Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Advise on powder selection

This is a question for MuleDeer, but all other opinions and advise are welcome.

American rifle powders are very difficult to obtain in Europe. Maybe they do not bring anything new to the ones normally available here, but the fact that they are so rare makes us crave for them.

Now I have the opportunity to jump on some, either IMR or Hogdgon, and I would like two ask your advise on the one or two that will best suit me. I can only buy a limited amount and do not want to get too disperse buying just one can each of many different ones.

What I am looking for is (potential) accuracy with temperature consistency, and then speed. The cartridges and bullet weights I will be loading for, are:

22-250: 60gr
6XC: 95 and 105gr
6,5 CM: 120 and 130gr
270WCF: 140gr
7x57: 140gr
338WM: 180 and 210gr

No Endurons nor any other of the more modern powders with funny numbers, except Superformance and CF223, are availble.

Thank you in advance.

H4350 should work in all. Muddy

chamois,

H4350 would certainly be a good choice. You might also pick up one of the medium burn-rate powders such as H4895 or Varget, which can also be useful in some of those cartridges with lighter bullets.

Mule Deer,

Thank you very much!

In which of those cartridges and with what bullet weights would I be better served with H4895 or Varget?

There seems to be a cult around Varget, though H4895 shows slightly better figures on paper... Which of the two would be your choice?



Muddy22,

Thank you! The truth is that H4350 seems to be an extremely versatile powder.

H4895 and Varget will work very well in the .22-250, both with 60-grain bullets and anything lighter, and in the 6.5 Creedmoor with 120's (in fact maybe better than H4350), 7x57 with 140's, and .338 with 185's. I use more Varget but H4895 is also a very good powder, especially for somewhat reduced loads.

Will hoard up on Varget and H4350, then.

A little hoarding can be a good idea!

I did that in November of 2010. It was one of my better decisions.

I'm almost exclusively using H4895 and H4350 in everything, though do have some R17 which seems to work well in a surprisingly diverse range of applications from 308 Win to 25-06 Rem.

I stopped short of experimenting with R17 in the 45-70... :-)

Have already to an extent. Will have to add to it with Californias pending legislation. Badges? What badges? I don't have to show you no stinking badges to buy ammo in Ca.

Yup. Not much excuse for getting caught short the next time things get tight, either with .22s, or CF stuff; we know what's gonna happen, sooner or later.