Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Powder for short barreled rifles?

Friends:

I've been pretty much a factory cartridge kinda guy for the last 50 plus years. In truth, I have been fairly easily satisfied with something from Wally world, especially if its on clearance (not too long ago, right?!!!) for most of my uses in standard rifles - with barrels from 22-26 inches. All good.

But times they are a changing, and I can see reloading as a realistic option, even if supplies are pretty durn lean.

My question is this: are there powders that burn more thoroughly in a short barrel than a long one? For example, A couple years ago I had JES rebore a .243W to .358 Winchester, and slice the barrel down to 18 1/2 inches. Absolutely love it. My nickname for it is "Steady Eddy" - big bullet moving about 23-2400FPS. Devastating..and checks the humane (DRT) box for me. But the factory Hornady's I bought are prolly designed for a 22" - 24" barrel.

But I have other rifles with short barrels as well. If we are going "custom made" by reloading, can we eliminate belchfire situations where powder is still being burned several feet out from the muzzle when a round is touched off, simply by going to a faster burning powder.

Years ago I read JOC observe that a certain load of IMR 4064 in .30-06 in a 165 grainer produces "no great muzzle flash" and a "farly light report". My thinking is, why not pursue this for short barreled rifles, by modulating the powder type?

And no, I'm not limp wristed about recoil etc, and use full throated factory rounds in medium and large caliber magnum rounds, without concern. Bottom line: the self-made loads dont have to be reduced. That said I'm also not all about wringing the last few FPS out of anything, and think Shaman with his 95% rule of max, is probably highly prescient. Think steady eddy. JB would probably call me a "medium medium" kinda guy.

Which powders to consider? Does caliber really matter? If yes, lets throw out the hypotheticals of .270, 30-06, .338WM and .375 (Ruger or H&H).

Gentlemen: Popcorn, anyone? Fire away!

I like my 16inch barrel 30/06 to flash so I use AR2209 (IMR4350 equivalent) - adds visual to the sound effects.

This interests me as well. I know the 300 blackout was designed for short barrel use, with the optimum barrel length being around 9 inches iirc. I also know some powders produce less flash in certain loads. Not an area pf expertise here, and interested in more knowledge on it.

TTT

I am interested in this as well. I've been shooting reloads only in some of my rifles for 30 years; 30-378 Weatherby, 338-378 Weatherby, 300 Baer, and lately a 338 Lapua Magnum. I shoot factory loads only in 308 Win and 223 & any handgun cartridges. I have a couple of SBRs in 223 that are obnoxiously loud and blinding in low light so I am considering handloading 223 for those.

Isn't this getting towards the realm of reduced loads? ie faster powders (with lighter loads) possibally heading towards fillers? The bare minimum powder charge (by weight) I think would be with Trailboss.

I'm not looking for reduced loads. I want to see if a little faster burning powder would increase the velocity lost from a radically shorter barrel...without being SO much faster that it turns the chamber into a hand grenade.

This

Barrel length does not affect powder choice. The cartridge and bullet affect powder choice

No it will not

Shorter barrel=lower velocity. There ain't no way around it.

The issue is not lower velocity, its muzzle blast. The question is what powders to consider.

Well, maybe SSC powders are a natural fit for short barrels.

I think the volume of the gas the exits the muzzle after the barrel is pretty much going to determine the noise level, and the volume of the powder (as determined by weight of charge) will pretty much determine the amount of gas---and therefore the noise level. I'd try lesser charges of faster burning powders to reduce muzzle blast.

Blu Cs;
Good evening to you sir and hopefully it's still early enough that I'm able to get away with a Happy New Year as well.

As has been already posted, that hasn't been our experience - that is we'll load whatever powder gives peak performance in that cartridge and bullet combination and not pay too, too much attention to burn rate.

Perhaps a few quick examples are okay and I'll start with a 788 carbine in .308 which has an 18½" barrel. With bullet weight from 125gr to 165gr powders in the WW748, IMR 4064 burn rate gave better results for accuracy and velocity than say IMR3031.

In a 21" .30-06, again the best results for accuracy and speed with either WW760 or IMR4350 - better for sure than IMR3031, 4064 or H4895.

Lastly in a 20" 6.5x55 and a 21" 6.5x55, we've seen best results with RL19, VV560, IMR or H4831 have yielded best results.

Hopefully that was useful for you or someone out there tonight. All the very best to all in 2021.

Dwayne

It's been my (limited) experience that the powder that gives the highest velocity in a 22-24" length barrel will generally be the same powder that gives the highest velocity in a shorter 16-18" barrel.
It's my understanding that essentially all the powder that's going to burn will be burned within the first few inches in front of the chamber.
As the powder is burned it is converted to a gas. This gas then burns and expands until the available oxygen inside the barrel is consumed.
The fireball at the muzzle is the result of powder gasses reigniting as they come in contact with the atmosphere (oxygen), not powder continuing to burn and after exiting the barrel.
There may be a few granules of powder that didn't burn in the barrel but they're generally not a significant contributor to the fireball.

I think it might be limited territory - less powder means less blast but faster powder means earlier pressure peak and I think the pressure will limit any attempt to try and regain lost velocity from a shorter barrel.

A modulated burn rate powder doesn't exist yet.

Exactly

Please folks. For the purpose of this thread my interest is not best velocity or performance, or optimum anything, it is muzzle blast.

If, for example, that means a .270 W bullet is launched at a lower speed than normal....well OK (so long as it will humanely dispatch a deer).

If you are a reloader who has something to offer in that department, on a firsthand basis, I'm all ears.

Thanks in advance

Blu Cs;
Sorry I misunderstood the question then sir.

For me it'd be either IMR or H4895 that gave the best results with less than top end loads.

That's where I'd start if less blast was the goal.

Hope that helped and good luck.

Dwayne