Hodgdon Extreme vs. the rest
#1
Fork Horn
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Idaho's Elk Country
Posts: 275

I load mainly Alliant powders(15,19,22,25) in a number of firearms and have experienced large velocity drops and rises(+/-80fps) w/ temp. changes as small as 20 degrees. Do the Extreme powders help this much or are they just a hipe? I can live with small vel. changes, but not in the three digits. Thanks for any experience with this powder. Brett
#2
Spike
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location:
Posts: 54

I Am confident that at least some of the extreme powders offer consistently more reliable pressures & velocities over different temperature ranges than most of the pack. I am learning like any one else, although a few of the extreme powders seem to shine as best of the best.
If you are reloading for 204 ruger or 223 may one recommend you give Varget a try. One still needs to be sure to pick the best application for the burn rate of the powder. I also like H4198 in the 223 and 221 fireball.
On the other hand H4895 has been giving me fine accuracy despite the three-digit velocity spread. Still have to wonder about the extreme spread in this case.
If you are reloading for 204 ruger or 223 may one recommend you give Varget a try. One still needs to be sure to pick the best application for the burn rate of the powder. I also like H4198 in the 223 and 221 fireball.
On the other hand H4895 has been giving me fine accuracy despite the three-digit velocity spread. Still have to wonder about the extreme spread in this case.
#3
Guest
Posts: n/a

I used to worry about this. Somewhere in the last 4 years, I quit worrying about it. I like to have on hand RL22, IMR4350, H4831sc, H1000, RL25, Varget, IMR4064, IMR7828, IMR4195, IMR3031. This covers pretty well what I shoot rifle wise. I used to try to find an extreme powder for the job, but now, its a tossup. I should be able to find an accurate load with these powders and if it happens to be RL22, so be it, I will handle the 80fps swing.
#4

I've used IMR, Hodgdon, Hercules, Alliant, and Winchester ball powders from 1952, to date! At temperatures ranging from over 100 degrees in TX, NM, and AZ to -30 degrees in interior Alaska, and elevations from sea level up to over 14,000 feet. I have never seen enough variation in performance of any of them due to environmental factors to be worth getting concerned about. Just zero your guns for the currentconditons of temperature, humidity and altitude, and you will kill your game!