Powder Choice

[OLDVET]

I am having one of my Remington 700 short action rifles converted to 6.5 Creedmoor. The conversion will result in the rifle having a 26" Bartelin 5R barrel. The folks at Bartelin recommended H4350 as a powder that gives good performance and is easier on the barrel.
There seems to be no H4350 available anywhere in the country. Anyone ever used IMR4350?
I assume that since IMR and Hodgdon are the same company, the powders are also almost identical. The load data tables show similar chamber pressures and bullet velocity at about the same powder weight. I can find IMR4350 for sale.

 

[Dawico]

IMR4350 seems to do okay.

IMR4451 seems to be the go to choice for 6.5 CM behind H4350 but is scarce too.

There is good information out about 4895, 4064, Superformance, Varget, and any other powder suited for .308.

The 6.5CM craze has caused a shortage on all the popular powders for it.

H4350 is available if you look at the right times but is getting somewhat expensive at some places too. It is a serious victim of hoarders that need a few pounds but buy everything available.

FGMM LRPs are in the same boat along with 140gr ELD-M bullets.

 

[OLDVET]

A friend on mine manages a local reloading store. He tells me his owner just received an $85K powder order today. He said the owner was only able to get 80 pounds of H4350. Not sure if it is all 1 pound cans or if he got some 8 pound jug. My friend is holding two 1 pound cans of H4350 for me. I will be there first thing tomorrow morning.
I usually reload my rifle ammo with Winchester 748. Bartelin recommends the H4350 because it has a slower burn rate. I prefer the flaked powders over the tubular powders which don't meter as well.
I have fourteen different types of smokeless powder in my garage. One more won't make a difference.
Maybe to a fireman, if my house ever catches fire. On second thought, maybe not. The 5,500 rounds of 9mm Blazer Brass stored in my garage is probably a bigger concern.

 

[orbitup]

I've got a bigger selection of powder than some stores. I started loading when most powder was hard to come by so I've developed a habit of buying when I find anything I may be interested in.

 

[Dawico]

A friend on mine manages a local reloading store. He tells me his owner just received an $85K powder order today. He said the owner was only able to get 80 pounds of H4350. Not sure if it is all 1 pound cans or if he got some 8 pound jug. My friend is holding two 1 pound cans of H4350 for me. I will be there first thing tomorrow morning.
I usually reload my rifle ammo with Winchester 748. Bartelin recommends the H4350 because it has a slower burn rate. I prefer the flaked powders over the tubular powders which don't meter as well.
I have fourteen different types of smokeless powder in my garage. One more won't make a difference.
Maybe to a fireman, if my house ever catches fire. On second thought, maybe not. The 5,500 rounds of 9mm Blazer Brass stored in my garage is probably a bigger concern.

That 80lbs will be gone by lunchtime if anybody finds out about it.

 

[dee]

4451, varget and rl16 are all good options.

 

[Downhill]

H4350 is a great powder but don't overlook H4831sc. Run it in my 260 Remington's pushing the Lapua 6.5 123 grain scenars. Crazy accurate.

 

[Slapps74]

A friend on mine manages a local reloading store. He tells me his owner just received an $85K powder order today. He said the owner was only able to get 80 pounds of H4350. Not sure if it is all 1 pound cans or if he got some 8 pound jug. My friend is holding two 1 pound cans of H4350 for me. I will be there first thing tomorrow morning.
I usually reload my rifle ammo with Winchester 748. Bartelin recommends the H4350 because it has a slower burn rate. I prefer the flaked powders over the tubular powders which don't meter as well.
I have fourteen different types of smokeless powder in my garage. One more won't make a difference.
Maybe to a fireman, if my house ever catches fire. On second thought, maybe not. The 5,500 rounds of 9mm Blazer Brass stored in my garage is probably a bigger concern.

And where is said reloading store?

 

[benenglish]

There is good information out about 4895...

Yeah, but doesn't that work in everything?

Just a joke. I tend to deal only in run-of-the-mill, old cartridges, nothing overbore, nothing exotic. I find myself testing 4895 in everything and, more often than not, using it.

I feel pretty sure that if I had a 6.5CM I'd try the stuff and probably be happy with it. Or at least I'd tell myself it's OK in order to justify having so much of it in stock.

 

[Dawico]

Yeah, but doesn't that work in everything?

Just a joke. I tend to deal only in run-of-the-mill, old cartridges, nothing overbore, nothing exotic. I find myself testing 4895 in everything and, more often than not, using it.

I feel pretty sure that if I had a 6.5CM I'd try the stuff and probably be happy with it. Or at least I'd tell myself it's OK in order to justify having so much of it in stock.

'Tis true.

When I first started reloading I wanted good fairly universal rifle and pistol powders. I picked up H4895 and Unique and still use them both quite a bit.

 

[orbitup]

H4895 was the first powder Hodgdon started selling. They bought surplus barrels of it after WWII.

 

[OLDVET]

The ammo store is Southwest Ammo Supply in Mesquite, Texas. Talk to Harry.

I reloaded forty 6.5 Creedmoor rounds Sunday night. I remember now why I normally do not use tubular type powders. I use an RCBS manual powder drop. I loaded 41.9 grains of the H4350. That amount of powder has a hard time passing from my powder supply canister, through the metering die, and finally into the pan for my powder scale. On numerous occasions the machine dropped only about 1/2 the required powder. I learned to tap the side of the machine to help the powder fall on down. I used my trickler to bring the load weight up to a constant 41.9 grains for each round.

I sure hope it is worth the hassle when I take my new rifle to the range.

 

[deemus]

'Tis true.

When I first started reloading I wanted good fairly universal rifle and pistol powders. I picked up H4895 and Unique and still use them both quite a bit.

I use 4895 on several favorite rounds. Its a great powder.

But I gave up Unique due to how dirty it shoots. I've been using Accurate #5 and #7 for most of my pistol loads, as it burns much cleaner, but gives about the same performance.

 

[Rocky Carey]

Re17 is great in 6.5 Creedmoor know several other guys using it also and 6mm Creedmoor to

 

[dee]

Re17 is great in 6.5 Creedmoor know several other guys using it also and 6mm Creedmoor to

I would be leary of rl17 as it's not very temp stable. Up here in north texas our temp swings enough it can be an issue.

 

[ed308]

Gunmaster in Plano had 1 and 8lb jugs in stock. I bought a pound to try in my new 6.5 CM AR.

 

[Rocky Carey]

It gets plenty hot here no problems lot guys use it competition no problem.

 

[dee]

You must get sighters or something where I need the same speed year round. It's far to temp sensitive for my use. I've shot in matches where temps started in the 30's and ended in the 80's and 17 is well known to not be consistent with swings like that. It is one that needs loads for various seasons.

 

[Fishhog]

I bought 2 lbs. of H4350 last weekend at the Dallas gun show from the Southwest bunch out of Mesquite. I don't remember for sure, but it was either 27 or 28 bucks a lb., and they had a bunch more. You might want to check out their store.

 

[avvidclif]

I bought 2 lbs. of H4350 last weekend at the Dallas gun show from the Southwest bunch out of Mesquite. I don't remember for sure, but it was either 27 or 28 bucks a lb., and they had a bunch more. You might want to check out their store.

I also bought 2 lbs @ $26/lb...Good price I asked about store pricing. Same as gun show....