Interested to hear from the GWs, ballisticians and tinkerers re R17 a little more.
Yes there's been lots of debate about its magicness or otherwise. But geez, in just about any cartridge you want to name in the 4350 burn rate bracket, R17 seems to top the Quickload data, with higher speed or similar speed at lower pressure.
The above mentioned 30-06 pressure charts run by Kocur at the Mulwala plant further boost the claims of R17. In all those tests, R17 produced more speed at lower pressure or at worst the same speed at less pressure than H4350, H4831SC and R22, with 180 and 200g bullets.
With 200g bullets, R17 produced the same speed as R22, with slightly less pressure, with 6 grains less powder. Just over 2700fps at under 62k psi. I think that's impressive.
I've come pretty late to the R17 party, I usually stick with the ADI stuff. But as a sub for anything in the Varget to H4831 burn rate I've struck fast speeds and great accuracy.
I'm happy to be shot down in flames, but it really does seem to me that R17 does things in that burn bracket that few others do. Perhaps it's less magic and just normal evolution of propellant technology.
Any thoughts?
Quickload is modeling software that makes speculations about interior ballistics, and R17 uses a different set of definitions that affects the algorithm differently...that's all.
R17 has a slightly higher energy density than 4350 due to the added nitro content, but a similar burn rate, so it's easier to fit more of it into a smaller case...therein lies the magic.
