Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles 6.5 creedmoor with 130 &140 berger vld's

I've got some 130gr & 140gr vld's to try. I see most people have good results with H4350 but I haven't been able to get my hands on any. I've seen IMR 4350 available. How does this powder compare to H4350 in the creedmoor?
At the moment I have IMR 8208, H414, power pro 2000mr, and superformance on hand. Anyone have luck with any of these powders with VLD's? If so what was your load?

Obie,
Yes H4350 is the powder of choice in with the Berger bullets. My experience IMR 4350 gave similar accuracy and velocity, but it doesn't hold up as well at longer ranges 800 yards and beyond. Would consider the IMR powder fine for hunting but not for serious competition at the longer ranges. Superformance gave me very good velocity but was erratic as to accuracy. H414 gave good velocity but poor accuracy. Only tried 8208 under the 85gr Sierra where it performed very well, I felt it was to fast burning for the bullets much above 120 grain. The only other powder I found that ran with H 4350 was H4831 but it would still be a second choice. Other powders I tried include RL17, RL22, Hunter, IMR7828SC, all were eliminated for long range competition. Most would be fine for hunting. I never exceeded the maximum loads listed in the various manuals for bullets of similar weights. I also found that my rifle shot the 140 Berger quite a bit better than the 130. I have nearly worn a rifle out just testing powders and bullets as I tested quite a few more powders if you include the lighter bullets. Never had any of the 2000MR powder to try. Hope this answers some of your questions.

Thanks. It looks like I'll just have to be patient and get my hands on some H4350 when it becomes available. I've tried a few loads with h414 and the 140gr amax. I was convinced that my rifle just didn't like the bullet. I was proven wrong the other day when I shot some Hornady match 140 amax / H4350 factory ammo. I was only able to shot three / three shot groups at 100 yards but they ranged from .3" to .17".
So far I've gotten my best reloading results with 129gr sst and 130gr Vld's over h414 but my results have not been very consistent. I'll get a few good groups and I think I'm on to something then try the same load again and the results aren't so good. Maybe the problem is the powder. Anyway since I don't have any H3450 I think I'll give superformance a try and see what happens.

So powder valley had H4350 in stock! If all else fails it looks like duplicating the factory 140 amax load should work well. I'm looking forward to doing some tinkering.

So what's the factory load recommending for H4350 and a 140 gr bullet?
Curious about the Superperformance powder results as well...siting on 8lbs of this and trying to find a use for it.
Thanks

Thanks for the heads up. Been hunting H4350 forever it seems.

John

The powder charge for H4350 is printed on the box of Hornady 140 A-Max ammo. It has varied a little over time which indicates the variations between the lot of powder used to load a given batch of ammo. Most shooters find the node some where between 40 and 42 gr. of powder with the A-Max bullets. With other brands of 140 class bullets it is prudent to back off and work up the load.
My experience with Superformance powder in the Creedmoor. I started using Horn cases and Fed match primers and 140 a-Max initial groups at 100 looked very promising and held up out to 300 yds. But the es was pretty high and at 600 yds vertical stringing became a problem. I switched to magnum primers to try and smooth out the velocity and no help there. My experience was similar to Hornady data as there was no velocity boost over other powders in the Creedmoor. Never shot it in a hi low temp test so can't comment on temp sensitivity. I did use it for a hunting load in a Ruger Hawkeye as the shorter range accuracy was very good in that rifle. Haven't tried it in any other cartridges yet.

I pulled a bullet today from a factory 140 amax load because I wanted to see how much powder was really in there. Interestingly It had 42.2gr of a powder that defiantly isn't h4350. Anyone know what powder is in the factory 140 amax stuff?

Similar discussion on snipershide...trying to figure the powder in the hornady 140 a max match ammo. It's different in appearance than what it used to be and it definantly doesn't look like 4350. Guess some guys as of late have noticed a real difference in accuracy with certain lot #'s as we'll.