Interesting powder findings
 

I was recently perusing the results from 1000 yard benchrest matches held this year at the North Carolina and Iowa 1000 yard benchrest assoc.facilities. Each club posts the results ofthe matcheson their respective websites. Looking at the results of these matches I found some interesting information (to me at least) regarding the powders that are being used at these matches.

For each relay of each match, I jotted down the powder brand and type that was used to produce the smallest group of that particular relay. Here are the results for the 230 relays I recorded.

Powder: # of winning groups % of winning grps

RL22 7532.6%
RL2559 25.7
H4831 41 17.8
H4350 9 3.9
RL19 83.5
VVN165 8 3.5
VARGET7 3.0
WMR 41.7
RL15 31.3
H1000 3 1.3
IMR4350 31.3
VVN560 3 1.3
RETUMBO 2 0.9
IMR40462 0.9
IMR4831 20.9
H380 1 0.4

I find this interesting because of the way Alliant powders seem to dominate these events. RL22 and RL25 account for almost 60% of the smallest groups recorded. Hodgdon is represented pretty well too, but is still a very distant second. I'm surprised that IMR powders produced so few winners. IMR7828, a favorite of mine, didn't show up at all!

I don't know what conclusions can be drawn from this limited bit of information.Most of us don't shoot at 1000 yards, but it would seem logical to assume that a powder capable of producing fine accuracy atthat distance would be a good choice for shorter distances too. Currently I don't have any Alliant powders on hand, but I think I'll be buying some soon, LOL.

I'd like to hear what others think of this data, especially those who might have experience shooting in these type matches.

RE: Interesting powder findings
 

Wow, that is surpising as I find RL22 and 25 to vary from lot to lot more than any powder I have used. Hey, sounds like it works.

RE: Interesting powder findings
 

Well, the only Alliant powder I've used is RL22 and I was never all that impressed by it. Maybe I just wasn't using the right combination. I'm going to give it another go and see what happens. Might try some RL25 too.

I think in order for a powder to work well at 1000 yards it must produce low standard deviations in velocity. Velocity differences probably don't show up much on paper at shorter ranges, but way out there I'd think it wouldmake a lot more difference. Even though there may be lot to lot variations, the SD produced by each lot could still be quite low I suppose.

I'm really not sure why I'm so interested in this. Just bored I guess. Long range shooting is not something I'm particularly interested in. At the rangesIdo 99.9% of my shooting, just about any decentpowder (appropriate for the cartridge)would probably work for me.

RE: Interesting powder findings
 

High spreads is what killed me with my 300RUM. I had these elongated groups at 500 yards. But with my combo's I had wonderful accuacy at 100 yards but spreads of 70FPS. Made a big difference at 500.

RE: Interesting powder findings
 

I find this very interesting. I had purchased some RL19 & RL22 this summer and was a little concern about this brand after reading on what bigcountry had mentioned on the inconsistency per lots. I have used both RL19 & RL22 and they have worked well for one of my rifles. I guess I’ll keep trying them to see what will happen. Thanks for posting this info...

RE: Interesting powder findings
 

Well, trailer I still use both RL22, RL25 in rifles. Still even use unique. They just have alot of recalls.

RE: Interesting powder findings
 

Solidarity Man thanks for the post. I feel these guys doing competative shooting do alot more tinkering than any of us and it is good to see what they have been settling on. Kind of like a cheat sheet for me.

RE: Interesting powder findings
 

Not really surprised. I also use more RL 22 than any other rifle powder - butthink the results of this surveymight bemore a function ofcaliber specific issues. I would imagine there are a lot of 6.5-284's used in this competition with VLD type bullets. And for this application, RL 22 is a truly great powder.

One of thebest things about this powder is that you can fit quite a bit of it in a given case volume;certain calibers really come alive with RL 22. The .270 and .25-06 Ackley Improved's are a couple of them - so are wildcats based on the .284 Winchester case. With IMR 4350, the burn is too fast to reach full velocity potential. And withH 4831, you can't get enough of it in a case to reach full throttle pressures. RL 22 is actually a little slower than H 4831, yet occupies about 5% less space at a given charge weight. I buy this stuff by the keg.

RE: Interesting powder findings
 

I'm not suprised by RL-22 at all. I burn a lot of the stuff in 6.5x55. I don't have a chronograph yet myself, but have seen others post velocity spreads of 20fps or less using the powder in this cartridge.

RE: Interesting powder findings
 

You are correct. I didn't record the cartridges, but my memory tells me that the 6.5-284 and the .300Ackley Improved accounted for most of the winners.

RE: Interesting powder findings
 

I havent reloaded veyr much at all yet but RL22 was the first powder I bought. LOL I guess I got lucky.

RE: Interesting powder findings
 

[/quote]so are wildcats based on the .284 Winchester case.[/quote]

I'll have to try the stuff in 7.5 swiss as soon as I get a scope mount for one of my K-31s. The .284 win case is a neat case, fat and fairly short.

RE: Interesting powder findings
 

I really like the RL22 in my 7Mag. I tried Retumbo and got very spastic results both in speed and accuracy. My favorite all around powder is IMR 4064 as I use it in the '06, 7 and 8mm Mausers.

I think we have to be careful here and not mix apples and oranges. The 1000 yard guys are intent on punching holes in paper as close together as possible. On the other hand, hunters are intent on punching holes in animals with as fast and large a round designed for expansion and weight retention as possible.

What interests me is that 98% of the boys at Camp Perry are shooting the Sierra Match King bullets....a flat based bullet by the way. For me, I like the Nosler BT's and the Game King/Pro Hunters for my deer and Elk loads. Attached is my latest effort with the 7Mag.

RE: Interesting powder findings
 

Sierra match Kings are always BTHP bullets, not flat base.

RE: Interesting powder findings
 

You never stated what calibers were being used!Most of the 1000yd shooters here use the 6.5x284 or the 6.5x55 swede. The most dominat is the 6.5x284 which is quite a cartridge! Let us know please??Vangunsmith

RE: Interesting powder findings
 

Didn't know that that 6.5 swede was used much for long range stuff. In my experience, RL-22 is pretty much the perfect powder for for the cartridge though.

I did some load testing with my M41B this weekend and was getting 3 shot 1.25" groups at 200 yards using 140 gr SMKs and rl-22. I need to do a little more fine tuning, but I think I can do better han 1/2 Moa with this combination. Even more interesting is that the tightest groups were around 44.ogr and 46gr charge of powder, which is similar to what other M41B shooters have found.

RE: Interesting powder findings
 

Solitary Man, do you have a link to that site? I'd like to see what other info they have listed. And thanks for the info.

RE: Interesting powder findings
 

Here are the links to the two sites:

http://www.nc1000ydshooters.com/
http://www.iowa1000ydbenchrest.com/

RE: Interesting powder findings
 

Looks like most of the shooters with 7mm's were using RL25 or H1000 powder. Interesting.

RE: Interesting powder findings
 

Yes indeed....I got my wires crossed with the Pro Hunter. I guess these things come with age. I stand corrected. Regards, Rick.

RE: Interesting powder findings
 

I use r-25 and 180gr tsx bulletsin my 300ultramags to punch holes in animals with a veryfast round designed for expansion and maximumweight retension.Considering that the tsx has proven to be very accurate as well it appears that some powders and bullets do very wellfor bothaccuracy and hunting uses.

RE: Interesting powder findings
 

In order to be meaningful, I believe these figures would have to each be related to the percentage of the different propellants being used. For example, what percentage of competitors used H4831, and of this number, how many winning groups were fired with it? (IF all competitors used RE 22, then we'd expect all winning groups to have been fired with it, etc. So it is conceivable that of the competitors using H4831, every one of them fired a winning group with it, but that number was only 17.9% of all the winning groups fired.)