Power Pro 2000 MR & 190 SMK

[esorensen]

I had to try a pound of this new Alliant powder. I intend to shoot some 175's (JLK's) too, but I have a box of 500 190's, so these came first. I couldn't find any data, so I did a little estimating, and came up with 43.0-47.0 in 1/2 gr. increments. I was using CCI BR2's and new WIN brass with a full prep. Distance was 100 yards, and the POA was the lower diamond in side the crosshair. The rifle is zeroed with the 168 SMK's at 2665 fps. It was hovering just over 90*F with a barometer of 29.98 and ALT of 5100 ASL.
The rifle is a 23" Broughton 5C hanging on a Savage. Cartridge OAL was 2.812". Harris bipod and sandbags for the rear.
The 46.5 and 47 gr. groups seem to be kinda nice...No pressure whatsoever either. I may go up in charge weight another grain or so, too. On the other hand, I shot some 208's on top of some RL17, and got a black ring around the primer on one round. It's just too hot out for that powder/ charge, as it shoots fine when it's cooler.

 

[Jimlaw83]

Re: Power Pro 2000 MR & 190 SMK

Heckuva powder ain't it? People don't believe me until they see the chrono and groups.

 

[esorensen]

Re: Power Pro 2000 MR & 190 SMK

Nah, the stuff is crap. You can box all of yours up and send it to me. I'll get rid of it for you!

The average group for 9 different powder charges is .551" or something like that. What's not to like? I might go a bit higher in charge weight, and I'l check out how it handles the temp swings too. I don't have that much experience with ball powers, but have found that when charge ratios start approaching 100%, a magnum primer helps. I may here, too. I'll check and see. I have a REAL hard time shooting much better that a couple of those groups, though.

 

[Ishallbie O'Cullkillin]

Re: Power Pro 2000 MR & 190 SMK

Awesome. I just tried this powder yesterday with 175 SMK's. 46.5gr got me right at 2800fps, five shots into .74" at 100yds. 47gr averaged 2855fps. The fifth round opened the group up from .46" to right at one inch. Shot from a Rock barreled 26.5" 5R Rem700, barrel had about a hundred rounds thru the tube of all kinds of different handloads since the last cleaning.

 

[kombayotch]

Re: Power Pro 2000 MR & 190 SMK

The nodes are at the velocities I would expect them to be. You should run some OCW tests around 45.0 gr. and 46.5 gr.

I'd love to see a temperature test on this powder. How are you planning to do it?

 

[esorensen]

Re: Power Pro 2000 MR & 190 SMK

Load some of them up that showed potential, toss'em in the deep freeze overnight, bring to the range in a cooler filled with ice and let 'em rip over the Oehler.

 

[esorensen]

Re: Power Pro 2000 MR & 190 SMK

If you're looking at the chrono strips, pay no attention to the ones that have asterisks by them. The third screen had a run in with a .44 last winter, and hasn't been the same since. Just look at the first set of numbers on the strip and you can go from there. I figured the ES for 46.5 gr, and it was 10, and the SD was 4 with a mean of 2679.

I chambered this rifle with a PTG "bisley" reamer and it does indeed work well with SMK's. Gotta get that $17 part from Oehler to fix the chrono too.

 

[kombayotch]

Re: Power Pro 2000 MR & 190 SMK

That'll work for the cold. I use one of these in a cooler for hot:

I shoot the rounds in a round robin sequence, so that fouling, etc... influences all three temperatures equally. The other thing is to chamber them and fire them as quickly as possible. I also don't shoot groups during a temperature test so that the rounds don't get influenced by contacting the chamber for long.

 

[esorensen]

Re: Power Pro 2000 MR & 190 SMK

I suppose that I could leave the loaded rounds on the dash of the truck, too. It still gets pretty warm out here still. I think today's high was 96 or 97*F. I have a laser thermometer that I can get temps with and document the whole thing.

 

[sticshooter]

Re: Power Pro 2000 MR & 190 SMK

NO,NO,NO!THIS POWDER IS CRAP!!!!don't anybody believe anything these guys are saying.stick with your vargets and rl 15 and 17's.i'm doing my best to rid the world of this garbage.DON'T USE IT!send it to me and i will properly dispose of it.it really sucks in .308's.

 

[esorensen]

Re: Power Pro 2000 MR & 190 SMK

Just a little update:

I shot this combo yesterday. I loaded up some of the 46.5 and CCI BR2's using some old and tired WIN brass. Temp yesterday was right at 100*. I had an opportunity to take my kids to one of the properties that I hunt coyotes on, to hunt for some fossils. We found a few of fossil shells and got to check out a debris field from an airplane crash back in the 80's.

My nephew also came with wanted to hunt some coyotes, and we tried, but nobody wanted come out and play in the heat. I had previously shot at a rock 1000 yards away from this position, and felt I should let a few fly.

Ballistic FTE said I should give about 29 MOA for 1K. First shot went 1 MOA high, and about 3.5MOA for wind. Second shot I took out 1 MOA and elevation was good. I held 3.5 MOA of wind and hit the next three shots. The spread was about 3/4 MOA for the group.

I then started to see if the hold overs in the VH reticle would match flight...yep. At 600 yards, I was shooting into a dirt bank at a "dark spot". I couldn't figure out why I couldn't see any impact. Turns out it was a horizontal "hole", and the bullets went down it! Here I was thinking that I had screwed something up royally! There is a quite noticeable difference between the 168 SMK in the wind as opposed to the 190 SMK.

There are NO pressure signs with this load. The primer has zero cratering, and no flattening, and the bolt lift is normal. I will buy more.

 

[esorensen]

Re: Power Pro 2000 MR & 190 SMK

Here's the result... almost 1*F = 1 fps. I tested the 190s and Power Pro 2000MR today. Outside air temp was 68*F and raining, barometer was 30.17 mmHg, 5211' ASL. Range was 100 yards. The rifle was the same Savage Broughton 5C 23" I've been shooting. The barrel was dirty. The "cold" ammo was kept in a cooler, and measured at 26*F with an infra red gun. The "hot" ammo was set on to the valve cover of the mighty Cummins. This "hot" group measured in at 132*F. I had intended to shoot as quickly as possible without regard to group size. I couldn't do that. I took about 3 seconds to align the rifle and fire. The ammo was exposed to ambient temps for less than 5 seconds before chambering. POA is the bottom of the diamond.

I then ran a test with the same powder charge (46.5) with a different bullet. I used the 190 Wildcat. This bullet was seated into the lands about .005". I tried the CCI BR2 and the FED 210M& 215M also. Needless to say, it shot well, too. I also engaged some steel out to 425 with this load, and it was too easy. I shot some of the RL17 and 208 AMAX as well, but I'll post another thread. Total average spread for 10 three shot groups was .525" I think.

 

[kombayotch]

Re: Power Pro 2000 MR & 190 SMK

Excellent! Wasn't difficult or time consuming to run either, was it?

If I add in the velocity you listed at 90F and plot it, I get an R^2 of 0.9982. So, it jives with your previous data. Well done!

It's nice to see someone else posting this data, especially for the bullet I shoot...

 

[esorensen]

Re: Power Pro 2000 MR & 190 SMK

Not difficult at all, just looks odd pulling out a cooler at the range, and having the hood propped up and putting some ammo under there! I confounded the tech at Alliant. They don't have any data with this bullet or anything heavier for that matter. The tech told me the Power Pro 2000MR is not AS temp sensitive as some of their other offerings, however it is still somewhat sensitive (as the data shows).

 

[kombayotch]

Re: Power Pro 2000 MR & 190 SMK

Still less sensitive than some extruded powders. It's nearly half as sensitive as RL-25 was in my 6 Crusader load...

 

[esorensen]

Re: Power Pro 2000 MR & 190 SMK

Don't tell me about the RL25 & RL17. Fast and accurate, but TEMPermantal...sheesh.

 

[kombayotch]

Re: Power Pro 2000 MR & 190 SMK

This stuff is about the same as RL-17.

I'm really hoping AR Comp is stable. I have a buddy who has some and said he will give me a bit to test.

 

[JGorski]

NO,NO,NO!THIS POWDER IS CRAP!!!!don't anybody believe anything these guys are saying.stick with your vargets and rl 15 and 17's.i'm doing my best to rid the world of this garbage.DON'T USE IT!send it to me and i will properly dispose of it.it really sucks in .308's.

Yeah, look at this crap(left) 47grs of this crap under 168AMAXs left me with this horrible group @300yds. Think the wind caught that shot to the right, it could never be me, wink.

 

[EastBayRidge]

Anyone try this with 155's ? I understand it's for heavier bullets, just checking if anyone's had a chance to use some lighter pills with this.

 

[Bob 964]

Anyone try this with 155's ? I understand it's for heavier bullets, just checking if anyone's had a chance to use some lighter pills with this.

I love the Ron Bennington quote. My oldest son and I used to listen to the old Ron and Ron Show every morning on the way to day care. That was one funny radio show.

 

[JGorski]

Anyone try this with 155's ? I understand it's for heavier bullets, just checking if anyone's had a chance to use some lighter pills with this.

Not when I get groups like I get with 47grs RE15. Dats the shit.

 

[EastBayRidge]

I love the Ron Bennington quote. My oldest son and I used to listen to the old Ron and Ron Show every morning on the way to day care. That was one funny radio show.

I used to listen to him on XM, but my subscription lapsed a while ago. Last I heard he was still on the Opie and Anthony channel there a few hours a day. Really funny stuff, and on satellite he could really let his inner Philly boy shine. Threadjack ended.

 

[EastBayRidge]

Not when I get groups like I get with 47grs RE15. Dats the shit.

Looks like my search continues... thanks.

 

[cotntop]

49.0 gr 2000MR with 155 Lapua Scenar, chronos @ 2860 out of 24in Brux. Shoots 1/2in but i believe will do better with some tweaking. Like the way this powder meters.