Staball 6.5 success

[Jmccracken1214]

I wasn’t having much luck in my tikka with staball and 147eld. Had 44.3 gr shoot about 1” with good ES and SD loaded at 2.800, decided to mess with seating depth, and loaded up 5 rounds at .005” increments… well, 2.805 ended up shooting .49” at 2738 fps with a SD of 3.7 and ES of 9.
Shooting off a bipod and rear bag.
Crazy what a difference something so small as .005” can make. I’m wondering if the mirage off my nomad caused me to pull the bottom 2 shots slightly low… we will see next time I shoot without the MagnetoSpeed.

 

[Jmccracken1214]

I’m glad the staball works, I ran out of h4350 last year and scored a 8# of staball for $239 at my local store. They had 1# of 4350 for $60 and 8# for $399.
No thanks.

 

[mikeshaw2]

I've got a pound of StaBall that I haven't opened yet. Then found an 8# jug of IMR 44350 that my rifle really seems to like so it'll be a while before the StaBall gets used.

Good to know it actually shoots

...probably better than I do!

M

 

[Jmccracken1214]

I've got a pound of StaBall that I haven't opened yet. Then found an 8# jug of IMR 44350 that my rifle really seems to like so it'll be a while before the StaBall gets used.

Good to know it actually shoots

...probably better than I do!

M

I used to by 1# to try but given the times, I was in the store months back and they had no 4350, but had 8lb of staball, so I grabbed it and hoped for the best.
This is out of a 24” slow tikka barrel. From my exp, the tikka barrels have been 80-100fps slower with the same load as my rugers/bergara

 

[mikeshaw2]

I used to by 1# to try but given the times, I was in the store months back and they had no 4350, but had 8lb of staball, so I grabbed it and hoped for the best.
This is out of a 24” slow tikka barrel. From my exp, the tikka barrels have been 80-100fps slower with the same load as my rugers/bergara

I'm shooting a Tikka too, but don't have a chrono.

The Sierra manual I have says IMR4350 at Xgr for 140gr bullets is the 'accuracy load' so that's what I went with. I looked it up when I still had LRPs...

Now that I found some LRPs (and overpaid! Grr) I'll look it up again. IIRC it's nowhere close to max load so I'm not too scared

M

 

[Jmkjr87]

Staball is a great powder but it is very dirty. In 2 different barrels, a 4 groove krieger and a 5r benchmark is creates a carbon ring that after 200 rounds will start to shave copper off the bullet. After a 1 day prs match I clean the bore with isso bore paste and at a 2 day match I clean after the first day.

 

[Jmccracken1214]

Staball is a great powder but it is very dirty. In 2 different barrels, a 4 groove krieger and a 5r benchmark is creates a carbon ring that after 200 rounds will start to shave copper off the bullet. After a 1 day prs match I clean the bore with isso bore paste and at a 2 day match I clean after the first day.

Ill get a borescope and keep an eye on that... if it takes some extra cleaning, but saves me from paying $400 for H4350, its still worth it.

 

[Jmkjr87]

Ill get a borescope and keep an eye on that... if it takes some extra cleaning, but saves me from paying $400 for H4350, its still worth it.

Agreed. My preferred powder is H4350 but I can find staball regularly. So I use it alot. I got a 50 dollar teslong and it works great. Just keep up with the carbon

 

[Jmccracken1214]

Agreed. My preferred powder is H4350 but I can find staball regularly. So I use it alot. I got a 50 dollar teslong and it works great. Just keep up with the carbon

It is crazy at how available staball is... I see it in almost any store I go in that carrys powder, and for $32-$34 a bottle.... Im glad though.

 

[Jmkjr87]

It is crazy at how available staball is... I see it in almost any store I go in that carrys powder, and for $32-$34 a bottle.... Im glad though.

Yea during this whole shortage it's the only component I can count on finding. It's the only powder I use for the last 2 seasons of PRS

 

[Jmccracken1214]

Yea during this whole shortage it's the only component I can count on finding. It's the only powder I use for the last 2 seasons of PRS

I ordered that borescope and the iosso paste and oil. Ive got some butch's bore shine that ive been using the last few years and I like it a lot, but interested in trying the iosso.

 

[Jmkjr87]

I use bore tech elimnator with isso. I bought the VFG pellets and there jag to go with it. I put 2 pellets on the jag, soak pellets with eliminator and then coat with isso. You can adjust how tight you want the pellets by turning them tighter or looser on the jag. Best way I have found to use isso. When I'm done I patch it out with brake cleaner. Those pellets are pricey but they work great. U can get the real VFG pellets and jag from brownells

 

[CK1.0]

I've gone through over 24lbs of Sta-Ball since it came out. IMHO it has far more "pros" than "cons".

At first, I bought it because that's all I could find (especially in any quantity beyond just 1lb or 2). Then, I kept using it because it meters so freaking easily and I didn't yet own a precise powder dispenser... One can drop StaBall straight into cases out of a cheap volumetric powder dropper, and if they develop good technique, achieve performance/consistency as good or better than the Chargemaster crowd, even approaching the performance/consistency that Autotricker owners are used to.

Just dropped straight into cases: if one goes slow, powder for 100rds takes 10 minutes, and it'll yield stuff that's fine for practice out to 1000 yards. This can also be a "con" sometimes because many guys won't bother trying to load charges to +/-0.02gn like they would with extruded stick stuff. (This is a mistake IMO because dropping a bulk charge and then trickling up with it is a piece of cake and nothing like the sheer torture of manually trickling stick powders.)

Thing is, in my experience, it doesn't do one any favors as far as ES/SD numbers are concerned, and makes one work harder... guys who are used to H4350 (forgiving) or Varget (the most forgiving IMO) will need to work harder to see numbers in the same ballpark they're used to. In a way, it made me a better reloader, as it forced me to clean up my process to see consistent single-digit SD numbers (which now makes working with shit like Varget child's play to get stupid low SD's).

One huge "pro" it has (besides just being available) is that being a ball powder, case-fill isn't nearly as important as with stick powders. One can use it to slow down their loads to a speed they like if they want to (to not cook their barrel as fast, lower recoil, etc), and even when the rounds start to sound like salt shakers it still shoots fine.

Supposedly, Hodgdon has more "temperature-stable ball powders" coming out in the same type of vein as StaBall, maybe better, could be cool...

 

[Pharmseller]

Did you mention the cartridge, I didn’t see it.

 

[Jmccracken1214]

Did you mention the cartridge, I didn’t see it.

6.5 cm

 

[Pharmseller]

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