Post by Richard on Jun 9, 2022 13:19:21 GMT -5
So, I have been doing quite a bit of shooting with a CF varmint rifle I converted from .17 MK 4 to a Remington .223. I had a lonely Lilja .224 barrel laying around for the past ten years. It's a 14" twist HV taper that's never been chambered. I figured the .17 might be a PIA to sell one day when I kick the bucket, so decided to put the Lilja on in a caliber that would be easy to sell. So, I rented a reamer and did my barrel and one for my buddy at the same time.
The point here is, that I am playing with a lot of powders I have on hand. My bullets of choice in this 1-14 are the 53 gr. Sierra Match King and the 55 gr. Berger flat base match. None of the ball powders give me the accuracy I am getting with extruded powders and the best of the bunch so far, are Benchmark and IMR 8208. Not surprisingly, both these powder work excellent in our SML's, particularly with the 300 gr. bullets. What I have found was loading both powders side by side in the same amount with the same bullet, the results are about IDENTICAL! Really! both accuracy and velocity so this morning I got to looking at both powders to do a comparison. #1.....The both throw from my Harrell's powder measure extremely accurate. I use the same micrometer setting for both powders to throw the same weight charge. I then measured the sticks of powder and found they are both identical. The length of the sticks in both powders measure from .040" to .050". Their diameters are both the same at .025". This explained why they both work at the same setting. For all intents and purposes, I could literally mix the two and still get the same results. (these are charges in and around 26 gr.)
I then looked back thru my records and found both powders used with 300 gr. XTP's and AeroMax's at 93 gr. and they both delivered around 3040 fps with similar accuracy! So, if your looking for say......Benchmark and its out of stock, but they have 8208? Don't hesitate to buy it as the results are identical!
The point here is, that I am playing with a lot of powders I have on hand. My bullets of choice in this 1-14 are the 53 gr. Sierra Match King and the 55 gr. Berger flat base match. None of the ball powders give me the accuracy I am getting with extruded powders and the best of the bunch so far, are Benchmark and IMR 8208. Not surprisingly, both these powder work excellent in our SML's, particularly with the 300 gr. bullets. What I have found was loading both powders side by side in the same amount with the same bullet, the results are about IDENTICAL! Really! both accuracy and velocity so this morning I got to looking at both powders to do a comparison. #1.....The both throw from my Harrell's powder measure extremely accurate. I use the same micrometer setting for both powders to throw the same weight charge. I then measured the sticks of powder and found they are both identical. The length of the sticks in both powders measure from .040" to .050". Their diameters are both the same at .025". This explained why they both work at the same setting. For all intents and purposes, I could literally mix the two and still get the same results. (these are charges in and around 26 gr.)
I then looked back thru my records and found both powders used with 300 gr. XTP's and AeroMax's at 93 gr. and they both delivered around 3040 fps with similar accuracy! So, if your looking for say......Benchmark and its out of stock, but they have 8208? Don't hesitate to buy it as the results are identical!
