Staball Powder

[J E Custom]

I recently bought some of this powder to see if it would improve the heat sensitivity of the powders I hunt with in Texas, Average temperatures during hunting season here is 25o F to 65o F and loads were worked up around 50o F. cartridges are the 260 Rem and the 7/08 Rem.

Fastest powder at SAMMI pressures has been Varget, Most accurate has been H 414. H 414 does not work @ temps over 90o F because pressures exceed SAMMI recommendations due to it's heat Insensitivity.

I was hoping that the Staball would cure this and still give good accuracy. The Video did not show this unfortunately so I will have to find out for my self. My intent is to duplicate the test In my rifles at hunting temperatures and Off season Highs (90o +). I see no reason the heat my ammo above ambient temp up to 100o F, so my test will/should be real world test. And use the low average ( 40 o to 50 o F For the cold temperatures).

H 4350 did well in the video but I cant get the accuracy I do with H 414 so it has been my back up powder.

Any experience with this powder that could be shared would be greatly appreciated.

.

J E CUSTOM

 

[ntg]

Cool, and thanks in advance! Looking forward to what you find. I just got some and plan to try it in my 7-08 first. I'd like to see it work great there, but probably won't get to fully work it until after my fall hunts.

 

[Seabeeken]

Never tried the Staball but ball powders and double base powders in general are quite temp sensitive. During testing in my 243ai using H-414 I got HUGE pressure spikes and loads were just too unpredictable so I scrapped it and havent used it since. Another powder you might want to try is Reloder 16. My 243ai, 250ai, and 7x57ai's love the stuff. Very accurate, very temp stable, and a decoppering agent has kept my copper fouling with barnes bullets to near zero. Lastly, it gives high velocities at low pressures. The only down side was getting enough into a case to max it out. Never tried it in 308 , 260, or 7-08 though. Reloder 26 is driving 100 gr TSX to over 3300 in my 257ai with no pressure signs.
I've found Ramshot Hunter and Big Game to be good in temp swings for ball powders.

 

[ntg]

My current 7-08 load is with RL16. I've got a 140 going at approx 2850, not quite max recommended. It's about a 3/4" shooter that happened with very little tweaking. It'll probably get tighter once I play with it more. As is, it's fine for the hunting I do with that rifle.

 

[Seabeeken]

I've had the same results. RL-16 seems to work well in any application where 4350 works. Good luck on your hunts this year

 

[JoeMan04]

I have a couple pounds that I tried in a 6.5 CM earlier this year when H4350 was no where to be seen. Admittedly not the most experienced guy here but could not get it to perform w/Hornady, Nosler, Sierras, or Bergers. The ES & SD were all over the board and groupings were outside of what I know the rifle can do. I'm probably going to offer it up locally to see if anyone can use it that has had better luck than myself.

 

[Seabeeken]

Interesting. I get accuracy under .5 and single digit numbers in my 250ai which is similar to the CM. Hard to beat H4350 in CM anyway. My son has a 6.5CM and his shoots .1 with RL-16. Every rifle has its own personality.

 

[JoeMan04]

Need to try RL16, been very impressed with their other offerings (17, 19, 22, 23).

 

[Tac-O]

I've shot several pounds of staball through my '06 with 150gr Sierra prohunters. Those bullets are probably a little too light for that powder in an '06. But, I was getting pretty good accuracy with a near max charge and a speed of around 3025 with decent ES. So if it weren't a slow Tikka barrel, it would probably be faster. And the speed gains with a heavier bullet would probably be better.

I didn't do any temperature sensitivity testing though.

 

[rockwallraider]

i am playing with it right now in a 260 tac a1. the tikka barrel is not going to be on there long as it is slow but my sd's been awesome with staball. shooting it at 2750 and have been fairly consistent from 80 to 96 degrees.

 

[ButterBean]

I tried StaBall in a 300WSM, 270, 243 and 22-250, and 7STW tried it in 7-08, advertised velocity's are unreachable ( Not even close ), when you get close to max loads .2 grains is the difference from safe to can't lift the bolt, I can tell what it will work for is starting a fire, I burned mine so i wouldn't even think of trying it again, Just my 2 pennies worth
P.S It burns real pretty

 

[bomberodevil]

It's weird, I've never seen anyone post up that StaBall 6.5 worked great for them. I tried it in load development in a 6.5 CM, a .270 Win, and a 30.06. It was decent, all three rifles shot it below 1 moa, but it was always 3-4 behind, lagging H4350, H4831 or IMR 4350. Worked okay, but not great. That seems to be the consensus every time it pops up.

 

[ButterBean]

It's weird, I've never seen anyone post up that StaBall 6.5 worked great for them. I tried it in load development in a 6.5 CM, a .270 Win, and a 30.06. It was decent, all three rifles shot it below 1 moa, but it was always 3-4 behind, lagging H4350, H4831 or IMR 4350. Worked okay, but not great. That seems to be the consensus every time it pops up.

IMHO I think they were trying to make some money off of the 6.5 C*******r crowd, No disrespect intended

 

[bomberodevil]

IMHO I think they were trying to make some money off of the 6.5 C*******r crowd, No disrespect intended

You'd think it would work well in someone's setup, it just seems like it's always 3rd or 4th best.