dicehorn

Personally think the OP should steer away from the non 'REACH' compliant powders like Varget and the H powders. I was a fan of Varget until 12 months ago when I heard of its future as far as the EU was concerned. N160 as already stated is worth trying and also RS60 assuming you intend to use bullets in the 70 - 95 gr range

If you are looking to do it for yourself can I suggest one of these which I use albeit attached to an annealing machine but obviously can be hand held https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Go-System-Fine-Flame-Power-Torch/122988462563?epid=1907616749&hash=item1ca2af01e3:g:55QAAOSwHUhaA1Lb

+1 For the Imperial sizing wax. Can never understand why reloaders involve themselves in these sticky rolling pads (biggest cause of stuck cases and case shoulder dents) and 'boil in the bag' sprays before having to tumble/ultrasonic clean the glue off them. I don't know any reloaders that have used Imperial wax then moved onto something else.

May I be permitted to amend your text

I keep all my spent primers in a jar - that keeps Devon & Cornwall happy

Ant.Mass - Not saying you are wrong but are you sure that your 223 is a 14 twist? Most 223's that are not for long range shooting (8 to 10 twists) are usually a 12 twist

I have reloaded for 3 rifles in 223 using N133 with a 50 gr Hornady V Max but I found despite being very accurate, when I went over 25gr the case fill was well over 106%. One rifle's recipe was 25.3 gr of N133 seated at COL of 2.257" but this gave a fill ratio of 117% in Lapua brass with an average H20 of 28.56gr - way over the top and the powder had to be dropped in using a powder dropper to avoid crushing the granules. This recipe gave consistent groups of 1/4MOA Because of the fill ratio I looked around for another Viht powder that would burn a little faster and therefore would need less powder to do the same job. Started using N120 with a burn rate of .8153 (N133 is .7350) After doing an OCW test (as recommended above) all at 40 thou back, decided from the results that 22 gr was worth trying again at 60 thou back and also 22.6 gr but down .1 gr to 22.5. Finally went with 22.5 gr which gave an acceptable fill ratio of 104.4% and 3328 fps over my chronograph Re my last post this was the final test with this rifle using N120 and 60 thou back

The problem I could see with 'loose' bullets is that when loaded into a magazine the rounds in the magazine before firing could be subjected to recoil (especially if you seat long near the lands) and as a consequence they could end up shorter and adversely affect accuracy. My advice would be to sort it before attempting shooting things with a leg in each corner.

Jaymo - sorry I did not get back to you - as it was nearly 3 weeks before you replied I had assumed you had found the answer to your question and therefore I binned that info + I do not visit this group often mainly because of keyboard know alls!!! So........Started again. Info provided by you: 300 Win Mag (assumed the SAAMI variety) 26" barrel shooting 178 Hornady A Max using H4350 or RS70 with criteria >4500 j 1000 m/s and 7000 j and 1000 m/s with COL at 3.340". Quickload calculations do not take into account primers so the following could have a minimal bearing of the figures. Bear in mind max pressure for this case is 64000 psi H4350 66.84 gr = 4500 j with 883 m/s giving 52710 psi Re 7000 j and 1000 m/s 71.38 gr = 5051 j 936 m/s giving 63707 psi RS70 70.5 gr = 4494 j with 883 m/s giving 45730 psi Re 7000j and 1000 m/s 78.12 gr = 5501 j 977 m/s giving 63900 psi It must be born in mind that with effect from around June next year certain American powders will be subject to new Euro laws regarding powder additives and the signs are that just about all Hodgson powder may fail therefore we will no longer be able to import them. Having said that I give below two more alternatives that would still be OK under the Euro rules. Alliant Reloder 25 73.1 gr = 4489 j with 882 m/s giving 44754 psi Re 7000 j and 1000 m/s 81.2 gr = 5533 j 979 m/s giving 63990 psi And the one I personally would put near the top of my list:- RS62 67.7 gr = 4497 j with 883 m/s giving 49180 psi Re 7000 j and 1000 m/s 73.72 gr = 5230 j 952 m/s giving 63918 psi As with all reloading please start lower than the above weights by at least a couple of grains and remember case prep is 70% towards accuracy. Peter

If I can I will. Your powder choice would help unless you are open to suggested powders.

Before any sort of answer can be given, can you please state the exact bullet name and weight, barrel length together with the exact 300 win mag in question - there are 6 different 300 win mags - so I would assume it is the SAAMI one

'Ah thanks for that info Peter' would have been one way of replying Humour_me. Tis no wonder I don't stop by on this forum very often

Comparing RS40 with RS50 with 39 gr SBK I am going to have to assume that the bullets are loaded to SAAMI spec (COL 2.220") and that your chosen case is 30.96 gr H2o weighed. and trim length of 1.843" RS40 Burn rate .6429 (the higher the number the faster the burn rate is). Assuming 100% fill ratio which = 26.87gr with on ignition 95.93% propellant burnt giving a speed of 3754 fps and a ballistic Efficiency of 19.5% ( you should be looking for something over 20% towards 30% efficiency). This load will give a chamber pressure of 59809 psi compared with CIP max of 58740 psi. RS50 Burn rate .5120 Assuming 100% fill ratio which = 27.41 gr with on ignition 80% propellant burnt giving a speed of 3290 fps and a Ballistic Efficiency of 15.4% . This load will give a chamber pressure of 42761 Based on the above figures you should be looking at a powder with a burn rate of at least .6300 going up to around .7500 Obviously if your start figures from my first paragraph are different, that will affect the following two paragraphs. You can of course comparing both powders come to the conclusion that RS40 is a better choice even for allowing going a little over 100% fill ratio .. Peter

+1 made by Nitrochemie in the land of the edelweiss To the OP - RS40 in 223 is more suited to the VLD type bullets ie. heavier projectiles

Hi. What is/was your usual powder and what bullet are you shooting? If I knew what powder I could tell you from Q L how it compares to RS40 N130 and N133 go very well in the 204 with the 39gr SBK. The following is for a 204 I did for someone a couple of days ago using the OCW method.