Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Reloaders, what say you? (H4831 vs RL23)

Just for the sake of change, don't know why, I've been trying different powders and settled on two loads.

145LRX
H4831 @ 3067
RL23 @ 3097

Both sub half inch @100, but 4831 is slightly more accurate. This will be the one load I use for Idaho deer and elk this year, temps could possibly range from less than 20 during elk early in the morning, to 75 for deer three weeks from now in the afternoon.

I'll step groups out to 300 next time, but given the info so far, which would you choose and why?

Thanks and GFY

H4831sc? I’ve never been a reloader fan but only because the ole guy that taught me to reload 20 years ago told me it was temp sensitive more than other powders and H4831sc shoots great in several of my rifles

Good question. Looks like you've got to good candidates there. However accuracy and velocity don't tell the whole story. Take a look at the extreme velocity spread (ES) and the standard deviation (SD) of the two loads and pick the one with the lowest ES and SD. This is debatable, but good loads have an ES of about 10% or less of max velocity (in your case about 31 fps), and a single digit SD. If the ES and SD of the two loads are similar, then my preference would be H4831 over RL23 because it's a single base powder and likely more temp stable. I think RL23 is a double based powder similar to RL22 but supposedly temp stable to some extent. Without doing some research I don't know for sure. Double based powders usually produce significantly more velocity than single based powders which is very attractive, but usually at the expense of temp stability. In your case the difference is negligible. Hope this helps. Best.

+1, my thoughts exactly.

Low sensitivity to temperature swings is one reason I use a lot of Hodgdon Extreme powders, including H4831SC, H4350, H1000, H4895, H322. H4198, Retumbo, Benchmark and Varget.

31 fps is 1% of velocity - is that what you meant? I've never heard of this "rule of thumb".

MM, you are correct. It's 1%, not 10%. Good catch. Apologies for the typo. I'm not sure if it's an established "rule of thumb", but it is a metric I try to achieve with my handloads because it makes sense to me. I must have heard, or read it somewhere because I don't think I would have come up with it on my own.

Also, I seldom get there, usually settling on about 2% of MV and SD of 15 fps and calling it good.

Things have changed in 20 years, this is not your "ole guy" powder anymore !!!!!!!!
20 years ago all the Reloder rifle powders were made in Sweden, some of their newer powders like RL23 are made in Switzerland and are far less temp sensitive and very useful

I use some of both, prefer R23 overall. My ES numbers are always better and the anti coppering agent in the powder really cuts down on copper fouling.

Well RL23 it is. Tried to shoot a "group" @ 200 with H4831, but didn't work out so went straight to RL23.



With a seating depth of 3.31" and 3.33" (3.30 wasn't as good), I grouped about 1.16" and 1.18" from a bipod with a rear bag. The two shots touching were .22" and .25". For reference those are 2" dots. Ground was hard pack dirt and very uneven, with a fine layer of practically dust. Did have some flyers with other groups, but think it was a combo of me and the ground, with a lack of consistent bipod footing. On the right target the first shot was in the orange. Don't know if I need to work on seating depth more, or find a better shooting surface, or just get better behind the trigger - or all three.

Of the three I chrono'd they ran 3097, 3092, 3092.

I used to load a lot of H4831, before I bought a chronograph. I know powder can vary from lot to lot, etc. I found my 270 Win with 57gr H4831 and 150 Nosler BT only shooting 2750fps in a 24" barrel. My 7mm Rem Mag was only shooting 2925fps with 65gr H4831 and 160gr AB in a 26" barrel.

Switched to RL 23, my 270 shoots 3000fps, my 7mm Rem mag shoots 3100fps (shot this load in 3 different 7 mags). All very accurate. For me, it's RL23. Plus, RL23 has decoppering agent, which H4831 lacks.