SD, ES, and temp stability

cohunt

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Can anyone compare their results between RE16, H4350, and varget regarding temp stability, SD, and ES?

I think at one time I saw some sort of temp stability chart but cant remember where.
Iirc, out of the 3- varget had the most tempo swing and re16 was the most stable--- but do those numbers correlate to sd and es at all?
 
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Does 1 powder tend to produce a lower sd and es spread than another? I have seen articles that point to this, not sure if anyone has proven it 1 way or another.
 
Depends on what you call acceptable. One particular powder will not necessarily produce the lowest Sd, or even acceptable accuracy in a different rifle, or even with a different bullet lot in the same rifle. I have duplicate rifle chamberings in a handful of popular ones. 6.5 Grendel, 5.56, 308, 30/06, 264 win, 30/338 win...
A particular load that yields an SD of 8 in one of my 264 win rifles produces an SD of 29 in one of my other 264 rifles and 15 in another, in the fourth rifle it had a nasty bolt lift and isn't what I would consider to be safe.
Varget works best in one of my 308 rifles with a 167 Lapua, but doesn't shoot 2 MOA in another. IMR4166 works best with a 185 berger juggernaut in that rifle and R-15 will nearly match the accuracy of the Varget load in the other rifle with the same 167 Lapua, brass and a different primer. However it isn't nearly as temperature stabile.
Once I find a load that shoots well in a particular rifle I buy enough of those components to wear it out, or last a couple of years in the rifles I shoot a high volume. I shoot some three gun matches around where I live and don't want to miss a match because I ran out of the load I use in my 5.56 or 308 and find out that a particular component is out of stock.
When I get another rifle in a particular chambering I work up to try the existing load from the other rifle, which logistically would be ideal, but it hasn't worked out for me yet. My 5.56 rifles come pretty close, and two of my 308 gas guns can run the same load at close ranges but anything beyond 300 and one of them isn't happy, and neither am I.
 
SD/ES is largely a function of the particular load, components, and barrel. Temperature stability is a function of the specific powders chemical composition. This chart that was posted a couple of years ago. It doesn't include the recent Alliant introductions. The results shown in the chart for H4350 and Varget are very close to my own experiences.
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SD is on you and your loading. For me the Varget has best temp tolerances....
so you are saying that powder/burn rate has absolutely nothing to do with sd and es?--I don't totally agree with that

I know that "exact" powder charge, neck tension, annealing, etc all play a major roll in sd and es spread --but I gotta believe that the powder itself also plays a roll in it too.

I have seen lower ES and SD in my 30-06 with RE16 than any of the other powders I have tried in that cartridge/rifle-- my reloading technique/process and brass did not change at all regardless of what powder I used (same bullet for all powders tested) ---that leads me to believe that some powders will have a smaller spread than others due to the powder itself

I was trying to see if anyone had actual recorded data on a test like this to see what others have come up with
 
so you are saying that powder/burn rate has absolutely nothing to do with sd and es?--I don't totally agree with that

I know that "exact" powder charge, neck tension, annealing, etc all play a major roll in sd and es spread --but I gotta believe that the powder itself also plays a roll in it too.

I have seen lower ES and SD in my 30-06 with RE16 than any of the other powders I have tried in that cartridge/rifle-- my reloading technique/process and brass did not change at all regardless of what powder I used (same bullet for all powders tested) ---that leads me to believe that some powders will have a smaller spread than others due to the powder itself

I was trying to see if anyone had actual recorded data on a test like this to see what others have come up with
The lower velocity spread is most likely attributed to optimizing case fill and burn rate to bullet weight within a given cartridge
 
Usually my SD is a direct result of my powder load consistency... if I use two scales to double check, I've gotten my SD to around 5 fps. This is with Varget,fireformed cases, match primers, and Sierra 175s.. I don't know what would cause it to differ unless you are starting your chrono work with a clean oiled barrel.
 
D B-- I use an electronic scale and check each one on a beam scale and add individual grains to get my charges as consistant as possible.

Maybe I'm overthinking but I know I read an article that stated some powders produce lower sd and sd spreads than others , unfortunately I cant remember where but I do remember they had no data to support the claim-- was just wondering if anyone had seen any data like that before, guess not
 
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