Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Mule deer temp. sensitive powder

Hey John , I have a 300 win mag. I load 180 Nosler partions over a heathy charge of RL22 . I recently chono the load and was surprised by the velocity spread it was close to 80 fps . 3124 high 3043 low . the 2nd time was 3020 to 3080 . One day was in the teens one was in the 50's if I remember right . I hunt mostly in Saskatchawen so I'm intrested in a more temp tolerant powder . This gun has always shot most anything I put through it so I'm sure any powder will work . I have H1000 & H4831 on hand . I was wondering which will be better in the bitter cold of Canada or if you know of a better powder . I fooled a bit with powders in my 338 Win Mag. and found IMR4831 and IMR 4350 were very consistant and RL19 gave me a pretty wide spread. I had a load near Max. in Nosler Manual with H4831 and a 200 gr nosler BT . I was shocked by the ( your term ) HO HO HO numbers all shots were between 2690 to 2700 26 " barrel. I thought it would be close to 3000. I ran a simular load with 210 Nos. part. and IMR 4831 it clocked 3000 to 3024. I'd like to use the H4831 in the 338 if I could I read where you sometimes use the chrono and watch the velocity to help check preasure . Have you ever seen the velocity off that far ?? Thanks....Karl

P.S. I was in your neck of the woods this fall . Sounds like I was the only one who didn't see your 8mm-06 in Capitol Sports. I did arrow one of your Elk though . 10th day of hunting , a nice 5x4 I couldn't have been happier . Started in the Breaks , everyone should drive the roads of the breaks after a 3 hour down pour . Most exciting . I don't think I'm going to have to worry about social security that took 10 years off my life. We ended up in the Helena - Linclon area . Located a big herd bull but settled for the sattilite with time winding down .

Either H1000 or H4831 should be good in the .300 Win. Both are Hogdon Extreme powders, which hold up very well in the cold. I would probably try H4831 first, as it has always been a go-to powder for 180's in the .300 Win.

I have seen slower powders give velocities all over the place with 200/210 bullets in the .338, often varying considerably from published data. Lately I have been using Reloder 15 with the 200 Ballistic Tip and getting 2950 with Nosler's listed max load in a 22" barrel. R15 is also a temp-insensitive powder, unlike R19 and R22, because of its use by the U.S. military.

Congrats on your elk! Yes, indeed, the Missouri Breaks can get exciting when wet. I have almost broken my neck there several times even when hiking around too soon after some precipitation.

Good hunting,
JB

I can vouch for Mule Deer's 200 Ballistic Tip/RL-15 load in the .338 Win. Mag. Haven't shot any critters with it but it's a genuine 3/4 MOA load in my rifle (with a 4x scope). Goes a little under 2950 in mine but big deal. Accuracy is a little better with Federal 210M primers than with magnums.

I can also vouch (slightly) for the mud in that part of the world -- in October my wife and I waded across the Little Missouri in N. Dakota to see the Theodore Roosevelt ranch site, and she still hasn't gotten the mud stains off her Schnees.

Thanks John . The work you do in Rifle and Handloader is the best source of non-BS info available . Its refreshing to see things technically and scientificlly explain and proven with an open mind. I would love to see it put togather in a book. Karl

Karl--

Thanks very much. As a matter of fact I have just started collecting some of my articles from HANDLOADER and RIFLE to be put into book form. Don't know exactly how soon it will happen, but will let you know when it does.

JB

DAMN!! I just mentioned this on another thread, and it is already in the works. COOL!!

Steve

Mule Deer
I'd like to do a trade......maybe a good load for a 9.3X62 using BigGame for the book ? <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> What ya think ? <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />
Charlie