Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles Reloader 22, 25, 26

I had quite a few Reloader 22 loads in a few rifles. Then I couldn’t find 22 but I found 10 lb of RE 26.
Looking at burn charts was a little frustrating - seems no one wanted to place 26 on their charts. But I did work up good loads with 26.

What’s your experience with these powders - burn rate, accuracy and temperature sensitivity?

Thanks

I love 26 and 33 and haven't seen either on the shelf in years. Using 26 in my .270's and 33 in my .264 during our seasons here in SD and if there's sensitivity, well, it hasn't affected what I'm doing with them. If I see either one on the shelf its going home with me, all of it.

Thinking I should be sitting on like 18 to 20 pounds of RL 26....for the longest time when it was first launched, you'd go into Sportsman's Warehouse and it was $8 to $10 cheaper than their other powders.. for some reason it just wasn't moving. So each time I'd buy a pound.. I think I had up to 30 pounds of it, but gave away about 8 or 10 to friends who wanted to try it... its worked real well in anything I have tried it in..

RL 25 and 23, I've picked up a few here and there. I buy stuff when I see it on sale...

25 is slower than 22, so I have used that in the 300 Win, and it did well, but I don't shoot that caliber very often any more...

I had picked up 23, after I had several bad batches of RL 22.... Alliant told me it was similar, but 23 had some additives that made it more temp stable and a few other bennies I don't recall...think I've been thru 3 or 4 pounds of it in various calibers.. still have a couple left. If I saw both on the shelf, I'd be taking 23 home over the 22....

for most of my uses with 22, I've switched to RL 19, and don't notice much difference except its consistent, vs the several bad containers of 22 I had purchased.

RL 33 or RL 50, I haven't had the need to go that crazy....

This is my simple hack on it, RL26 is slower like 25, but fits in a case like 22, makes the same speeds as 25 does. I have basically moved away from 22 and 25 mostly and used 26 in both places. It is EXCELLENT for speed in about anything 22 or 25 was used in previously. It might not be an accuracy king in one spot or another, but I have found it to be excellent in most every instance I have tried it.

7 Mashburn Super
270 Win
280 Rem
7 WSM
270 WSM
338 Win Mag
6.5 Creed
6.5 Swede
6 CM
300 Win
300 Wby
300 RUM

I am probably forgetting some cartridges I have tried it in, but basically anything that H4831 or RL22 works, 26 will work as well.

RL23 has been very good in my use as well, just less overall experience with it, but its bulkier than 26 and runs about the same as 22 for speed.

I like 26 quite alot. I wished I was sitting on 20lbs, but I think I have around 9-10lbs of it and covet it.

I did not start reloading until late 2019. I bought RL 19 and 22 early 2020 before the plandemic hit, but have it seen it but once since then. I did stumble up on some RL23 1 pound of it in Dec. 2020 I bought and the last June a store here had one 8lb and 2 1 lb bottles of RL26. They said I could buy 2 1 lb bottles or the 1 8 lb bottle but not both. Not having used it previously, I bought the 2 1 lb bottles, big mistake! I haven’t seen it since then and three other dealers near me say they haven’t been able to order anything Alliant RElaoder 15-33 for 2.5 years now. Since we can’t get it shipped to us here in Alaska to our house, I guess I sit and wait until I get lucky and find it again.

23 is the next one I'm going to try.

I’ve been using RL26 in a 7STW and 270WSM with great success. I’m working on loads in 340WBY and 30-06 now.

I load a lot of Reloader 22 in my 7mags.When I tried Reloader 26,it was easy.With 150gr bullets,I load 67.5grs of Reloader 22.I increased my charge 1.5grs to 69.0grs with Reloader 26 and I had a good load.With 160gr bullets,I load 66.0grs of Reloader 22.I increased my charge 1.5grs to 67.5grs with Reloader 26 and I had a good load.Reloader 26 works great in my 30-06 rifles.I use 63.5grs with 180gr bullets and 61.0grs with 200gr bullets.I haven't played with it too much in other rifles because I only have about 1.5lbs,so I've been saving it until I can get an 8lb.Reloader 26 is a heavy powder by volume so you can put a lot of grains in a case.

I haven't shot my 7STW in a few years.I'm loading 77.0grs of Reloader 22 with a 160gr Accubond.I figured 78.5grs of Reloader 26 should work good in it.

One thing not mentioned yet is that RL19,RL22,RL25 are made in Sweden for Alliant powder

RL23,RL26,RL33 are made in Switzerland for Alliant powder and they have different characteristics from each other..........For decades people have claimed how temp sensitive RL19,RL22,RL25 are.................in reality they are not as bad as people claim, the big problem with these powders is lot to lot variation. if one of these powders work for you buy 5,10,15,20 pounds of it.

RL23,RL26,RL33 don't have these issues (although Mule Deer claims RL26 is temp sensitive but I have not noticed it myself)...........one thing that kinda bugs me is their numbering system, you would think by their numbers that RL26 would be a slower burn rate than RL25 but it's not, it is somewhere between RL22 and RL25

so in reality, RL 26 should be called RL 24, since its faster than RL 25, but RL 23 designation was already used...

but then now they have RL 15.5.... so RL 23.75 would also be available within their numbering system...