Accurate 4350: Low Velocities

[General RE LEE]

I've got 2lbs of Accurate 4350 I picked up in April brand new from Midway.
I've loaded this powder in 6.5 Creedmoor and .270.

In the 6.5 Creedmoor I barely made it to 2600 FPS in a 24" barrel Tikka with 143 grain ELD-X.

Today in a 22" barrel Tikka .270 best I could get was 2750 FPS with a 130 grain Interlock at 55.5 grains. I was right on the edge of pressure signs.

SD and ES numbers were acceptable but this powder is awful for velocity. Did I get a bad batch?

 

[P7M13]

What velocities do you get from other powders?
Hiw many rounds have been shot through the barrels?
Can't say the powder is badness you have a comparison.

 

[General RE LEE]

What velocities do you get from other powders?
Hiw many rounds have been shot through the barrels?
Can't say the powder is badness you have a comparison.

H4350 I get 2700 FPS with 143 grain ELD-X About 100 FPS faster.

 

[Veteran]

Accurate 4350 is nowhere close to H4350. That's your problem. IMR 4350 and H4350 are almost identical.

But H4350 is a burn rate of about .51 compared to way slow Accurate 4350 at .38 ish

Accurate 4350 is not at all in the same burn rate class as IMR 4350 and H4350

 

[Archer357]

Accurate 4350 is all I could find 3 or 4 months ago. Getting 2515 FPS out of my 6.5 creedmoor with Hornady 140 BTHP match. Getting good groups. Just putting holes in paper. Can not remember what powder load.

 

[Veteran]

Yep, I understand you have to shoot whatever can be got. But it seems pretty obvious with a slower burn powder in Accurate 4350 you just wont get those velocities you were seeing w faster burning H4350.

Especially not in shorter barrels where you have to have that fast burn rate to get the velocity before the bullet leaves the barrel.

Maybe if you were shooting 28" barrels the difference wouldnt show up as much but w 22 to 24 inches and a slow powder, your not getting the full energy outta that powder before the bullet already went adios.

 

[General RE LEE]

Yep, I understand you have to shoot whatever can be got. But it seems pretty obvious with a slower burn powder in Accurate 4350 you just wont get those velocities you were seeing w faster burning H4350.

Especially not in shorter barrels where you have to have that fast burn rate to get the velocity before the bullet leaves the barrel.

Maybe if you were shooting 28" barrels the difference wouldnt show up as much but w 22 to 24 inches and a slow powder, your not getting the full energy outta that powder before the bullet already went adios.

Maybe I'm missing something here but Accurate 4350 is supposed to be in the 4350 burn range and is listed for 6.5 Creedmoor, .30 06, .270, etc. All the burn charts I've seen, Accurate 4350 is close to H4350.

 

[Veteran]

Those burn rate charts are relative and qualitative but not quantitative at all. Yes, it shows Accurate 4350 as slower than IMR 4350 and H4350, both if which have a quantitative burn rate of about 0.51

But Accurate 4350 has a numerical burn rate of only about 0.38

That's about a 25% difference......that's a lot slower...

I really dont like those burn rate charts that much... I have even seen examples of where powders are reversed in one chart vs. another chart..... they are really only a very gross cut at trying to rank powders from fast to slow.

When specific lots of a given powder can even vary from 5 to 10%, I guess its no wonder one chart can show a different order from another one.

The charts are somewhat useful, but what your rifles and velocities told you is the truth. Those charts
are not to be relied on as much as the actual performance data.

 

[General RE LEE]

Those burn rate charts are relative and qualitative but not quantitative at all. Yes, it shows Accurate 4350 as slower than IMR 4350 and H4350, both if which have a quantitative burn rate of about 0.51

But Accurate 4350 has a numerical burn rate of only about 0.38

That's about a 25% difference......that's a lot slower...

I really dont like those burn rate charts that much... I have even seen examples of where powders are reversed in one chart vs. another chart..... they are really only a very gross cut at trying to rank powders from fast to slow.

When specific lots of a given powder can even vary from 5 to 10%, I guess its no wonder one chart can show a different order from another one.

The charts are somewhat useful, but what your rifles and velocities told you is the truth. Those charts
are not to be relied on as much as the actual performance data.

Well that stinks. A4350 advertised like another "4350" but it's too slow I guess. SD and ES numbers along with accuracy were good.

I might try IMR4451 in the 270.

 

[Veteran]

Theres a ton of IMR 4350 for sale right now. Its supposed to be good substitute for H4350. Maybe thise who are using it can say?

 

[QuietTexan]

In the 6.5 Creedmoor I barely made it to 2600 FPS in a 24" barrel Tikka with 143 grain ELD-X.

Theres a ton of IMR 4350 for sale right now. Its supposed to be good substitute for H4350. Maybe thise who are using it can say?

I think IMR 4350 would be significantly better. So would Hybrid 100V, or even Ramshot Hunter. Ramshot is dropping a lot of powder lately, I got another pound of Hunter from Powder Valley today along with full 8# kegs of LRT and H100V. IMR 4350 was up also.

6.5 Creedmoor, 22" barrel, Hornady 143 ELD-X, IMR 4350, 39.0gn got me 2560fps. That was very mild and was actually where I started for the first loads shot from the rifle. Started at 2418 and settled in at 2560 ~100 rounds later. I stayed there because it shot fine and was used for culling whitetail at 100 yards or closer, no need to burn up components finding anything faster.

Hybrid 100V is marked a few steps slower on the chart (for what that's worth), but got up over 2750fps with the 140gn ELD-M in a 6.5CM, 24" barrel.

Ramshot Hunter is again a few more steps slower than 100V, and it got clocked pushing Barnes 140 Match Burners at 2842fps from a 6.5CM, 24" barrel, CCI 450. I got very uncomfortable with this load, left a fairly clear ejector ring on ~50% of the cases while turning in a 10-shot 9.9 SD in 95°+ weather (that shot string was were the 2842 average came from). I thought that was impressive for a ball powder that hot, but the variable pressure signs were odd and didn't correlate between FPS and signs. Shot that load out to 1200 yards, drops were pretty much right on in my AB app.

A4350 hasn't been on my list to buy, but if I can score 2# I'll try to run a 140 or 143 over it and see what happens.

 

[mtbullet1]

had same result with a4350 in 6mm creed, used lee crimp die and picked up 32fps

 

[Veteran]

Makes sense, a powder that's a bit slow for caliber or bullet would benefit from more crimp, and more time for the slower burn
to get up some steam and send it.

 

[Longcruise]

I had good results in win 270 with RL 19

Im surprised at the A4350 results!