Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Alliant RL 23 & RL 26 Really The Same As RL 22 And RL 26?

Reloder 23 is produced by our Swedish partner Bofors, and Reloder 26 is produced in Switzerland by our extremely capable partner Nitrochemie. I have seen it stated that they are both made by Bofors, so that is incorrect.
I have also noticed people are equating Reloder 23 to Reloder 22, and Reloder 26 to Reloder 25. Both of those statements are definitely incorrect. We do state that the performance of Reloder 23 is similar to Reloder 22, and it is, in general burn speed terms, but they are most certainly not the same. (We could have said they are similar to IMRxxxx, or Hxxxx, but that doesn't mean to use that data.) We have worked quite a lot of recipes for Reloder 23, and they are not the same as Reloder 22. Reloder 26 is definitely slower burning than Reloder 25, so there shouldn't be any confusion there either.
Reloder 23 was developed to bring a truly temp stable powder to the Reloder 22 burn speed range using Bofors new process technology. This is the second product developed for us with this TZ(R) process, the first being AR-Comp(TM). We see terrific efficiencies, sd's, accuracy and flat temp response from these powders. Please try them, I think you will be impressed.
Reloder 26 is produced with Nitrochemie's latest generation EI(R) process technology. This is the same impregnation coating process used to produce Reloder 17, Reloder 33 and Reloder 50 for us, and it is fantastic. The "so what" on Reloder 26 is great ballistic efficiency, high bulk density so you can get more of the slow powder into the case to harness the energy, and decent, predictable extreme temp response. Reloder 26 is not as flat at temps as the TZ or Australian materials, but it is very manageable, usually in the 0.5fps/�F range (depending on the application). Just as important, the pressure increases at hot are very manageable. We are using quite a bit of this powder in our Federal factory ammo due to the fantastic ballistics and accuracy.
Both of these new Reloders contain decoppering agent to help reduce coppering up your barrels, but this is nothing new for us. Bofors began adding decoppering agent to our Reloder rifle powders in the 2002 timeframe, and all our Swiss Reloders except 17 contain their proprietary additive. (We may include it in 17 at some point also, but right now we like it just the way it is.) Sorry we didn't have a snappy name figured for the decoppering agents, we just did it.
Both of these new Reloder's are also produced to the current highest level of "green" technology. Actually, all of our Alliant rifle, pistol and shotshell reloading powders meet the current (tough) European requirements for elimination of nasty ingredients. They do not contain any dinitrotoluene or dibutylphthalate, which are a couple of the nasties that are commonly used in smokeless powders.
Thank you for your interest in our new powders.
Shoot well,