Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Reloder 23 vs 26

I like each of these next_gen powders for different applications. How about the rest of you?

41

I like them too.

I use the RL-23 in my 300 Win. Mag. and RL-26 in my 6.5 PRC

I'm sure there are other loads for these powder.

RL-23 works well with 150 NBT's in 280 also.

RL26 is bit of a specialty powder. The 270 and 243 seem to be the biggest beneficiaries. Other cartridges to varying degrees. Talked to an Alliant rep this spring and the subject of RL26 and the 6.5 CM came up. His comment was "There are better powders for the 6.5 Creedmore"..........

I really like both powders and use both in a number of cartridges.

What I have generally found is that 23 gives me better accuracy while 26 gives me more speed. Another inch of accuracy or another 100' per second. Take your pick.

My findings exactly.

41

RL-23 is more temperature-resistant, because it was designed to be. RL-16 turned out to be pretty temp-resistant, accidentally. Accuracy can be very good with either, but in my experience it's easier to develop really accurate loads with 23, in a wider variety of cartridges.

Reloader-26 works well with 150gr Nosler Ballistic Tips in my 7mag.I still need to see how it works with 160gr Accubonds,I think it will work great for them too.

67.5 gr. RL-26 with 160 NAB out of a 7RM is a great load, cruising around 3K fps. I loaded this combo for my buds recent African PG hunt. He was most impressed with the performance, mostly one shot kills. A Wildebeest took a chest hit, kept walking, another chest hit, slowed down, but not on the ground until a neck hit put his nose in the dirt. All three were fatal hits. All the other animals were either DRT or walked only a few yards after one shot. Bud does know how to shoot. A fellow hunter borrowed this rifle for a 300 yd shot, one hit, DRT. The PH was impressed with the rifle, the load and bud's shooting.

DF

And with the 257R. I loaded RL-26 with 120's. Didn't burn clean, had enough residue in the chamber that I couldn't load the next round. After shaking out the residue, next round chambered OK.

With the above 7RM/160 NAB load, it was half inch at a hundred, 3" at 400, about as accurate as that rifle can shoot.

I agree RL-23 is more flexible regarding application in a larger selection of rounds. But, when you find the right combo with RL-26, you've got a performer.

DF

67.5grs is exactly the load I was thinking would work.

R-23 gets the nod whenever it works and it usually does well where I had used R22 previously. R16 is replacing R17 for most of those applications too.

R26 I like the velocities in the cartridges that it is a good match for but have reservations about using R26 in hot weather especially with red lined loads. Pressure also sneaks up on you at maximum charges. There was a rumor that Nitro Chemie was trying to improve the temperature sensitivity of R26 but that may just be wishful thinking. It seems very uniform until around or above 90 degrees and also at or near 65,000 psi. I would like to see some pressure curves for R26 to see if it supports my observations.

It does, for sure.

DF

True that.

My 270 Winchester ran a 4 shot string with an average muzzle velocity of 3191 fps a SD of 6 fps. This with the Nosler 150 grain long range Accubond over 60.8 grains of Reloder 26 in new Nosler brass & a Federal 210m

1st group @ .519"
2nd group @ .833"

100 yards benchrested.

41

It does burn clean and consistent in the right round, seems to do well when shot pretty hot.

I used Fed 215 primers in the 7RM loads noted above.

DF


Edited to add, I got the 67.5 gr. RL-26 load for the 7RM and 160 NAB's here on the Fire, didn't work it up myself.

IIRC, it was Dogshooter who posted it.

Research here on the Fire has saved me a lot of barrel life, time and component expense over the years.

My 338-06 loads are now mostly with H-380, thanks to Seafire and gunner500. That gun also likes Varget, but I'm gonna use my H-380, save the Varget for other rounds, as both powders work equally well in the 338-06.

Now, where else you gonna get such good, proven info...?

.

I should have included the 7mmRM in the biggest beneficiaries short list.

RL26 works fine in my .300 Weatherby. Isn’t RL26 advertised to be temperature stable?

I don't know if temp stability is an advertising point for RL-26. From what I can gather, it's a mixed bag, application specific. I've read the manufacturer is trying to make it more temp stable. So, if there is a need, or perceived need, to make it better, one can assume it's not quite there.

It's not as temp stable as RL-23 and others, but reportedly better than some. To me, it's not an issue from 60* to 0*, more of an issue from 60* to 100*. I haven't used it enough across such a temp spectrum to say, going with what I've read.

Others may want to chime in.

DF

W
Thanks for that. I use it in my elk rifle pushing 168 gr TTSX at 3,300 fps from a 26” barrel. I work up my loads at 40-50F and it’s typically 10 to 50F when I elk hunt, so probably not an issue for me. Happy Trails

http://bulletin.accurateshooter.com/2019/11/reloder-23-and-reloder-26-good-for-magnum-cartridges/





Furrier says that RL 23 is NOT sensitive to temperature shifts: “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® process, the first being AR-Comp™. We see terrific efficiencies, SDs, accuracy and flat temp response from these powders. Please try them, I think you will be impressed.”

Speed and More Speed with RL 26
Think of Reloder 26 as a high-velocity powder for big cartridges. Furrier explains: “Reloder 26 is produced with Nitrochemie’s latest generation EI® 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 0.5 fps/°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 Reloder powders 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 powders 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.” — Paul Furrier, ATK