Hornady Superformance

[RockyMtnMT]

http://www.hornady.com/assets/files/superformance-technology.pdf

This is a link to an article on Hornady's new ammo.
Worth the read. I want to know if any of you have any idea what they are using for powder? Do you think we will be able to get a hold of it? I find it hard to believe that Hornady is the only ones that know about this powder. We have seen this in the TC-30 ammo. We could not reproduce the same velocities as the factory ammo. And it shot exceptional, hold 1/2 moa as far as you can shoot. Factory rifle and ammo.

Any way, I would like to hear some input from you all.

Steve

 

[Chas1]

Interesting read but, I've got to admit I don't have a clue what powder they are using.

 

[winmag]

It was rumored a couple yrs ago that Hornady came out with a ''super-powder'' that, for safety reasons, wasnt offered to the public.(Thier reasoning was rumored to be simmilar to Winchester's reason for not sharing ''recipits'' when smokeless powders hit the scene, that Win was loading,and offering for sale to the public. Safety and $$$ dollar signs) Ive hered rumors ranging from part nitro-glicerine to magnesium of all things hahahaha.
Who knows what thier using, I just want to get a few years of hand loading under my belt before I attempt getting my hands on something that cool. Its unfortunate that its not yet offered(to my knowledge anyway) to the loaders who cuold really bennifit from it and share safe load data,like alot of members of this site (L/R/H) so members like me could learn from them.
..........RUMORS SUCK.........haha

 

[Oliveralan]

Someone has got to know someone who can analize the powder to figure out burn rate, explosion temp, and show what the pressure curve looks like. Just read about it aswell in my honady magazine. Interesting stuff... Sounds like RL17-2

 

[Overkill338]

Interesting read but, I've got to admit I don't have a clue what powder they are using.

They use powders known only to them. Some are blends.

 

[J E Custom]

They use powders known only to them. Some are blends.

+1 In order to out perform other manufactures they have powder manufactures blend and
even change the burn rates of existing powders to acheave more velocity and then will not
let the the powder manufacture sell it (Propietary).

This is the reason it is hard to match the velocities of some factory ammo.

But the re loader can still produce better ammo so 50 ft/sec more velocity is not all that
important.

J E CUSTOM

 

[RockyMtnMT]

They are claiming more than just speed. They are claiming less pressure and significantly less muzzle blast producing less turbulence around the bullet on exit from the muzzle. Resulting in better accuracy, and a more complete burn.

Seems like we are being teased.

Steve

 

[J E Custom]

They are claiming more than just speed. They are claiming less pressure and significantly less muzzle blast producing less turbulence around the bullet on exit from the muzzle. Resulting in better accuracy, and a more complete burn.

Seems like we are being teased.

Steve

Claiming is the key word. Lots of people will try it and then probably go back to what they
were using/doing.

Hornady makes good products but there is no silver bullet for every rifle that's why we load
test for each rifle if we want to find it's potential.

In over 50 years of shooting I have only owned 2 rifles that shot factory ammo well enough
That I didn't need to load ammo for them.

and one was a 7 RM and it liked the Hornady custom ammo best.

J E CUSTOM

 

[RockyMtnMT]

Claiming is the key word. Lots of people will try it and then probably go back to what they
were using/doing.

Hornady makes good products but there is no silver bullet for every rifle that's why we load
test for each rifle if we want to find it's potential.

In over 50 years of shooting I have only owned 2 rifles that shot factory ammo well enough
That I didn't need to load ammo for them.

and one was a 7 RM and it liked the Hornady custom ammo best.

J E CUSTOM

You obviously carry a heavy dose of scepticism. The only reason I can see that they do not let the re loaders use it, is that we will discover that it does not do all that is claimed. Beyond that I see no reason not to increase sales.

Steve

 

[Shortmagman]

I had read so much about the Hornady Superformance ammo that I had to buy some and give them a try in one of my rifles, so I bought a box of 280 Rem. loaded with the 139 grain GMX bullets. I was able to shoot them in my Rem 700 CDL with a 24 inch barrel. On the box Hornady gave the velocity as 3070 ft/sec. and my three shots averaged 3064 ft/sec shot over my CD Mellinium Chronograph. I was quite pleased that they matched the stated velocity but just a couple of problems. First the three shots did not shoot a great group(1.5+) and second I have loaded 140 grain Barnes TSX bullets over RL-22 powder at 3100 ft/sec.. Of course I do not know what pressure my load produced but my TSX load was under .75 inches for three shots. So I think if you hand load the 280 Rem the Hornady factory load does not offer a great deal. However, if you buy factory ammo, the Hornady load should give greater velocity than the average 280 Rem factory load.

 

[J E Custom]

You obviously carry a heavy dose of scepticism. The only reason I can see that they do not let the re loaders use it, is that we will discover that it does not do all that is claimed. Beyond that I see no reason not to increase sales.

Steve

Yes I am sceptical !
Because I have seen and tried a lot of the Best brass, best bullets, best powder, best primers,
and they ended up no better than anything else on the market just higher priced and mostly
sales hype.

I think new products are important and any improvement is good but to make claims that
there ammo is faster,more accurate and has less pressure is very hard to believe.

And as to the re loader all ammo manufactures would rather we did not reload so they could control prices. most test under controled conditions that will enhance the performance of
there product and thus the sales.

I would love to be wrong but I will wait and see. A lot of the re loading components have improved over the years and that is because of the re loaders demanding better components
and in order to stay competitive.

I remember when Federal came out with premium bullets in there ammo.It became the
ammo to shoot if you didn't re load. after sales skyrocketed everyone else started loading
premium ammo with custom bullets.

Competition is great and the truth will come out in the long run.

Sorry I sounded negative I just don't claims until they are proven.

J E CUSTOM

 

[RockyMtnMT]

Don't worry about being negative. It doesnt bother me. Hornady is claiming to have a better ammo than everyone else because they have developed better powder than previously on the market. If this powder is functionally better than powders of old technology, you would think that they would want to sell it in their ammo and stand alone. It will be a rare instance that a hand loader will purchase factory loaded ammo rather than load his own. My simple mind says that they do not want to let the powder out to the hand loading community for fear that it will not measure up to the claims that they have made. I just don't see how selling it to the hand loaders will cut into their ammo sales, unless it is less than they say it is.

Steve

 

[RockyMtnMT]

Maybe I am being too rough. Perhaps they just have not gotten together the packaging and what not in order to market it on it's own.

Steve

 

[Pdvdh]

Safe bet that Hornady will do whatever they feel yields the greatest profit with the least risk. How that works in the case of any special powder blended factory ammo - probably only the Hornady executives know.

I believe Federal has done the same thing with their Premium High Energy factory ammo. It seems to be directed towards getting the edge in factory ammo sales. If they can send their factory loads a little faster than the competition, up go their sales.

The bigger question is why aren't one or more of the major powder manufacturer's, like Hodgdon, Alliant, etc, who primarily or solely manufacture and sell gun powder - making similar blends available. Those are the outfits that should be taking the lead on innovative powder blends, even if they didn't come up with the concept on their own. One or more of them must already be making any 'special' powders for Hornady and Federal. So what's keeping them from developing their own super duper powders and adding them to their currently existing line of products. Their must be something we don't know, because if there's easy money to be made, one of these outfits would certainly get with it and do it.