I recently read one of John's articles from a few years ago. I think it was titled, "Handloads That Work". This article inspired me to try Ramshot Magnum for my 300 Win with the 200gr Accubond.

I had previously tried Retumbo with good accuracy, but the velocities were very low. 3-shot groups were well under an inch at 100 yards, but 2650 fps seemed rather slow for a 300. Ok for a 30-06, but slow for the win mag. I had reached max published loads and didn't want to push it into no-man's-land without pressure data. At SAAMI COAL the powder was getting compressed as well with max charges.

I also worked up to the max published load with H1000 and accuracy was poor at 2700+ fps. I think it would have shot well at 2600 fps but this didn't do any better than Retumbo. I did shoot a mulie last year with the Retumbo load, but wanted something 'more' for this year's hunt.

John had written that Ramshot Magnum was very good in the 300, so I sent Ramshot an e-mail for a suggested load range. I'm glad I did. I'm getting excellent accuracy, velocity, and its extremely clean burning. Velocity is 2900 fps, and my last 4-shot group was under 7/8" at 100 yards. 3-shot group was under 1/2". I'm shooting a Super Light from Tikka with a 2-7x Vortex. Total rifle weight is only 7 lbs, and the recoil is up there. Even so, I'm thrilled with this load and rifle.

The most surprising thing is that Ramshot Magnum seems to burn much cooler than Retumbo or H1000. I swear that the barrel cools much faster with Ramshot although the Super Light does have a fluted barrel and my load development with Retumbo and H1000 were done with a standard non-fluted Tikka.

With all three powders I notice that the hottest part of the barrel is about 1/4 to 1/3 of the way from the chamber. Factory 180gr ammo, which I assume uses faster powder, always heats the chamber and very first part of the barrel. I can actually shoot 2 to 3 rounds with the Ramshot load without the barrel getting very warm. This really surprised me. And since this heat is away from the receiver it doesn't seem to affect bullet impact. The Tikka synthetic stock grips the receiver and first part of the barrel very tightly so heat in this area seems to cause vertical stringing. Not a problem with the Ramshot, although I never let the barrel get beyond warm to the touch.

Ramshot Magnum meters very well too, much better than the other two powders. And according to John, it is very temperature stable. I can't say enough good things about this powder for the 200gr Accubond in this rifle. And the Ramshot ballistician was very helpful. Much more helpful than some other powder companies.

I never thought about Ramshot, and never hear much about it for the 300 Win. Thanks for the article John. If it wasn't for that I never would have found this great powder and load. I'm thrilled to say the least. I thought I would have to try RL22 but was hesitant due to temp instability.

RS Magnum is good stuff. I've always had good luck with it.

I have had great loads with Ramshot Hunter in in my T3 30-06, great accuracy and very good velocities. All the other advantages stated above.
Thanks Mr. Mule Deer a wonderful load for hunting Canadian deer with a bonded 180 grn bullet. As stated above I too would never had knowen about it on my own. Buckfever1

I use it in my 300WSM and my 270WSM.I get my best accuracy and highest velocity with it.Whats not to like????

My #1 powder for my 264WM.

Glad to see others having success with it too!

With Retumbo I was getting smoked/sooty necks like many others I read about. With the Ramshot the brass is clean and it looks like complete combustion if the dust in my barrel is an accurate indication. The residue from the Retumbo looked chunkier if that's worth anything. To me it seemed like it wasn't burning as well but I'm not experienced in reading this sort of stuff.

Been doing a lot of shooting lately, mostly with my 6.5s. My buddy came over and we went shopping at Sportsman's Whorehouse. He bought some Big Game and Tac- I bought some Accurate Mag Pro. All are ball powders.

We tried some different loads in his vintage Ruger 77 30-06 using 150 grain Ballistic tips and Sierra GKs ( this is what he had) With IMR 4895 and 4064 we could only get about 2850-2890 out of the 22" barrel. With Big Game we easily got 3030 FPS and TAC gave us 2995. Barrel was fairly easy to clean with the Ramshot compared to the 4895.

He was tickled.

As an aside, the Mag Pro really shined in my 6.5-284 with 140 AMAX but I hear it is not as Temp stable as some.

4th_point
I've been using Magnum for a good while. Works well in most applications, escpically magnum calibers with medium to heavy bullets. Pressure testing shows very small deviations.
I just made a 300 RUM, loaded the customer 400 rounds using Magnum.
These Ramshot powders probably meter better than anything I've ever used.
Charlie

Hey, Charlie, great to see you posting agsin. Please do more. E

They do meter very well! They don't work in a trickler very good though. Maybe mine is just sloppy, but the grains bind up the aluminum tube.

I've found the opposite with my Redding trickler. It almost flows too well! I find that the powder is so easy to handle that I can use a dipper almost as fast as the trickler.

Maybe opening the hole in the tube would help?

Eremicus
Howdy ! I've had my nose to the grindstone as of late, seems I get a little farther behind everyday.
A little thread creep here, please dont shoot me.....
I'm working on a test with Denton, will be testing pressure and velocity before and after using Dyna Bore Coat. I'm planning to use a 300 Win mag I've bulit, and use a factory rifle as well. Likely use Ramshot Magnum powder and Berger bullets.
I dont expect to see much on the Lilja barrel either way, but I'm expecting to see plenty on the factory barrel.
If you are interested I'll email you the results. Reckon the Campfire would be interested ?
Charlie

Charlie, yes the Camp Fire is interested. Also did you ever figure out the secondary pressure spike that you experienced with the 338 win with light bullets?

jwp475
Not really. Its there, but I'm not really smart enough or have enough equipment (or time :() to know very much. What I do now is when I use a light for caliber bullet, I always use a fast to mid-range powder for that cartridge. Seems to work well enough.
Denton could explain this a lot better than me, he has 1000 times the knowledge on these things as me.
Charlie

I agree that Denton is sharp, but so are you and I enjoy your posts and knowledge and hope that you continue to post it here

Good to hear that so many people are having good luck with Ramshot powders. They're always among the first powders I try when starting to experment with an unfamiliar rifle anymore.

Big Game may be the best powder for 150-grain bullets in the .30-06 right now, and is certainly among the best.

A ballistician by the Johan Loubser for Ramshot helped me out a couple years ago. Ramshot didn't have any published data for the 358 Win, or 300 Savage - so I e-mailed, and recieved load data from 'em. The 358 loads were so-so ('bout equal to several others I use), but for the 300 Savage, let me tell ya, I've a Big Game load (they recommended), that tickles 2800 fps. That's steppin' right out there for that cartridge.

Johan has been the head of the Ramshot/Accurate pressure lab for several years now, and is one of the primary reasons it's such a good lab!

I'm assuming the 2800 fps is with 150's? I've had good luck with TAC and 125's in the .300 Savage as well.

Oh, I guess I kinda neglected a fairly important detail, and yeah, it's the 150's.>grin<

Sounds like a nice Italian kid.

Kinda interested in the before and after pressure test using Dyna Bore Coat. Hope its of no consequence.

After using Big Game for the first time about four years ago, when I started loading my 9.3x62, I switched all of my rifle powders to the Ramshot line with the exception of H4831SC which I used when I owned a 450/400 3" NE. I don't own that rifle anymore and when the dozen or so pounds of H4831SC are gone (my excuse to buy a 270! ) I'll be running all Ramshot for rifles. Metering is good; velocities are fine, and cleanup is easy. Price is good in my neck of the woods as well, and availability hasn't been a problem except during the Great Powder Drought of 2009.

bigwhoop,

I doubt there will be any significant pressure difference between uncoated bores and those that have been DNC'd. I base this on very little difference in muzzle velocities from the same barrels before-and-after DBC.

I found Johan very responsive and helpful. Great product and great customer service.

this is the first time I haven't tried H414 as my first choice in a 3006 with 150s. This has previously been my "go to" powder.

Big Game certainly showed real promise.

Ramshot Hunter does ok in a .243 with the 115Dtacs. Left to right the groups are .25", .39" and .46". Point of impact changes was a result of testing a scope. I love it because I can crank out ammo on a Dillon progressive and not worry about it jamming the powder measure like H4350.

I am getting great accuracy in my 22-250 and 7-08 with Big Game. Hard not to like this powder.

Same here and it works great with 150 grain loads in .30-06 too.

The 30-06 is next on my list to try with Big Game.

Yeah, Big Game is a great powder in the .22-250.

It also works very well with lighter bullets in the .220 Swift. I'm running 40-grain Ballistic Tips at 4250 (not a max load by any means) and very fine accuracy. When sighted-in at 300 yards, that load allows holding dead-on a coyote's chest to 350 or even a little further. With 55-60 grain bullets in the Swift, however, I often run Hunter, for high velocities and top accuracy.

John

I bought a pound of Hunter after reading some of your post. When time permits I am going to try it also. My average five shot groups at 100 yards was .61 out of my Ruger number 1 using Speer 55gr TNT's.I did not chrono them yet but for the shots I will get at coyote in Michigan this load will be fine.

I have used Hunter with excellent results in the .243 Winchester, .257 Roberts and .270 Winchester. It's really great in the 7mm and .30 short-fat-beltless magnums, and with 180-grain bullets in the .30-06.

It would be nice if they supplied data for Weatherby cartridges!

John,

Have you found Big Game and Hunter to be temperature stable like Magnum powder?

Thanks,

Jason

TAC is probably the most temp-stable of the Ramshot powders, with Big Game a pretty close second. Hunter and Magnum are also pretty good, but not like the two faster powders.

When I first tested TAC at zero degrees, the muzzle velocity of a .223 load averaged EXACTLY the same as it had at 70 degrees. Now that was definitely just pure chance, as loads almost never chronograph exactly the same even when chronographed at the same temperature.

One thing I always have to remind folks of when discussing temperature stability is that the characteristics of powders can change at pressures out of their normal range. One of the Ramshot lab-techs pointed this out to me during one of my visits.

His example was using Varget to try to get absolute max velocities out of 140-grain bullets in the .260 Remington, and called it "stressing" the powder. Varget is one of the most temp-stable of powders, but stress it beyond its comfort zone and it loses some of that stability.

Magnum in the 257Wby/100TSX, 243AI/105 A-max, and 7WSM/162A-max.

Hunter in the 270Win 140/TSX and 243Win 85/TSX.

All but the 7 run on a Dillon sans any trouble at all. I haven't had the 7 long enough to nab a powder measurer/toolhead for it.

John

What grain of bullets are you liking in the 270 with Hunter ?

FINALLY picked up a 270 this year - an unfired Husqvarna that is likely to be fired

What E said.

With spelling corrected, of course. Must've just been a focus thing...

Actually, I've always had a spelling problem. Which is now compounded by my old fingers not punching the right keys.....
I've always found Ramshot Powders to be very satisfactory. Let's see, Hunter in the '06 w/ 180's, in the .280, either 120's or 140's, 100's in the .25-284, etc.
Magnum is my "go to" powder with 117's in my .25-284.
Big Game works really well for light loads w/ 117's in the .257 Bob, and very nicely in my 7-08 with 139-145 gr. bullets.
TAC works well in the .308 w/ 125's - 155's, and even for reduced loads w/ 180's in my '06.
Their handgun powders work well too. I'm really impressed with Silhouette. Has to be the cleanest burning powder I've ever used in the .45 ACP. No flies in ZIP or True Blue either. E

Lorne,

I've mostly run Hunter with 140's in the .270, but it also works just fine with 130's and 150's, of course!

I use Magnum in my 264 WM. I used Mule Deer's load data from his article on the 264 WM a few years ago. I wasn't able to get the same speed with my rifle and when I tried to get there pressures must have spiked because the Chrono all the sudden read 200 FPS more than it should have. So I backed it down and have been happy. It is still faster than anything else I have tried. I noticed I needed to get next max with it before the soot around the neck went away. I guess it finally started expanding enough to seel the chamber.

I have used Hunter in a few cartridges too. Most recently the 338 WM. I noticed the same thing the OP said about it being cooler to shoot. I loaded up test loads with Hunter and H4831SC and noticed how quickly the H4831SC heated up the barrel compared to the Hunter loads.

I have found Hunter to shine in my .284 also. Speed compared to the Nolser #6 manual was right there and accuracy was excellent.

I find myself going more and more to Ramshot powders, but I will say they are frustrating to use with my Hornady Auto Charge Powder Scale and Dispenser. They flow so well I am always over, but like Mule Deer has said they flow so well I just dump them now from a powder measure.

I had a similar esperience with Johan. I had emailed him on loads for my .358 STA and he was helpful. On a trip through Miles City after delivering one of my sons to college in Oregon two years ago, I called and stopped in at their plant. He was willing to meet with me and he spent over an hour with me showing me around and helping with loads and ideas. Great customer service and a very interesting fellow.