Anyone know what powder Hornady use in their .223 53gn Vmax superformance ammunition?

[C h r i s]

I've been trying to make a load up that'll produce a similar muzzle velocity to Hornady .223 53gn Vmax superformance factory ammo, my chrono is reading an average of 3341ft/sec with this stuff - rifle loves it and great for thermal use as nice and flat and hits hard within 200 yards.

Only just started testing but using powders on hand the best I'm getting is 3150ft/sec using IMR 8208XBR, at book maximum.

Read on here somewhere that CFE223 was used in some Superformance cartridges, but no evidence or reason given for this, plus it seems better suited to a heavier bullet.

According to Quickload Vit N530 should get me close to 3300ft/sec whilst keeping "safely" under the maximum pressure - any fans of that powder on here?

Also according to Quickload (BTW, I don't have huge faith in Quickload, real world results can vary wildly), N130 and N133 seem to be a little down on MV, 100 - 150 ft/sec slower than the 8208XBR for a similar chamber pressure.

So, has anyone got any results for 53gn Vmax in .223 Rem anywhere near the Hornady factory loading?


Many thanks

 

[Fox Red]

Out of my old 20” barrel Tikka T3 I got 3,250fps using Vhit 133 and 135

 

[Smellydog]

So because 200fps is missing it's useless I side 200yards?
Go over book by 2gn.

 

[C h r i s]

Not all all useless, just interested to see what the magic formula is

Plus, the S-D wasn't great, I like consistency.

No pressure signs so gone up another 1gn for now....

 

[Andy RV]

Most likely one of the St Marks powders, of which CFE223 is one so potentially?..

 

[hendrix's rifle]

Cfe223 is a good powder but I found to get best results you need to be quite high in the charge, it also gives extremely low ES when a stout charge is used.

My load currently is using viht n133, 50g blitzkings and giving around 3380-3400ffps through the chrono so you shouldn't be to far off. It does however have a 24inch barrel

 

[Gunner223]

I used 53g superformance and yep great, but changed to 55g bts and using vit 133 I get 3350 fps out of my Tikka T3 lite,
and much harder hitting than the V max .

 

[C h r i s]

I used 53g superformance and yep great, but changed to 55g bts and using vit 133 I get 3350 fps out of my Tikka T3 lite,
and much harder hitting than the V max .

Thats quick, assuming its the 20" barrel? What powder charge?!

 

[pimmy]

I use Vitt 133 and Hornady 52bthp drop foxes for fun shoots clover leaf

 

[User00057]

I pulled a 53 vmax as couldn't get them to group from factory but home loads with the 53s worked really well. The powder looks very much like CFE223. Really couldn't get the factory to work in my Remington though

 

[User00057]

Think I still have 3 so might pull one tomorrow and take a photo of the powder if that helps

 

[C h r i s]

Think I still have 3 so might pull one tomorrow and take a photo of the powder if that helps

Yes please - any info would be useful, I've used up all my factory 53gn, and the cost of ammunition now means I need to reload for this bullet.

That said, this evening I disregarded the Hornady/IMR load data and went ahead with another 1.0gn increase, and I'm now up to 3320 - 3340 ft/sec, so I'm pretty happy with that, I think the S-D was 14 ft/sec, so not amazing but should be good enough for what I want.

So that's 26.5gn of IMR 8202XBR, which is a slightly compressed load, hopefully it'll shoot well enough but will need to do some proper accuracy testing now, for once I'm not going out to try and shoot tiny groups at night in the rain.... must be getting old.

 

[User00057]

I use RS40 with the 53gr max and it works really well but I was lucky to get hold of it i think.

 

[scotch_egg]

I use Vitt 133 and Hornady 52bthp drop foxes for fun shoots clover leaf

How many grains. Usual caveat applies. Just interested in a starting load

 

[Gunner223]

Thats quick, assuming its the 20" barrel? What powder charge?!

Yep 20" what I use I worked up to very slowly , which doesn't mean it will work for you , 25.5g with Hornady brass, been shooting it for
7yrs now , never a problem .

 

[User00057]

I think the factory are pretty hot as was flatting primers in my rem 24 inch barrel

 

[pimmy]

How many grains. Usual caveat applies. Just interested in a starting load

21.4 vitt 133

 

[ChesterP]

For this bullet I would suggest either CFE223 which is a ball powder which meters well and gives very good velocity and is a very good match, or Vhit N133 single base which I've found gives low SD withy 50 to 60grn bullets and almost matches CFE on velocities. Not a lot to chose between them. N133 will give superb accuracy with this class of 223 bullet.

 

[User00057]

Ok so broke one down and it doesn’t look like CFE223 to me. What ever it is there is 27.7 in there

 

[Smellydog]

Yes please - any info would be useful, I've used up all my factory 53gn, and the cost of ammunition now means I need to reload for this bullet.

That said, this evening I disregarded the Hornady/IMR load data and went ahead with another 1.0gn increase, and I'm now up to 3320 - 3340 ft/sec, so I'm pretty happy with that, I think the S-D was 14 ft/sec, so not amazing but should be good enough for what I want.

So that's 26.5gn of IMR 8202XBR, which is a slightly compressed load, hopefully it'll shoot well enough but will need to do some proper accuracy testing now, for once I'm not going out to try and shoot tiny groups at night in the rain.... must be getting old.

I said +2 not just one buddy .
Have none of you worked it out yet?

Hornady for years have been, and others, winding down the performance of common cartridges so that one day they can come out with a cartridge with a fancy name offering better performance when in reality it's just loaded to how we were anyway in the 80's&90's!!