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Posted: 12/19/2011 3:33:30 PM EDT
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Have any of you guys personally seen change,s in your patterns which in your opinion is atributed to temp changes while using RL-15?
I mean...I could always get the crony out and see what fps is with the colder weather as opposed to the data I had when the temps were warmer here in southwestern Texas.....but...Id figure Id ask 1st |
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I most likely use more RL15 (both cannister and non cannister grade) than anyone on this board, so I'll take a crack at it.
I lived in NJ (very humid summers, very cold winters) and did not have any problems. The only pressure signs I've ever gotten with it came from using high charge weights, which is totally normally. Its my go to powder for both .30 calibers and .223 loads. I've used up to 47 grains of it under a 155 AMAX in 95 degree weather according to my notes. (thats a bolt gun load, and even then it was quite "hot"). It does best with heavy weight bullets to be honest. Its got a sweet spot with 175 SMK's and 68 grain or heavier HPBT design .223's. Sidenote: The military had problems with it early on. Roughly 44.3 grains of it under a 175 SMK (M118LR) was screwing up M14 DMR rifles in Iraq big time, so they lowered the charge weight to 43.1 grains for a velocity of 2,650 FPS. The lower charge is a little warm for the M1A/M14, but it does work and doesn't seem to break the M21's that are floating around. I load a clonse of it in LC LR brass and it meet spec very well, even my PTR 91 liked it quite a bit. |
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Quoted:
I most likely use more RL15 (both cannister and non cannister grade) than anyone on this board, so I'll take a crack at it. I lived in NJ (very humid summers, very cold winters) and did not have any problems. The only pressure signs I've ever gotten with it came from using high charge weights, which is totally normally. Its my go to powder for both .30 calibers and .223 loads. I've used up to 47 grains of it under a 155 AMAX in 95 degree weather according to my notes. (thats a bolt gun load, and even then it was quite "hot"). It does best with heavy weight bullets to be honest. Its got a sweet spot with 175 SMK's and 68 grain or heavier HPBT design .223's. Sidenote: The military had problems with it early on. Roughly 44.3 grains of it under a 175 SMK (M118LR) was screwing up M14 DMR rifles in Iraq big time, so they lowered the charge weight to 43.1 grains for a velocity of 2,650 FPS. The lower charge is a little warm for the M1A/M14, but it does work and doesn't seem to break the M21's that are floating around. I load a clonse of it in LC LR brass and it meet spec very well, even my PTR 91 liked it quite a bit. great info dude. i had no idea the military used the powder. i agree with you as far as it performing better with heavier bullets, which is what i use. 175 smk with 42.3gr behind it. i use varget for my 75gr and 68gr 69gr 223,s the summers here are from 90-110deg. the winters arent to harsh. if its below 50deg, i wont get out and go shooting. I guess Im gonna have to get the crony out and see what gives and compare my readings to my summers readings |
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Alliant has a new powder out called AR Comp that is supposedly a more temp insensitive formulation of RL15.....
I haven't tried it myself, but would like to see how well it works... http://www.alliantpowder.com/products/powder/ar_comp.aspx |
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great info dude.
i had no idea the military used the powder. i agree with you as far as it performing better with heavier bullets, which is what i use. 175 smk with 42.3gr behind it. i use varget for my 75gr and 68gr 69gr 223,s the summers here are from 90-110deg. the winters arent to harsh. if its below 50deg, i wont get out and go shooting. I guess Im gonna have to get the crony out and see what gives and compare my readings to my summers readings Glad I could help a little bit. The tech sheet for Lake City ammo is floating around Snipers Hide somewhere, its been awhile since I've looked it up though. I haven't tried varget with a 175 or heavy .223's yet, but I use it with 178 AMAX's for my bolt rifle. 42.3 is fairly mild, whats your velocity on it? Brass type? I load all my match rounds in LC LR brass. 43.1 of RL15 averages 2650 fps, and 43.5 of varget averages 2650 fps also. Close to the same dope, but the AMAX's go on sale. 
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Quoted:
great info dude.
i had no idea the military used the powder. i agree with you as far as it performing better with heavier bullets, which is what i use. 175 smk with 42.3gr behind it. i use varget for my 75gr and 68gr 69gr 223,s the summers here are from 90-110deg. the winters arent to harsh. if its below 50deg, i wont get out and go shooting. I guess Im gonna have to get the crony out and see what gives and compare my readings to my summers readings Glad I could help a little bit. The tech sheet for Lake City ammo is floating around Snipers Hide somewhere, its been awhile since I've looked it up though. I haven't tried varget with a 175 or heavy .223's yet, but I use it with 178 AMAX's for my bolt rifle. 42.3 is fairly mild, whats your velocity on it? Brass type? I load all my match rounds in LC LR brass. 43.1 of RL15 averages 2650 fps, and 43.5 of varget averages 2650 fps also. Close to the same dope, but the AMAX's go on sale. I agree, it is a light load. But after months of trying diff. loads on a vise,d lr308/24" 1-10 twist. I came up with 42.3gr of rl-15. it gave me the best patterns of all my charge weights, I do use Varget on my 168,s and its a light load as well 40grs, but the patterns are real nice. i use lc brass, standard oal, standard cci large rifle prim. lightly crimp,d with lee,s fcd. my 175,s are going 2552 |
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Quoted:
Alliant has a new powder out called AR Comp that is supposedly a more temp insensitive formulation of RL15..... I haven't tried it myself, but would like to see how well it works... http://www.alliantpowder.com/products/powder/ar_comp.aspx i went to the local gun shop and ask,d if they have recicved any yet...they havent..as a matter a fact, the attendant didnt know about it...but...they,d have some in as sson as they order it. I wonder if its easy to meter |
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great info dude.
i had no idea the military used the powder. i agree with you as far as it performing better with heavier bullets, which is what i use. 175 smk with 42.3gr behind it. i use varget for my 75gr and 68gr 69gr 223,s the summers here are from 90-110deg. the winters arent to harsh. if its below 50deg, i wont get out and go shooting. I guess Im gonna have to get the crony out and see what gives and compare my readings to my summers readings Glad I could help a little bit. The tech sheet for Lake City ammo is floating around Snipers Hide somewhere, its been awhile since I've looked it up though. I haven't tried varget with a 175 or heavy .223's yet, but I use it with 178 AMAX's for my bolt rifle. 42.3 is fairly mild, whats your velocity on it? Brass type? I load all my match rounds in LC LR brass. 43.1 of RL15 averages 2650 fps, and 43.5 of varget averages 2650 fps also. Close to the same dope, but the AMAX's go on sale. I agree, it is a light load. But after months of trying diff. loads on a vise,d lr308/24" 1-10 twist. I came up with 42.3gr of rl-15. it gave me the best patterns of all my charge weights, I do use Varget on my 168,s and its a light load as well 40grs, but the patterns are real nice. i use lc brass, standard oal, standard cci large rifle prim. lightly crimp,d with lee,s fcd. my 175,s are going 2552 Try loading to 2.81 and upping the charge to 43.1... I have yet to see a rifle shoot it poorly.I like to hit at least 2650, especially when on the 1K ranges. I do not crimp at all. Neck tension seems to do the trick for me. |
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great info dude.
i had no idea the military used the powder. i agree with you as far as it performing better with heavier bullets, which is what i use. 175 smk with 42.3gr behind it. i use varget for my 75gr and 68gr 69gr 223,s the summers here are from 90-110deg. the winters arent to harsh. if its below 50deg, i wont get out and go shooting. I guess Im gonna have to get the crony out and see what gives and compare my readings to my summers readings Glad I could help a little bit. The tech sheet for Lake City ammo is floating around Snipers Hide somewhere, its been awhile since I've looked it up though. I haven't tried varget with a 175 or heavy .223's yet, but I use it with 178 AMAX's for my bolt rifle. 42.3 is fairly mild, whats your velocity on it? Brass type? I load all my match rounds in LC LR brass. 43.1 of RL15 averages 2650 fps, and 43.5 of varget averages 2650 fps also. Close to the same dope, but the AMAX's go on sale. I agree, it is a light load. But after months of trying diff. loads on a vise,d lr308/24" 1-10 twist. I came up with 42.3gr of rl-15. it gave me the best patterns of all my charge weights, I do use Varget on my 168,s and its a light load as well 40grs, but the patterns are real nice. i use lc brass, standard oal, standard cci large rifle prim. lightly crimp,d with lee,s fcd. my 175,s are going 2552 Try loading to 2.81 and upping the charge to 43.1... I have yet to see a rifle shoot it poorly.I like to hit at least 2650, especially when on the 1K ranges. I do not crimp at all. Neck tension seems to do the trick for me. i always up for some more r&d on my loading...Ill give it a go and see what gives. as far as me getting out to the 1k range, I (by accident) went out to the 1k range and realized i had left my 175 smks behind and only had 1 box of 20 of portugese 147gr...I went ahead and loading them up into the mag and low and behold, they impress,d the crap out of me..i mean really!...I was knocking the steels out to 1000 without having to dope so much for drop. They impress,d me so much that i chronod,d them and found out that they were consistanly reading 2910....wow...5 out of 10 rds read exactly 2910 witout hardly any recoil.It does help that I have a Titan muzzle brk on mine but those 147gr pills sure dont kick and I must addmit, there pretty darn good. I came down to the conclusion that I hardley get out to the 1k, but when I do, I take my port ammo with me. Im down to my last 200 rds and only shot them when I do get out to the 1k. Ill load up some more 175s tommorrow at your specified load and see what gives. |
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i always up for some more r&d on my loading...Ill give it a go and see what gives.
as far as me getting out to the 1k range, I (by accident) went out to the 1k range and realized i had left my 175 smks behind and only had 1 box of 20 of portugese 147gr...I went ahead and loading them up into the mag and low and behold, they impress,d the crap out of me..i mean really!...I was knocking the steels out to 1000 without having to dope so much for drop. They impress,d me so much that i chronod,d them and found out that they were consistanly reading 2910....wow...5 out of 10 rds read exactly 2910 witout hardly any recoil.It does help that I have a Titan muzzle brk on mine but those 147gr pills sure dont kick and I must addmit, there pretty darn good. I came down to the conclusion that I hardley get out to the 1k, but when I do, I take my port ammo with me. Im down to my last 200 rds and only shot them when I do get out to the 1k. Ill load up some more 175s tommorrow at your specified load and see what gives. Interesting. I tried some PPU 168 Match from my 16" PTR, they were tumbling into the targets at 700 meters  , not sure what their speed was though. I've had the best luck with 155's and 175/178's. Be sure to work up to that charge. Its not max, but I personally feel its close. Besides, you never can tell what rifle will find it too much to handle. Safety and all that jazz! BTW, just how long can you load .308 in the AR platform magazine?
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Quoted:
i always up for some more r&d on my loading...Ill give it a go and see what gives.
as far as me getting out to the 1k range, I (by accident) went out to the 1k range and realized i had left my 175 smks behind and only had 1 box of 20 of portugese 147gr...I went ahead and loading them up into the mag and low and behold, they impress,d the crap out of me..i mean really!...I was knocking the steels out to 1000 without having to dope so much for drop. They impress,d me so much that i chronod,d them and found out that they were consistanly reading 2910....wow...5 out of 10 rds read exactly 2910 witout hardly any recoil.It does help that I have a Titan muzzle brk on mine but those 147gr pills sure dont kick and I must addmit, there pretty darn good. I came down to the conclusion that I hardley get out to the 1k, but when I do, I take my port ammo with me. Im down to my last 200 rds and only shot them when I do get out to the 1k. Ill load up some more 175s tommorrow at your specified load and see what gives. Interesting. I tried some PPU 168 Match from my 16" PTR, they were tumbling into the targets at 700 meters , not sure what their speed was though. I've had the best luck with 155's and 175/178's. Be sure to work up to that charge. Its not max, but I personally feel its close. Besides, you never can tell what rifle will find it too much to handle. Safety and all that jazz! BTW, just how long can you load .308 in the AR platform magazine?good question. to be honest, ive never strayed away from standard oal on the 308. more than a few yrs back, i took the time to r&d on the advantage,s / disadvantages of using extended oal. i purchased a over all comparitor from Stoney Point and measured my free bore on one of my 24" 223,s. I went as far as only having .020 clearance from ogive to rifling. I loaded up 10 rds of each loaded with 68gr hornady mhpbt and varget which i already had 7 rds thru one hole from standard oal , so i knew full and well that the load is right on. anyway., i loaded up 10 rds using extended oal and of course having to load them 1 at a time because they wont fit in the mag...my conclusion was that I didnt gain any accuracy extended my oal as opposed to standard oal (this is for my rifle of course, others may vari)...so ever since then, ive basically given up on any more r&d on using extended oal seating on rds. I will however say one thing about the extended oal which may have been over kill having only .020 of clearaqnce, but i wanted to take away as much free bore as possible. when i fired those rds, the recoil was about 60% less or at least it felt like it. |
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