Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Superformance powder component???

OK, so I am very impressed witht the new Superformance powder in the AR articles and otehr places, but I am wondering....will it be offered to reloaders as a component?

After reading the American Rifleman article my thought was it would not be as the powder is "designed" for a particular application.

Sounds like a good question for SHOT...

jim

That`s my take also from the NRA and a new Shooting Times artical. The impression I got was that it is almost a duplex or triplex type load as they take about it being "blended" for each app.

try as I might....I have trouble getting excited about an extra 100 fps, especially at the cost of two dollars and a half per shot.

+1

Come on, man -- 100 fps will give you an extra 20 or 25 yards to shoot... Can't you see how important that is, and why you should spend the extra money? You know you need that extra little bit...

NOT!!!

Dennis

its just reloader 17

Eventually all new developments find their way into the pipeline. Competition will do that.

The article gave the impression the powder was formulated with a special retarder. I knew of one guy who would blend and load duplex. He never blew anything apart, but the work and trials seem too much for me.

It is good to see better loads (even the run of the mill factory stuff is more consistent) and better bullets; BUT how many people are they pricing out and hence losing as shooters?

From what I get from the articles, it also a heavily compressed load.

And I also can't get overly excited about an additional 100 fps.

Nope the charge is not compressed. That`s the reason for Hornady dropping the "Light Mag" line, they had problems the heavy compression used to manufacture it.
The artical I read said the charge in a "Superforance" 30-06 was 4.4gr less then in a "Light mag" cartridge and velocities were higher with the same pressures. The extra 100+ fps puts the 30-06 in the same performance window as the 300 H&H mag. A 180gr Federal 300 H&H Partition load runs 2880 fps according to Federal and the Hornady 180 gr stuff is claimed (and more likely to hit that claim) at 2820 fps.
Not a bad boost in performance IMHO........

The report I read says the basic approach to the formulation allows for no compression.

I don't worry about muzzle velocity, and long as there is a sharp crack I am happy.

jim

kennyd,

Back in the day I used to load duplex loads for my blown out .375. I fired 300 grain bullets at 3,000 feet per second using 100 grains of powder. Then Norma MRP came out. I was able to work up to 98 grains and lost only 10 feet per second average.

By the way, I discovered if the "slow" powder was againt the primer the velocity fell off to the same velocity as a case full of it would give. With the "fast" powder against the primer, viola, a hot rod load.

Not all reloading components reach the public, I am still waiting for the Federal 216 Primer, and it ain't happened yet! and doesn't look likely in the future. I quit begging, Federal told me it was unbecomming to an old hunter like myself!!

Well I am not going to loose any sleep over it, 100 fps gee you can get that much variation from individual rifles. Seems to me that If you want to shoot a 180 gr bullet faster that 2700 fps out of an 06, go buy a 300 in what ever flavor floats your boat. It make no sense to me, but it must for Hornaday and Federal to spend the kind of money to develop this sort of stuff. The HE and the Light Mag ammo didn't stay in the market for very long. What maybe 10 or 12 years if that? Not a long time when you consider most of the standbys have been around for 50 to a good 120 years.

Ray, I have 100 Federal 216's--and have yet to find a use for them.

It's always amazing how every "new" powder on the market--whether in factory rounds or something like RL-17--is greeted as a new break-though.

I remember when Norma 205 was the Wonder Powder 30-some years ago. Every 7x57 or .30-06 was now a "magnum." Didn't turn out that way, gee, thanks to actual pressure testing.

I don't understand why Reloder 17 is greeted the same way. It was created to fill a gap between R15 and R19, but doesn't do anything magic.

Well, unless you stuff enough in the case to create 70,000 psi...

I think Reloder 17 was greeted the same way because they (Alliant) advertised it as such. Their ads seem to be lacking the filling a gap between 15 and 19 and more about hyping more density and energy.

Something about short mag hype, large scopes and "Ultra" mags too; "magic" is sold.

in regards to RL 17 I hear guys on this very message board claiming higher speeds with heavy match bullets from their 284 wins than what I see as listed max for 7 mag loads for the same bullets. they claim to be doing it with no pressure signs. also I think alliant shows a pretty sporty 270 winchester load with RL 17, don't know if its magic or not, but it appears to be putting out the speeds.

Mule Deer,

The thread made perfect sense until you made the comment about RL-17. It IS different. To quote from Bob Jensen and German Salazar's article from 6mmBR.com: "unique burn-rate controlling chemical that penetrates all the way through the kernels. Other common extruded powders have only a surface coating. Reloader 17's unique penetrating burn-rate regulator smooths out the pressure curve, allowing RL17 to maintain high energy for a longer period of time." http://www.6mmbr.com/reloder17.html

My impression from the article is that the chemical used to control the burn rate has never been throughout the powder. Up to now it has been only on the surface. The longer burning curve is to everyones advantage. You get more velocity due to the nature of the powder not excessive loading density. I admit it does have its limits and only works well in a few midsized cases.

IMO RL-17 has a burn rate that is very similar to RL-19 not right inbetween RL-15 and RL-19.

I truly feel we have entered a time when there are going to be changes in powder that we have never experienced before. According to Ben Amonette,Consumer Service Manager,
Alliant Powder Company, there are going to be more powders in the near future. Nitrochemie will be making them as well. The line will be called Power Pro. There will be two initially offered one for magnum pistol called 300 MP and one for magnum rifle called 4000 MR. If the formulation for 4000 MP is similar to RL-17 I think we will see great results with our magnum rifles.

In addition to the longer burning curves the powder is supposed to work over a large range of temperatures with little velocity/pressure changes.

You had mentioned in an earlier thread that many powders are now being reformulated to reduce the sensitivity to temperature extremes. I remember you saying that now that Hodgon and IMR are owned by the same company you expect or perhaps have experienced a more stable IMR line. That HAS to be a good thing.

In the past there might have been "miracle" powders or some billed as such. Today I think there truly are differences in some powders that may not be called miracles but definately superior if all the claims are true.

FYI I have 8 lb of 4000 MR on back order from Graf and Sons and look forward to trying it in several magnums.

Isn't 2800 fps doable in a 30-06 especially with a 24" barrel?I have not had time to work up any '06 loads yet so I have no idea, but reading Craig Boddingtons "Pet" load for the '06 with IMR-4350,he says his load of 56 grains of IMR 4350 behind a 180-grain Nosler Partition.He says In most rifles this load delivers an honest 2,800 fps (certainly from a 24-inch barrel, sometimes from a 22-inch barrel). .

Don't know yet so I am asking you that have tried it?

Jayco