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.

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.

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.

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.

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...

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

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.

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.

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.

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.