Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Question for John B: 257 Ackley load and RL19

JB,
I came across your article on the 257 Ackley Improved in the June 99 issue of Handloader - very informative and well worth the cost of the back issue. I am interested in working up to the load you mention for the 115gr partition using RL-19. I will be using this load in a early ULA model 20. I am concerned about temperature sensitivity of RL-19 as I have read elsewhere. I hunt Maine and NH later in the season when lows can get down into the single digits overnight. Should I be concerned about temperature and RL-19, and if so, do you recommend a less temperature sensitive substitute for RL-19 in this load?

Thanks!
Tom

I am not JB but I can offer you this.

If your shots are not long say under 400ish then the change in velocity will not make that much difference "IF" POI does not change at the lower temps from where you set your rifle up. Best way to tell is to test the rifle at both extremes that you may be hunting in temp wise to see how much POI changes as well as make sure the load groups within your level of comfort for a hunting rifle. I would also run the load over the chorny to make sure there is not some ridiculous loss of velocity that I have seen with that powder.

Some other alternatives that are not temp sensitive are H4350, H100V and RL17.

What heavywalker said--except that H100V is NOT one of their Extreme powders. So far in my tests it has proven fairly temperature-sensitive.

H4831 and Ramshot Hunter would be other good ones to try for your purposes, if you have them on hand.

Was not aware that H100V was temp sensitive. I was thinking about trying it in the plain ol' roberts but think I will stick with RL17 now.

What type of spreads were you seeing.

I have only tested it in one cartridge (.30-06) but the difference in velocities between 70 and 0 F. was as much or more than I've seen with RL-19. Can't remember offhand what it was, but it was significant.

Gents, thanks for the help!

questions like this make me really miss Steve Timm.