Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Reloader 17?

Sent you a PM pic of Max at work....

Good friend that shoots a super accurate 260 at 1,000 yards reports RL17 doing wierd things as the temps change. He quit it and went back to H4350 and gave me a 5lb jug of the stuff. Another friend of his that has stuck with RL17 for 1000 yards has a "cold day load" and a "hot day load." Go figure.

Just reporting what he told me.

My own experience is limited. I used it early on in the 300 WSM and saw velocity gains in the 75 fps range over H4350. I've never used it on a game animal over 285 yards, nor in temps colder than the low teens.

As MD testifies, for most of us it's no big deal. For 1000 yards or super cold as Pat reports at 500M I could see it being an issue.

Yeah, sounds about right. Though shipping might be kind of steep to get 8lbs of the stuff up here, but you can take care of that with the $150. *grin*

Using Fed210 in my standards and CCI250 in the mags.

I do find that I get better accuracy in my rifles with H4350 than R17 but I didnt see velocity drop in cold weather when I tested it. This Elk was shot at minus 23F @ 363 yards and it was right on for the dotz in my scope. And no this rifle had not been in a pick up.

I prolly should test it again this winter with the Chrono as I have seen some variations lot to lot.

Lefty C

[quote=Azshooter]It works well for me in the 6mm rem, 284 win, 300 WSM and 338 RCM.

Happy New Year America, from sunny 26 degree C New Zealand.

I can only agree with Azshooter and with his kindly provided help have really knocked H4350 off its perch as my favourite powder for my 7mm08 and particularly the 284. As the temperature here has gone up comming into summer the velocities have gone up a little, I left ammo on the bench in direct sunlight (no wind) for an hour, temperature was in winter around 10c, last time at the range about 25c velocity average increase of 25 to 30 fps with warmish loads.

in my 25-06 I am usine just old dull WLR primers

Re-17 has been at least equally resistant to the super heat here as H4350 in my Creedmoor, when both the rifle _and_ ammo are heated. Although AZ's lowest-recorded temp is -40, it's not typically within ~70 degrees of that where I live, so I've made no effort to duplicate the cold weather testing some of you have done.

Mac seems to me though that D couldn't recall if he'd changed lots of powders on the 1K deal or not. Just my opinion but if he did that could sure be the challenge (with any powder).

As for hot day and cold day loads I'm no 1K shooter but I'd be guessing that having a different load for the cold temps than the hot temps isn't uncommon. Or put it this way, I'd not be using a load if I was leaning on it (which most do to some extent) that I developed on a cold day during the hot days.

Lastly, I really dont' care about R17 and who does and or doesn't use it. To me it's just a another powder that one can use and like other powders they all come with some sort of a challenge.

Have a super 13 all!

Dober

It's not magic, but you are right about RL17 being another decent choice available to us. I run it and H4350 as mainstays, although RL17 does seem to be more flexible than I would have initially thought. As others have mentioned, it can overlap with RL22 territory and still work nicely in the 4350-ish department too. It proved to be really fast in my 25-284 with 100's but also does a great job in my 7mmSAUM with 160's with a wide "sweet spot" regarding charge weight. I cannot speak to the cold temperature issues, as I've only used it from 30F to 90F.

I've also found RL-17 to be pretty flexible, and in the right applications it works really well.

I've got a pair of .25-06's, one with a 24" barrel and one with a 26". I tried RL-17 with 85- and 100-grain bullets a few months ago, after looking over all the available data. With 85's it got over 3600 fps from both barrels, though accuracy was good only in the 24". With 100-grain bullets it got just under 3400 in the 24" barrel and 3450 in the 26", and accuracy was good in both rifles. The 100-grain load would sure work in typical pronghorn weather here in Montana.

Kinda thumbed through this whole post. I'm an IMR4350,4064 and 4831 kinda guy. If nothing else comes of this I will give the H powders a good hard look. Depending on what peninsula in Michigan I'm hunting things can get close to zero in November during white tail season and it may be worth checking into.

For you late winter yote hunters which powder/load is your fav for a .223. I run about 26 grs of W748 with a 55 gr V max. Not sure how temp sensitive W748 is but I'm open to suggestions. And if anyone wants to share an '06 200 gr RL17 load my ears are open.

brinky-at what ranges are you normally taking your whitetails? Sub 100 yds I'd expect?

Dober

Got Varget? It works great for me with 55gr bullets in my LMT .223. Runs great hot or cold.

I second what Pat said.

I am running 24 grains of Varget with the 75 amax in the 223 Ackley.

Sendero-what kind of speeds does that load give and how long a tube?

Thx
Dober

Only cause they aint got no body!!!

I can provide a shipping address to take all excess RL-17.

I love the stuff...

brinky,

Another vote for Varget and heavier-weight bullets in the .223.

brinky,

I wouldn't use your 4064 in weather extremes from my experience. I use it a lot in my 9,3X74Rs and have a lot of it I got at a sale. As things cool down, it starts to give erratic results to say the least. I don't use the 9,3s in cold weather to hunt, but I still like to clean the spiders out of the barrels.

JB, You have considerable experience with cold and with the 9,3X74R. What is your recommendation?

I believe you are exactly right- at those extreme low temperatures, the Hogdon's extreme powders are certainly more forgiving. The majority of the shooters on here probably don't shoot in sub-zero temperatures- especially at longer ranges.

I bear hunted this year in 104 degree heat and shot my bear at a whopping 350ish yards. For me, that is the 'extreme' temp that I will likely use that rifle in.

My other powder for this rifle is Varget which is about a temperature insensitive as I have found.