Take any internet load information with a grain of salt and verify it in your manuals.

YOU ARE THE KING!!! Thank you!!

Minor point on "5R" rifling. As FJG mentioned, "5" means 5 grooves and lands. The "R" is a design of the lands credited as being created by the Russians in which the side of the land is sloped, and thus not square with the other side of the land, as compared to squared edges and sides of the lands. I think Boots Obermeyer was the first barrel maker in the US to copy the Russian pattern sometime back in the 1970's. John Krieger picked it up sometime thereafter and now it is more widely used. The sloped side is thought to help with accuracy and pressure reduction. In some of the "R" patterns, the sloped lands produce square grooves. I've had accurate barrels with and without the "R" design.

Never knew that. This actually makes me not want the R rifling! Petty, i know but I never said I'm above being so.

RL 15, Varget, Winchester 748, Benchmark are excellent 223 powders, Bullets I like Sierra best personally but I’ll shoot nosler, Hornady etc.. reloader 15 will fill the case like Varget, benchmark has proved to be the most consistent for me.

very interesting. KR... just trying to understand your thinking bc you have commented good stuff on my threads. What makes you not want R Rifling anymore?

lots of amazing information guys thank you so much. Please bear with me with silly questions. With everything I am taking in you guys are explaining things that help my better understand.

Boots Obermeyer was the man that introduced 5R to the US but the Russians did it before Boots using a 4R configuration. The link below most will recognize the author as a very good barrel maker that learned the craft from Boots as did the Bartlein guys plus others. Boots ran a one man shop and stayed busy with it. A lot of boots work was for the military not just sniper type barrels but heavy gun barrels including tank barrels. I have one Obermeyer barrel on a semi custom that is now my favorite hunting rifle.

The link is from Guns and written by John Krieger, yes the Krieger barrel guy.

https://gunsmagazine.com/gear/what-...ZbFrH6KPsSC1-SryKSNXMLjBO7C1uHSRUR4ETZY4

Boots Obermeyer suffered a stroke in 2018 (I think it was) that ended his barrel making which he had been doing since the 60s and not only was he a pioneer in the field and stayed busy with making barrels for the Government and civilians but was a shooter with many records. Before he had to retire he ha a webpage with lots of information about barrels and history, whish now I had saved that information.

I had no idea he had a stroke. Does that mean his company is now out of business? His barrel has so far been the gold standard for me to compare others to. Foolishly I sold mine in a divorce panic.

His company is out of business now and from what I have read a lot of the equipment is now at Bartlein.

So the Boots barrels that are out there are the last of them. Makes me wonder if Scott has any more, figure he has run out that little supply by now.

1:8" is a good choice for a wide variety of bullet weights. You'll likely do best with mid-60's as mentioned. I use W748 or CFE223 for medium weights or H4895 for the 7X's heavier bullets. I never tried Varget and now that it's selling for $80 per pound I likely never will.

at least by the time you get your bench set up with equipment, there might be some powder available in a year or two for under $80#

I guess some places are selling at those prices but I have bought Varget for 35.00 per lb twice just this month.
Primers are 80.00 with tax per 1000 because I have seen them at Cabelas at least 3 times the past few weeks.

1/8 twist is my favorite in 223 and if you want to do a little reading on powders these folks came up with I think the best powders I have used although I would put N133 at the top for bullets up to 60gr.

Added the exact link


http://www.natoreloading.com/

http://natoreloading.com/best556powder/

Absolutely nothing. Just a stupid anti-Russian joke that apparently wasn't funny at all.
Honestly, i don't know enough to have preferences in rifling styles. I got the supposedly lesser type of rifling, button, on the one nice barrel I own and it's been more than great for my needs.

haha I definitely did chuckle at it when I first read it thinking that was the meaning. good Shiiz lolol

with the help of you guys, some more research yesterday and the Hornaday manual I got in last night and stayed up till 2:30a readying I believe i'm ready to make my first orders. pretty excited. thanks for all your help

Sierra 69 SMK are about the perfect target bullet. Your powder choice is going to be whatever you can find right now, but Tac is frequently in stock these days and a good choice. There’s of course Varget, but good luck finding it.

okay don't crush me if i'm wrong. I'm trying to decipher this snip. So the guy is using Benchmark powder here. This person is using a 60 VMAX projectile

I'm assuming the 25 & 24.5 are powder measurements?

also hows is this guy getting his FPS?