Powder for .223

[The Famous Grouse]

Varget.

This was one of those rare cases where just by chance I started load development with Varget.  It shot well.  In fact it shot the freaking lights out. 

But I couldn't resist.  I mean, you can't just stop at the first load, can you?  So I kept going.  4895, AA2230, etc, etc, etc,  I went through multiple loadings of about 4 additional powders, only to show that the Varget powder was the best. 

Just as an aside can I again profess my everlasting love for the Tikka?  My father bought one in .22-250 and after one bench session with test loads and one little twist of the allen wrench to adjust the trigger, that little honey was producing 5 shot groups at 100 that I can cover with a nickel.  Compare that to the bad old days!  Oh the money and time we spent on trigger jobs and endless test loads trying to get the same performance out of other rifles.  I'm not going to start a flame war here by mentioning brands, but safe to say that the Tikka is the most incredible value that I can envision as far as out-of-the box accuracy.

Grouse

[Star1pup]

After reading what the Famous Grouse had to say about the Tikka (which I recently bought) I began to think about some other rifles I have and friends have. My Savage & CZ also shoot very tight groups with the right fodder, so why spend a small fortune on a custom rifle when these things are so accurate?  Just a thought.

[The Famous Grouse]

After reading what the Famous Grouse had to say about the Tikka (which I recently bought) I began to think about some other rifles I have and friends have. My Savage & CZ also shoot very tight groups with the right fodder, so why spend a small fortune on a custom rifle when these things are so accurate?  Just a thought.

I totally agree.  Anyone who is pining for the "good old days" of pre-64 Winchesters and all that other stuff needs to buy and shoot some rifles like the Tikka, Savage, and CZ and others. 

Certainly high-dollar customizations can still improve accuracy, but the degree to which they can improve it over the box-stock wonders we're seeing these days makes it extremely hard to justify.

IMO, the good old days are NOW when it comes to rifles!  Never have there been so many rifles on the market that shoot so well straight out of the box and cost so little.  The bottom third of the mass production rifles today are shooting better out of the box today than the top tier of production rifles shot out of the box 30 years ago. 

And if you want to have some fun, look up the retail prices of common bolt action rifles in the 1960s and 70s and then use an inflation converter to change the prices to today's dollars! 

Just look at the Savage Edge as a great example.  Setting aside subjective factors, the accuracy level per unit of cost for this rifle is lightyears ahead of any lower priced rifle of decades past.  There is just no getting around the fact that the precision of modern manufacturing has finally overpowered the mystique of the golden oldies.

Grouse