Reloader 26 temp sensitivity

[Idaho Trecker]

I havent seen much on the temp sensitivity of this powder and I have been using it for a year or more so decided to finally do some initial testing today. My personal experience hasnt shown much change but I havent got real numbers until today.

My test round was 6.5 Creedmoor in ruger american predator with the 143 ELD-X. I put 3 rounds in the freezer and set 3 rounds on the deck in the shade for 30 min before shooting to get to ambient temp. I had an error on one of my 3 rounds of frozen ammo so didnt get speed from my magnetospeed. Not sure about the big ES but it was only 2 rounds I got readings from.

At 12 degree F I got 2874 and 2856 fps for average of 2865 fps
at 64 degree F I got 2840, 2846, and 2854 fps with 2847 fps avg

This give me a .35 fps/degree change which I think is pretty good.
I'll do some more testing later and with some different cartridges.

Just thought I'd share.

 

[red dawg]

If you shot those rounds that were at 64 degree's first in a fresh barrel, I wonder if your test would change?

 

[Idaho Trecker]

Not sure but I certainly can try that out next time out and see if it changes anything. I dont think it would but who knows. The number I came up with seems to confirm the negligible changes i've seen in POI since using it over the last year.

 

[elkaholic]

Thanks for the data Ryan. I am not too surprised about the minimal difference based on my seat of the pants shooting last fall. It IS a little surprising that the velocity was a little higher with the colder rounds, but RL33 tends to do that when it gets really cold. It also could be that reversing the firing order, as someone mentioned, might change that? Anyway, keep testing.......Rich

 

[engineer40]

Thanks for posting your testing with RL26. I was planning on picking up some soon to start trying.

I was also surprised to see the colder ammo produced higher velocities.

 

[Doublezranch]

This data is excellent and spot on. I shoot 26 in my 375 Rum with excellent stability and accuracy. Since 26 is what I call a in between powder (in between fast and slow) I wish I could find more of my rifles to shoot it. Velocities are wonderful, accuracy seems to suffer. I will say this, the only thing 26 and 33 have in common, is that they came on the market at the same time. 26 is stable as can be...were as 33 can go critical very, very fast.

Jayson

 

[Idaho Trecker]

This data is excellent and spot on. I shoot 26 in my 375 Rum with excellent stability and accuracy. Since 26 is what I call a in between powder (in between fast and slow) I wish I could find more of my rifles to shoot it. Velocities are wonderful, accuracy seems to suffer. I will say this, the only thing 26 and 33 have in common, is that they came on the market at the same time. 26 is stable as can be...were as 33 can go critical very, very fast.

Jayson

I will have to agree with you on the speed with this powder it sure is a speed demon!!! I have been pretty lucky with this powder in regards to finding accuracy with it too. I feel I can run it in all of my rifles from my 6mm AI to 338 Edge. The only reason I have not tried it in my 300 Dakota or edge is the fact I have a good load with other powders already. There is no doubt I could find a load for them also.

 

[WEATHERBY460]

How has it for sale.....I cant find it anyplace.

 

[elkaholic]

How has it for sale.....I cant find it anyplace.

try bullets.com

 

[Okanogan]

Powder Valley has it in stock in 1 lb containers. Also have RL23. Always like to do business with PV as they have a history of not jacking prices.

 

[Idaho Trecker]

+1 on Powdervalley

 

[engineer40]

I just called my local guy who sells reloading supplies out of closet. I'm happy to hear he has a few pounds of it.

 

[Buckammo]

I really wish my results for R-26 had been as promising. My cartridge is the .270-7mm Rem Mag. My load was Fed. 215 primer, 65 grs R-26, 170gr. Berger EOL. This is a moderate load with a very wide node. I was really looking forward to using it this season. Unfortunately, upon putting the rifle and ammo in the deep freeze over night (-8F to -12F), three rounds averaged a ΔV/T of over 8fps/°F. I was so astounded, I repeated the entire experiment two more times. The initial results were verified except that in the third trial, there was a fail-to-fire.
John

 

[dwm]

For what it's worth, this is the manufacturer's published data...

From accurateshooter.com:

Speed and More Speed with RL 26
Think of Reloder 26 as a high-velocity powder for big cartridges. Furrier explains: "Reloder 26 is produced with Nitrochemie's latest generation EI® process technology. This is the same impregnation coating process used to produce Reloder 17, Reloder 33, and Reloder 50 for us, and it is fantastic. The "so what" on Reloder 26 is great ballistic efficiency, high bulk density so you can get more of the slow powder into the case to harness the energy, and decent, predictable extreme temp response. Reloder 26 is not as flat at temps as the TZ or Australian materials, but it is very manageable, usually in the 0.5 fps/°F range (depending on the application). Just as important, the pressure increases at hot are very manageable. We are using quite a bit of this powder in our Federal factory ammo due to the fantastic ballistics and accuracy.