School me on spherical/ ball powder. Ramshot magnum in particular.

[DJ Fergus]

I've purposely stayed away from ball powders for my whole reloading experience. I did load a few rounds of staball 6.5 in a Creedmoor but decided to go another route. I got my hands on some Ramshot magnum today.

What are the pros & cons vs extruded?
It seems messy.

The staball seemed to pressure up & show signs of pressure more abruptly than extruded powders. Can I expect the same for the Ramshot magnum?

 

[MagnumManiac]

Ball powders are an animal unto themselves.
They burn differently to extruded powder and release their energy differently.
They have nitroglycerin as their plasticiser and different deterrent coatings.
They are dense for their size because they are not perforated like extruded.
They burn cooler, release a lot of gas and are very stable…..until excessive pressure is reached.
I used to use 2 kegs of Supreme 780 every year, until it was once again omitted from sale.
I still use copious amounts of 296, 748 and 760 in numerous cartridges.
I like ball powder for it's gentleness on barrel throats, plan on using 760 in the wife's 7-08, or maybe Varget.
Definitely leaning towards 760 though.
Ramshot must be similar to Supreme 780, as it was a very good magnum ball powder and is what Winchester used in their magnum ammo line, albeit the bulk version 785.
I have no idea who makes Ramshot, but it must be St Marks or whoever took over that line.

Feel confident with ball powders, just don't exceed max pressure, it rises very quick at max pressure and beyond.

Cheers.

 

[Seabeeken]

Ramshot is made by PB Clermont in Europe and is pretty stable. I have had good accuracy with it

 

[QuietTexan]

I've used Magnum in a 300 RUM and 338 LM. Worked fine, was faster than 7828SSC at the same bullet weight. It's less efficient than the extruded powders I used in that I used more of the Magnum for the same velocity, but (I'd have to find an old notebook to be sure) the load fill % was still lower even at the higher charge weight so there was more room in the case to work with.

There's no magic or mystery in ball powders that I've seen - it's different but not in a good/bad way, just different. See the above about fill percent, ball loads to a different fill than extruded because of the shape, so it's a tool to use to change things.

 

[bpcrshooter]

was always told that ball powders were harder to ignite??? not sure in the truth to that, as I dont use them in large cases but, they work wonderfully in my pistols and 223.

 

[nealm66]

I read on western powders website when I was researching lrt that it's difficult to get the temp sensitive in ball powder compared to stick I think it was because of coating process. They had some more interesting stuff about it vs stick powder but can't remember details

 

[Veteran]

I've heard RS Magnum may be temp. Sensitive since its a ball powder. So its not going to be as temp insensitive as say Retumbo
IMR 8133, or some of those. I have found you can get a little more velocity at less pressure with Accurate Magpro vs. Ramshot Mag.
They are close though.

 

[MagnumManiac]

In quite a few of my cartridges, 760 and H4350 swap with each other from one bullet weight to another as to which one is gone be fastest.
I see the same with US869 and RE33.
If Ramshot Magnum gives you the desired ballistics and accuracy, is available and you can get a quantity large enough for the life of the barrel then I suggest you get some.

Cheers.

 

[338 dude]

I've heard RS Magnum may be temp. Sensitive since its a ball powder. So its not going to be as temp insensitive as say Retumbo
IMR 8133, or some of those. I have found you can get a little more velocity at less pressure with Accurate Magpro vs. Ramshot Mag.
They are close though.

I bought an eight pounder of accurate Mag Pro to try in a 338 lm, I ran into pressures rather quickly with lower velocities than I'm used to normally still have about seven and three-quarter pounds left

 

[338 dude]

 

[Veteran]

I bought an eight pounder of accurate Mag Pro to try in a 338 lm, I ran into pressures rather quickly with lower velocities than I'm used to normally still have about seven and three-quarter pounds left

What do you normally use in your 338 LM? Sounds like maybe something really slow like 8133 or N570. I see RL 33 there on your shelf too.

 

[338 dude]

I have tried many powders such as RL33 or H 1000 or Retumbo or N570 and of course MagPro because I have 19 pounds I've used mostly Retumbo lately. my favorite powder would be N570 when it can be had

 

[Veteran]

RL 33	0.267
US869	0.2735
N570	0.277
RSLRT	0.285
IMR 8133	0.3
N565	0.319
ACC MagPro	0.3342
RETUMBO	0.337
RL26	0.3397
RSMag	0.345
H1000	0.366

Above I have posted a number of other popular slow burning powders on a numbers basis,
H1000 being the Fastest and RL 33 being the Slowest. Batch to batch all this can vary up or down by 5-10%.

You can see Accurate Magpro and RL26 are closest in burn rate to Retumbo. But Magpro may not be temp stable, and RL26 may be but with exceptions over 95 degrees. N565 may be a good substitute as it is supposed to be temp stable. The new N568 is also temp stable and is in the right ball park. But here is all the hard data to consider.

You can get some extra velocity a lower pressure most likely with the slower powders, especially with larger heavier bullets.
So, if you were shooting RL33, N570 or 8133, you can get to some higher velocities vs Accurate Magpro. with lower pressure.
Even moreso for RS Magnum.

 

[redneckdan]

I like the Hunter powder for a 6 creedmoor with DTACs and Magnum for .25-06 The high node I use for the creedmoor is right on the border of too hot. Wet chamber or temps over 100F it will go from okay to blown pockets.