I am considering trying some Hornady factory ammo utilizing their Superperformance powders in my Seekins SP10 in 6.5 CM. All of the Hornady factory ammo I have tried functions perfectly including 129 grain American Whitetail, 140 ELDM, 143 ELDX. For whitetail deer , the 120 CX and 129 SST using Superperformance powder looks compelling. I have read the powder burn rate using Superperformance powder in a gas gun can be challenging ? Will it cycle , feed, eject properly? The traditional powder factory ammo is fine but the velocity gains using Superperformance powders look impressive.
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Hornady Superperformance Ammo in AR10 platform?
- Thread starter rmiked
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First thing first, Superformance Ammo does not necessarily use Hodgdon/Hornady Superformance powder. The ammo line encompasses necessary burn rates that are both faster and slower than the Hodgdon powder offering.
That being said, we generally don't recommend Superformance Ammo in gas guns because how it works is by maintaining higher pressure for longer in the bore. This usually means higher port pressure, and a lot of over-gassing. If you have adjustable gas systems you may find success with it, but if not, it can cause some cycling issues.
Superformance powder depending on the cartridge/bullet combination may or may not produce the above effect and without port pressure testing everything it'd be hard for me to tell you if it will/won't. Might be worth a try but just understand it may also produce a lot of port pressure.
That being said, we generally don't recommend Superformance Ammo in gas guns because how it works is by maintaining higher pressure for longer in the bore. This usually means higher port pressure, and a lot of over-gassing. If you have adjustable gas systems you may find success with it, but if not, it can cause some cycling issues.
Superformance powder depending on the cartridge/bullet combination may or may not produce the above effect and without port pressure testing everything it'd be hard for me to tell you if it will/won't. Might be worth a try but just understand it may also produce a lot of port pressure.
Well thanks very much for that info. I am well pleased with the traditional Hornady offerings. The Superperformance sounds like a complication I don’t need. I’ll stick with what I know works well. I am just now getting some dies to start loading 6.5 CM. The results I’m getting with Hornady factory ammo are what I will attempt to replicate.
Obviously Ledzep would know best, but here is the Hornady support page for Superformance in gas operated firearms:
Hornady link
Their stated criteria is rifle length gas with a 20" or longer barrel. Your 6.5CM SP-10 probably has a 22" barrel, with either a +1.5" (new) or +2" (old) gas system, so it meets that criteria. Running suppressed would have to be considered.
Hornady link
Their stated criteria is rifle length gas with a 20" or longer barrel. Your 6.5CM SP-10 probably has a 22" barrel, with either a +1.5" (new) or +2" (old) gas system, so it meets that criteria. Running suppressed would have to be considered.
I tried some SuperFormance 223 in an 20" Heavy barrel AR a few years back and it cycled, did no damage but did not match their traditional lines accuracy.
I am not gonna try any Superperformance. My SP10 shoots the normal factory Hornady (140 ELDM and 143 ELDX) consistently 0.5-0.75 MOA at 100 yards, 3 shot groups off bench. I am so pleased with this since I am new to ARs and I mainly hunt and target shoot for fun. I am up to 160 rounds thru it (got in December 2023) and killed first deer in December. I noticed my groups tightening up some around 100 rounds. I’m not sure if it was getting barrel broken in or me getting used to shooting an AR. Only had bolt action rifles until now. I’m retired and not into competition. Until I started looking at this website, I didn’t know you could buy a semi-auto that shoots factory ammo this well.
