Well now I have been a reloader for all of maybe 1 week. I have fired sixteen rounds of .30-06 with the Reloder 19 propellant, a stick powder. I now also have some Winchester 748 to try, a ball powder. They look totally different, Re-19 comes in big old chunks like pencil lead, 748 is little round pellets...but they can both send a bullet down the barrel.
I'm a gearhead...I like to learn the minutiae of my hobbies and how each component works. I'm told that ball powders tend to burn less consistently...note the Hodgdon "Extreme" line of stick powders that may meter less easily but are supposed to be the best for consistent performance in extreme conditions.
I had an interesting performance at the range last Sat. morning. It was maybe 10:30 am when I started, already pretty hot in the 90s. I find the '06 challenging to shoot under the best conditions, let alone a Texas summer day. I had 2 Partitions land right beside each other, propelled by 58.5 grains of Re-19...then pulled the third shot low. Son of a b*tch! My last group, 59 grains/150 NPT, went into a 1.25" triangle. I'm excited about what this powder can do, but is it really better than a ball powder for extreme temperatures and uniform performance?
I'm a gearhead...I like to learn the minutiae of my hobbies and how each component works. I'm told that ball powders tend to burn less consistently...note the Hodgdon "Extreme" line of stick powders that may meter less easily but are supposed to be the best for consistent performance in extreme conditions.
I had an interesting performance at the range last Sat. morning. It was maybe 10:30 am when I started, already pretty hot in the 90s. I find the '06 challenging to shoot under the best conditions, let alone a Texas summer day. I had 2 Partitions land right beside each other, propelled by 58.5 grains of Re-19...then pulled the third shot low. Son of a b*tch! My last group, 59 grains/150 NPT, went into a 1.25" triangle. I'm excited about what this powder can do, but is it really better than a ball powder for extreme temperatures and uniform performance?