cfe 223

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

oneof79

Sharpshooter
Special Hen
Joined
Feb 2, 2008
Messages
1,435
Reaction score
0
Location
Moore
New kind of powder. Supposed to work well in 5.56/.223 and .308. Makes cleaning the rifle easier, less copper fouling.

Has anyone used it and found the results as advertised?

From Hodgdon's website,

"Introduced in January 2012, this versatile spherical rifle propellant incorporates in its formula CFE, Copper Fouling Eraser. This ingredient, originally used in military propellant, greatly deters copper fouling. It contributes to longer periods of top accuracy with less barrel cleaning time. Being a spherical powder, metering is superbly accurate. CFE 223 yields top velocities in many cartridges such as the 204 Ruger, 223 Remington/5.56mm NATO, 22-250 Remington and the 308 Winchester/7.62mm NATO, plus many, many more. Match, Varmint and AR shooters will love this one!"
 

Blitzfike

Sharpshooter
Special Hen
Joined
Aug 16, 2006
Messages
2,096
Reaction score
10
Location
Tuttle, OK
I bought seversl pounds of it. What I got is the WC-842 from St. Marks powder company. It is essentially the same powder as the CFE-223. I am just starting to work with it in both 223 and 308.
When I get a chance to chrono some loads I'll share my thoughts. TBSADavid is also working with it. My supplier told me that I was to use the CFE-223 data but start with a 10% reduction and work up.
If it performs as well as the WC-844 I will be happy with it. Blitzfike
 

Blitzfike

Sharpshooter
Special Hen
Joined
Aug 16, 2006
Messages
2,096
Reaction score
10
Location
Tuttle, OK
Update on the WC-842. Starting loads from the CFE-223 data for 63 grain bullets in 223 rem are just about right with the 62 grain bullet according to my buddy TBSADAVID. I haven't had a chance to chrono any yet, but I expect they are close to the upper band. I loaded some 308 (7.62X51 cases) at the starting level for 150 grain bullet, (48.4 grains) using military 147 grain fmjbt pulls and they were WAY too hot. Stuck case, primer missing from the pocket and the case head expanded 10 thousandths over the same case before firing. I dropped back to 42.5 grains and they functioned well, but still appeared a little hot, promers somewhat flattened. I dropped back to 38.5 grains and they were much better. I have a group of 8 loaded at 35 grains and will see what they do tomorrow. I haven't had time to get to the range for chronographing them, I'll do that before I settle on my load. Definitely can't substitute the CFE-223 load data directly. I suggest dropping back 25% and working up from there if you are going to experiment with it. More later.. Blitzfike
 

oneof79

Sharpshooter
Special Hen
Joined
Feb 2, 2008
Messages
1,435
Reaction score
0
Location
Moore
I bought a pound of CFE 223 yesterday at H&H. Hogdgon has loads for it on their website. I am going to see what I can get it to do for me this weekend. I'll be shooting it out of my service rifle with Sierra 69 gr match bullets.
 

victor3ranger

Sharpshooter
Special Hen
Joined
Jan 24, 2006
Messages
396
Reaction score
0
Location
Ponca City
I have been reading about the CFE223 for the past couple of months on the net, searching for loads. Seems like it like being loaded closer to the wc844 powder.
I haven't bought any yet since I am just now getting into loading for my 223/556, so right now I only bought H335. I really want to get my hands on some wc844 but I can't bring myself to pay for the hazard fee for shipping.
I am really going to watch this thread close, I have 308 brass I would like to play with.
 

Blitzfike

Sharpshooter
Special Hen
Joined
Aug 16, 2006
Messages
2,096
Reaction score
10
Location
Tuttle, OK
I've loaded several thousand rounds of 223 using WC-844. I like it a lot. I am loading somewhat below max at 23.5 grains of wc-844 with a 55 grain fmj in 5.56 brass. I normally use the Wolf 223 primer but no one has wolf in stock anymore and say they can't get a commitment on when they may ship again. I have used the Tula primers and can't tell any difference other than price. I usually buy in bulk when I order powder to save on the hazmat fees. I have a supplier out of Tennessee who makes the Wannamacher shows and he will usually contact me to see what I want. I can buy from him cheaper than from any of the on-line sources, but then he is the one supplying most of them anyway. I'm keeping him posted on my test results on the WC-842. Shoot me a PM and I'll give you his contact info in case you want it.. Blitzfike
 

oneof79

Sharpshooter
Special Hen
Joined
Feb 2, 2008
Messages
1,435
Reaction score
0
Location
Moore
I have my ammo loaded for Saturday. Hodgdons website has a starting load of 23.5 grains using a 69 grain bullet in a 223 case. I reduced that by one grain (22.5) because I am using 5.56 cases, then increased the charge by .5 gr for each step up to the max of 25.5.
I want to shoot these for accuracy, maybe I can shoot these thru a crony at the same time and not shoot something I'm not supposed to.
 

oneof79

Sharpshooter
Special Hen
Joined
Feb 2, 2008
Messages
1,435
Reaction score
0
Location
Moore
Ok, I didn't shoot the crony. Here are my results,
i722.photobucket.com_albums_ww222_oneof79_chart.jpg

The errors are marked as such. 5 rounds isn't really enough to learn much from other than what is safe in my rifle. It seems that the real light loads were all over the chart. As I increased the powder charge the fps seemed to be more consistent. The Hodgdon websites max load is 25.8 grains at about 3020 fps with 223 cases. I was using nato cases and was thinking I should have seen more velocity.
Some of the errors were from me shooting to one side of the sky screens or the other, some were too much direct sunlight and the wind played a role in making things hard today.
I am cleaning my rifle now so I can't comment on that right now other than I have yet to see any green.
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom