28 Nosler / ADI AR2218

Before the brow beatings begin let me just say; I'm asking a question and have no opinion at this point.
I've recently drank the 28 Nosler cool aid and feeling a bit guilty because I'm an STW fan. With that I've done a fair bit of research on the 28 Nosler and it seem most folks are running RE33 to push the big berger 195s.
My question is has anyone tried the ADI AR2218 powder? Looking at quickload it appears AR2218 could offer superior performance over RE33. Yes I know quickload is simply a simulation model and may not align with actual testing; but I can say from experience quickload has been very close to my actual results when testing loads.

According to the quickload model ADI AR2218 running at the exact same case and bullet specs and matching the same pressures it appears ADI AR2218 is a strong 100 fps faster than RE33. I'm not that interested in running the 195 Bergers at 3,168 fps as I am interested in running them at 3,057 (as the RE33 load) but at much reduced pressures.

Yes I know some will say 50BMG is the Hodgdon equivalent to ADI AR2218 but that is not what the quickload data shows.

I have not received my long throated 28 Nosler yet so I cannot do actual testing at this time. Mainly wondering if anyone on this site has already been down this road and has first hand experience.

Not a single bite......

Alaska2006 said:

Not a single bite......

Click to expand...

I'm in with you also. My beloved 7STW barrel is done and I was in between on another 7STW or a 28 Nosler? I chose to drink the Nosler Kool-Aid, why the hell not?! Only waiting for one more piece, the new barrel(Monday), and let the development begin!
I got Nosler brass, a new 8#'s of Retmbo, 180 VLDH and 180 ELDM to start with. Using my lengthened 110 action and the shorter 28 Nos cartridge, should be interesting to see what the velocity potential could yield, depending on throat length...

Alaska2006 said:

Before the brow beatings begin let me just say; I'm asking a question and have no opinion at this point.
I've recently drank the 28 Nosler cool aid and feeling a bit guilty because I'm an STW fan. With that I've done a fair bit of research on the 28 Nosler and it seem most folks are running RE33 to push the big berger 195s.
My question is has anyone tried the ADI AR2218 powder? Looking at quickload it appears AR2218 could offer superior performance over RE33. Yes I know quickload is simply a simulation model and may not align with actual testing; but I can say from experience quickload has been very close to my actual results when testing loads.

According to the quickload model ADI AR2218 running at the exact same case and bullet specs and matching the same pressures it appears ADI AR2218 is a strong 100 fps faster than RE33. I'm not that interested in running the 195 Bergers at 3,168 fps as I am interested in running them at 3,057 (as the RE33 load) but at much reduced pressures.

Yes I know some will say 50BMG is the Hodgdon equivalent to ADI AR2218 but that is not what the quickload data shows.

I have not received my long throated 28 Nosler yet so I cannot do actual testing at this time. Mainly wondering if anyone on this site has already been down this road and has first hand experience.

Click to expand...

Did you end up trying this? I have this powder and was contemplating using this but can't find data?

Alaska2006 said:

Before the brow beatings begin let me just say; I'm asking a question and have no opinion at this point.
I've recently drank the 28 Nosler cool aid and feeling a bit guilty because I'm an STW fan. With that I've done a fair bit of research on the 28 Nosler and it seem most folks are running RE33 to push the big berger 195s.
My question is has anyone tried the ADI AR2218 powder? Looking at quickload it appears AR2218 could offer superior performance over RE33. Yes I know quickload is simply a simulation model and may not align with actual testing; but I can say from experience quickload has been very close to my actual results when testing loads.

According to the quickload model ADI AR2218 running at the exact same case and bullet specs and matching the same pressures it appears ADI AR2218 is a strong 100 fps faster than RE33. I'm not that interested in running the 195 Bergers at 3,168 fps as I am interested in running them at 3,057 (as the RE33 load) but at much reduced pressures.

Yes I know some will say 50BMG is the Hodgdon equivalent to ADI AR2218 but that is not what the quickload data shows.

I have not received my long throated 28 Nosler yet so I cannot do actual testing at this time. Mainly wondering if anyone on this site has already been down this road and has first hand experience.

Click to expand...

Know it's an old thread but I've just built a 28nosler throated for the 195 eol Berger's and I've worked up some loads with 2218 powder here in Australia. First of all the burn rate QL uses was no where near my recorded results and needed to be lowered to match actual velocities.
I found two nodes for my 27" Krueger tube it stuck to the slower one to start with. Case capacity was also understated and my actual capacity was 101-102gn up from QLs 97n
My results were as follows:
195gn eol
87.7 gn 2218
H2O cap 101gn
27" kreiger
Col: 3.645"
2995fps av
Only running @ 52.5k psi (mild)
Next node for my barrel is
@ 3106 FPS but getting towards max
Pressure.

Regards all Muz

thanks for the update, im in melb australia and about to start loads for my 2 Gunwerks noslers i have built using 2218.

Can you keep us in the loop with the higher fps load?

I contacted ADI and they gave me the following for 180's:
2218
Start - 85.2 = 2808fps @ 53700psi
Max - 90.6 = 2968fps @ 62,600psi

they had no date for the 195's so thanks for sharing!

I'm just north of Melbourne myself. The velocity's you mention we're inbetween nodes for me and wouldnt shoot with the 195s.
89.9 grains saw very consistent velocities with 3 of 5 bang on 3048 FPS. I did start to get some flattening in a couple of primers, but by no means severe. I was only running 5thou off the lands so some more freebore would calm that down. The target I posted before was 10thou off and they shot pretty well. The Adi loads you mentioned look very conservative but there are so many variables so proceed with caution always.

Thanks mate will do. I'll post some findings once I have them all assembled.

Have you tried shooting the ELD-M's? They have a higher BC and should have slightly higher velocities too.

I have couple of hundred of both 195's and 180's be interesting to see how they go head to head.

I have a dummy 180gn eld- m set up but my smith but haven't any on hand to load. I picked up a heap of Berger eols a long time ago and will stick with them for the time being as they will double for hunting and steel.
I'm also keen to get the 197gn smks going as well as the sierras are an old favorite of mine. Will be interesting to see what works better when I start to stretch the legs on the 28. I'm sure the 180 hornadys will be a good choice and also worth a look would be the 183gn smk. Would love to see some pics of your gunworks rifles.

I'll be trying the 180 eld m on game aswell, guys in the states are using em with great success. Bergers are getting to hard to source in Australia but I have a small reserve.
I am the import agent for Gunwerks although I just set up Winchester Australia as the local distributor as they will be buying large volume to distribute through the dealer network. Still bring in barreled actions etc. have a shipment that just landed with a few 28's and 6.5 PRC's clearing customs now. Send me your email I'll shoot through some images

Email is [email protected]
Look forward to seeing some pics.
I'll send you some pics of my recent build.