I had a 300 WM accurized and they shot a 3 shot .397 pattern with factory Barnes 180 gr Vortx tipped TSX cartridges. Is there any way to know what type of powder Barnes uses for this load in order to experiment with similar modified loads? thanks in advance for input?
Powder question
- Thread starter texas270
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Lefty7mmstw
Well-Known Member
nope. They don't have to use canister powders at a factory and often do not.
I would go with rl22, h4831, I7828, or h1000 and a 215 or wlrm with your load development with a 180 in the 300win. If you don't already have good reloading manuals, get a couple.. Start at the low end of their recommendations and work her up.
ShootnMathews
Well-Known Member
The bright side is, you can at least set your seating die to one of the factory loads and have the seating depth already figured out. That's half the battle already won.
Lefty7mmstw
Well-Known Member
One other thing you can do is open one up and see what the charge weight is... You should be able to see what powder speed range and type (ball or stick) they are using. You may not hit the nail on the head on what they were using but you'll often get close enough to get similar results. I was speaking with the federal rep the other day at my lgs and he said they have up to 5 different non canister powders that are approved for each load so open one of the same lot # up to check this out. Also, even though you know their top charge, the canister grade will often be a bit different so you still need to back off and work up.
