Low bullet weight causing dirty burn of staball powder?

[redneckdan]

Cleaned up the burn with the staball? I actually just bought some Winchester primers to try since they're hotter. I have been wondering about trying magnum too, since my other good charge is 62.4

Yes, winchester magnums cleaned up the burn and also tightened up the velocities.

I switched over to ramshot hunter for slightly better metering.

 

[pacowboy]

Looks like you are in the right ballpark to me. Not sure what you can do for this powder and the soot/dirty cases. Maybe different primers for better ignition and burn. You have some wiggle room to go up in load also.

QUOTE="Ryan Tockstein, post: 1914676, member: 109994"]
I've been using staball 6.5 in my 30-06 for a bit with 150gr bullets. For this powder, a 60.4gr charge with cci200 primers. I remember seeing a distinct difference in the amount powder residue formed when going from h4350 to this powder. The amount of patches I had to use to get it all out increased and the amount left on my case necks after firing increased.

I'm wondering if this is happening because staball is a slightly slower burner than h4350. Maybe I need a higher charge, or heavier bullet for this powder? I wonder how much the heavier bullet part matters because I use a Lee FCD on all my rounds.

BTW, they do group pretty well, but it just seems that the increased soot would mean an incomplete burn. I have no Chrono, so no clue on speeds and ES
[/QUOTE]

 

[thatguyshm]

I used a Fed215 with my initial velocity test of 150gr Partitions. Nice linear growth at a grain apart.

59 - 3001
60 - 3077
61 - 3104
62 - 3172
63 - 3246

I've found in my limited experience with this powder that mag primers are basically a must.

 

[Tac-O]

I used a Fed215 with my initial velocity test of 150gr Partitions. Nice linear growth at a grain apart.

59 - 3001
60 - 3077
61 - 3104
62 - 3172
63 - 3246

I've found in my limited experience with this powder that mag primers are basically a must.

Holy moly. Is that a 30-06 you're shooting? 3246 is smoking fast for a 150gr. What barrel length are you using? I wish I had a chrono to take a deeper look at some of my loads.

Did you see an improvement in your ES and SD with magnum primers when using staball powder?

 

[thatguyshm]

It's a 24" Christensen Classic. I will be trying around 61-61.6ish, keep it at max velocity for the powder. It seems to have a tight chamber and gets higher than max velocity with a few grains less powder. I have to use a small base die.

I haven't done much testing in regards to es/SD, I use a magnetospeed chrono and don't want to worry about a barrel weight while looking for accuracy.

 

[Lefty7mmstw]

if you want clean burning, you will have to burn a faster powder in your '06 with a 150... 4064, 4895, or rl15 type powders will be a lot better. If you want speed, a 300win will push 3300 fps with a 165 or 3150-3200 fps with a 180... If you want clean, a 30-06 or 308 tossing a 150-165 in the 2800-2900 range with mid burn rate powder is where it's at. I would also hesitate to underload a slow burning ball powder and shoot it in cold weather. You may just hang fire.

 

[Tac-O]

if you want clean burning, you will have to burn a faster powder in your '06 with a 150... 4064, 4895, or rl15 type powders will be a lot better. If you want speed, a 300win will push 3300 fps with a 165 or 3150-3200 fps with a 180... If you want clean, a 30-06 or 308 tossing a 150-165 in the 2800-2900 range with mid burn rate powder is where it's at. I would also hesitate to underload a slow burning ball powder and shoot it in cold weather. You may just hang fire.

Thanks for the info! I had been using h4350 with clean burning success but ran out. Just started trying the staball for fun and had planned to use it for 180-200gr out of my 30-06.

 

[Lefty7mmstw]

Thanks for the info! I had been using h4350 with clean burning success but ran out. Just started trying the staball for fun and had planned to use it for 180-200gr out of my 30-06.

4350 is a very good powder for 150-200 grain pills in a 30-06. I'm using i4350 with 165 hornady pills lit by a 215 in my rifle. I consider it a mid range rifle so I don't care about every fps; I just want a stable load that shoots well in all conditions. I've been shooting this load in 30-06 rifles for a quarter century... I think it'll do...

 

[Tac-O]

Here's an update. I finally got a chrono, a magneto speed sporter. I used it to measure 9 shots of my 60.4gr load I've been shooting as well as a 62.4gr load that also groups well at 100 yards. I was really surprised to see that it shifted my POI 6 inches high. It also seemed to open up the groups a fair bit. I think I need to try Winchester primers or magnum primers on the 62.4gr load! That might also help my outliers on the 60.4gr load too.

 

[Capt RB]

Goto a magnum primer with the ball powder and it looks like you have to go higher with your ladder. Using Win 780 and Accurate Magpro I had terrible es till I was at top pressure. Both shot better touching than any seating most likely because it causes the pressure to build quicker and more consistently. I don't use them because I don't like hunting rounds that touch. Magnum primers with the harder to ignite ball powders has been what we have done long before we had a crony.
Reloder the 5 series of VV powder and the enduron powders all burn rather dirty being a double based powder Ball powders are not much cleaner. If you want clean look to a single based powder like H4350. We used 4895 more often with 150's in auto loaders for this reason. I run Rl 19 in the 06 because I understand how to keep it shooting throughout the changing temps. I know .3 grains every 15degree of change from where I developed the load will keep it shooting in that node. It's not clean but it shoots well in most everything I run it in. 243/ai 6.5 creed 6mmai 06 338/06 220 swift 22-250 etc.