Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters RL-26

RL-26 has proven nothing short of amazing in my 240 Wby. It's worth 100 fps over MRP(previous go to) when launching 95 Gr NBT's. Substantially tightened the groups up as well. I've pretty much experienced similar results shooting all bullet weights from 75-100. I'm about to begin using RL-26 in my 6.5 Creed. Expecting the same results there as well.

Thanks for that info. I have a .240, fav load is 100 NPT over MRP. I have RL-26, just never tried it in that round. In fact I have big jugs of both powders. Need to check that out.

DF

yes i really like RL.26 , but maybe Mule Deer may have a much better thought or tests from his reloading on this powder RL.26 ?

I’ve been happy with it in 7STW and 270wsm. I’m presently testing loads in 340wby with 225s. I also plan on playing with it with 200s in a 30-06. It doesn’t seem to burn as clean as 7828, but velocity and accuracy are very good with lower pressure.

Barnes must be up to something now that Sierra took over ??????
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Checked with our guy who overseas marketing and he's given me permission to talk about it since their is load data on our website for the 300 PRC. It's our new 208 gr LRX. This bullet was designed months before Sierra took over. I've been shooting it in my newly built LW 300 WM at 3000 fps (sub 10 SD) with Rel 26 in Peterson "Long" brass. 5-shot groups have been running in the .5" to .6" range. Please ignore the black tip. They will come with the standard blue tip which Barnes Bullets is known for. A 10 twist barrel should not work. It was tried in one our guys personal 300 RUM and just would not group well; even at 4500'+ elev. 9 is on the edge. An 8 twist is much better. My 3.631" COAL is running about .135" off the lands of the carbon wrapped Bartlein barrel's lands. These bullets should easily expand down to around 1700 fps impact velocity.



180 Accubond in the middle for comparison.

What's is the b.c.? It takes a 208 gr .308 to beat the sectional density of a 150 gr .264...

G1 is .633. IIRC, the bullet's designer told me G7 is .312

Alan

Nice. I just happen to have a 1-8” PRC. I’ll have to give it a try.if I stick with it I’d really consider getting the +P mod just to give the mono a bit more speed.

I’d love to find some N570

Hmm. I'm surprised the b.c. isn't better.

Yeah, you'd think just looking at it.

I wonder if those grooves decrease B.C. a bit.

Hammer bullets have a scalloped looking set of rings for what they call their Patented Drag Reduction (PDR).

Check out the 214 gr. Hammer Hunter. https://hammerbullets.com/product-tag/308/page/2/ G7 is .322. Some companies are overly generous with their B.C. numbers. I guess the acid test would be to check them out.

I've gotten great accuracy with Hammer bullets. Not cheap, but a pretty neat design. They say you can push them faster due to low drag in the bore. I'm still working with mine, can't say for sure.

DF

The cannelures (grooves), as we call them, does not help the BC. In addition, the bullet functions (expands) quite well, down to 1700 fps.

Vv n-570 is the velocity champ in my 26 Nosler with 156 EOL's.

It has the largest stick granules of any powder I've ever used, It won't flow thru my Uniflow, stacks up. I remove the drop tube, dump in a scale pan and tweak the load. Slower, but it works.

It's a high energy powder, said to possibly burn out barrels faster. Don't know for sure. I'd keep that in mind for high volume shooting.

DF


Edited to add, Hammer recommends an 8.5 twist for the bullet I referenced above.

Did a ladder test yesterday with my 24” Tikka 6.5 Creed. Started with 47.0 and worked up to 49.0 grains of RL26 with the 135gr Berger Classic Hunter seated .03 off the lands. All groups were 1” or less, but 49.0 grains was at .40” at 100 yards.

Berger list the max load at 49.7 grains, but at 49.0 grains I have to tap the case a but to get enough room to seat the bullet so I think I’ll stop there. Showed zero pressure signs so I’m gonna load up a few more to verify but hopefully I found a winner. My chrono took a dump and I have to pickup another one shortly but I imagine I should be around 2850-2900 fps.

Thanks, I have a Creed, those bullets and RL-26. Just need to put it all together.

DF

No problem. And just to clarify I was using new starline brass and cci br2 LR primers. You might be able to fit a tad more powder in a Hornady case.

Hi Motown,
Please share the results with the 145 ELD-X in the .270, with as much detail as you can. I plan to try the same combo and would love to have your experience to build on.
Thanks, Rex

I had really good results with R26 under 147 ELDM's in my Sweed but found StaBall 6.5 to be the best under 129 Hornady Spire Points. Both are outstanding powders in the 6.5x55 for both velocity and accuracy in my Fieldcraft.

I have those components, need to try them in my Swede. So far my best Swede load is the 139 Scenar over MRP.

DF

Hey Rex,

I did also run a ladder test with RL26 in the 270 as well this past weekend. I started at 59.0 grains working up to 61.0 grains in 1/2 grain increments.

The issue I ran into with the 270 tikka is the seating depth. I wanted to try and load about .03 off the lands but the mag length will not allow that, and to fit them into the mag the furthest out I can seat them is .100 even with a mountain tactical mag. Because of this I loaded up everything at .100 off and most groups would put two together and one further out. I will mess around with seating depth more in weeks to come and update when I can.

One thing I can say is that I had no pressure signs even at 61.0 grains using a magnum primer. The recoil at 61 grains was noticeably harsher than most loads I have tried in this rifle before, but it seems that it also showed the best accuracy node at 61.0 grains as well. My Creed also showed the best accuracy with the near max load as well and I think this is where RL26 shines!

I have tried RL26 in my 270win and 243. Very good speeds with published loads with 150 and 105 gr bullets respectively. Would like to try it in my 257WBY but alliant has nothing published. I could start with my RL22 loads and go from there. Also, hodgdon has some likely suspects with some of their newer slower IMR powders but has published nothing for this cartridge.