Hodgdon CFE223 - is anybody using this in .308 Winchester?

[severnsider]

I was interested in the following recent post on the Rem700 forum:

I'm loading CFE223 under 168 gr Nosler Custom Competition bullets and get an average of 2800 fps with a charge weight of 48.1 gr. My barrel is 24" long but I seriously doubt that shortening it to 20" with this powder/bullet combo would drop the average below 2700 fps. This is not a max load but it does move right along. It sure works nice at distance. A lot less elevation required with the faster speeds. Using a "High BC" bullet (a Lapua 170gr Lock Base with G-1 BC of .525) the 2800 fps rounds use a full MOA less elevation @ 300 yards than what's required for the 168 gr Noslers. (G-1 BC .462). At least in my rifle that is. Thing I like about CFE223 is that it "fits" in even the smaller volume cases like Lapua while the old standby's like IMR 4064 and Varget tend to "crunch" when trying to get faster loads.

I see that the Hodgdon data suggests that a (max) load of 49gr will send a 168gr SMK out of a 24" 1:12" barrel at 2800fps.

My own load of 42.6gr N140 behind a 168gr SMK produces 2500fps from a 20" 1:12" barrel.

In view of the suggestion (above) that CFE223 "fits" the cases without "crunching" (I presume he means without compressing the powder), I was wondering whether it might be worth a try - has anyone on here tried the CFE223 and found it to be useful?

[zanes]

Jackmanuk on Full-bore.co.uk had this to say:

"iv loaded up some 155 SMK ....palma (if it makes a difference) into some hornaday match brass, fiocchi primer and 48 grains of CFE 223 , im doing 600 yards on sunday at barton road so we shall see how they perform

i did try 44 and 46 grains of the CFE 223 all the rest the same and didnt really get anything to shout about so im hoping that extra bit of grunt will sort them out

iv also got 10 grains of trail boss behind a 200 grain smk so we shall see how quiet they are!"

Daft inexperienced reloader question- if you're reloading within "book spec" are compressed loads a worry (and if you're "over" charging are they more of a worry that uncompressed "over" charges)?

[severnsider]

Daft inexperienced reloader question- if you're reloading within "book spec" are compressed loads a worry (and if you're "over" charging are they more of a worry that uncompressed "over" charges)?

I'm not using a compressed load of N140, and was assuming (perhaps wrongly) that the 49gr max load of CFE223 listed by Hodgdon was also uncompressed, but would give a "safe" increase in MV without getting into the realms of compressed charges and potentially high breech pressures.

I'll do a bit more research!

Cheers.

[zanes]

Like I (meant to) say, I'm not sure- a cursory google didn't bring up any specific dangers and I can't <remember> reading any big warnings about compressed loadings over and above the usual use care/work up etc. There again, for the short ranges I shoot at (for the time being ) it's not something I've had to delve into a great deal.

Hogden site gives max behind a 168Gr Sierra HPBT as 49.0Gr and not compressed (unlike 45.0Gr behind a Barnes TTSX), BTW.