Well that powder pales in comparison to H4350 and Re#26 in my 6mm Creedmoor. But is fantastic in my 22/250 and 220 swift . What do other say about this new powder ?
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W-W 6.5 Staball
- Thread starter Iron Worker
- Start date
There’s a whole staball thread https://www.snipershide.com/shooting/threads/new-winchester-staball-6-5-ball-powder.6966803/
It ain’t gonna be good until your case fill and pressure get up there, just like most ball powders.
My Tikka 6.5 doesn't like it. Ran the first StaBall loads today w/ 41 grains StaBall, 140 gr ELDM pills, 205M primers, & Lapua brass. Sunny, 60 deg., 45% RH, calm wind. First five shots' ES was 70 and SD was 31! Vavg was around 2522fps on the Magnetospeed. Second five shots were similar. Didn't bother measuring groups since initial data was so bad. In same session H4350 gave ES of 17 & SD of 8.6 w/ 200 yd groups of 1.25." I don't want to condemn StaBall until I try some different variations, but my initial results were pretty bad. Glad I only bought 2 lbs of it.
I've had good luck with it so far, but admittedly my loads have been on the hotter end of its range. 147 gr. ELD-M and 43.3, 43.6, and 43.9 have been best.
LolYour chamber might be more “roomy” than average.
Also: Some rifles also have longer than average freebore, either due to throat erosion (barrel wear) or it was cut that way originally, and if you load to a smallish jump, so beyond book length, the extra case capacity gained from moving the projectile as far out as you can (without causing a jam) can create some extra case capacity. I have that situation on a factory 6.5 CM Savage with 3,500 rounds on it. Surprisingly, it still shoots long bullets like the 147 gn ELDM very well, at descent speeds, but it needed extra powder.
But yes 2.0 grain above book max is ‘significant’. Just be careful with the ammo in summer, or look for a lower node/charge. Staball 6.5 is only a partially temperature stabilized powder, with a reported 0.4-0.5 fps per degree F sensitivity, and that can theoretically add another 40 fps (and increase pressure) if you live in the snow.
Also if you use premium brass with a very hard case head, you might not see an ejector imprint when you exceed 65,000 psi. Folks with a pressure trace setup have often reported this. Especialy Lapua brass has a reputation for allowing competitors to run hot loads, the “drive it like you stole it” argument.... which is not recommended as all pr most of your safety margin gets consumed. One day you might load a round too long, or leave the ammo in direct sunlight for 2 hours, or inadvertently cause a hard jam, or the barrel hot very hot and the round was left in there for 3 minutes to ‘cook’, or some combo of the above, then bad things can happen.
Safety margin is your friend.
Also: Some rifles also have longer than average freebore, either due to throat erosion (barrel wear) or it was cut that way originally, and if you load to a smallish jump, so beyond book length, the extra case capacity gained from moving the projectile as far out as you can (without causing a jam) can create some extra case capacity. I have that situation on a factory 6.5 CM Savage with 3,500 rounds on it. Surprisingly, it still shoots long bullets like the 147 gn ELDM very well, at descent speeds, but it needed extra powder.
But yes 2.0 grain above book max is ‘significant’. Just be careful with the ammo in summer, or look for a lower node/charge. Staball 6.5 is only a partially temperature stabilized powder, with a reported 0.4-0.5 fps per degree F sensitivity, and that can theoretically add another 40 fps (and increase pressure) if you live in the snow.
Also if you use premium brass with a very hard case head, you might not see an ejector imprint when you exceed 65,000 psi. Folks with a pressure trace setup have often reported this. Especialy Lapua brass has a reputation for allowing competitors to run hot loads, the “drive it like you stole it” argument.... which is not recommended as all pr most of your safety margin gets consumed. One day you might load a round too long, or leave the ammo in direct sunlight for 2 hours, or inadvertently cause a hard jam, or the barrel hot very hot and the round was left in there for 3 minutes to ‘cook’, or some combo of the above, then bad things can happen.
Safety margin is your friend.
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Everything seems to be sold out. So just an aside about another powder that meters well: [Not to derail the tread]. There are some close alternatives to Staball if you want to throw the charge. Have tried Hodgedon Benchmark over the past few weeks in a 308, and it shot several 0.5 groups. It metered remarkably well from a cheap Lee powder thrower/powder measure, and most throws were within 0.06 of each other until the level in the hopper dropped too low, then it changed a lot. ES of 0.15 gn over 20 throws. It is one of the smallest stick powders and a super short cut variety. For a gas gun and loading on a progressive, i think you will be happy. For an accurate bolt gun, I would still weigh every charge, batch them into groups of 0.10 gn but avoid trickling up to save time.
Below is IMR4350 on top, H4350 second from top, then Benchmark, then a round ‘flake’ of Superformance:
As you can see, Benchmark is closer to a flake/ball powder in terms of size than a true stick powder. Speed was a little slower than desired in the 308, but accuracy was good. Might be worth a try if you want to throw charges and Staball is sold out.
Below is IMR4350 on top, H4350 second from top, then Benchmark, then a round ‘flake’ of Superformance:
As you can see, Benchmark is closer to a flake/ball powder in terms of size than a true stick powder. Speed was a little slower than desired in the 308, but accuracy was good. Might be worth a try if you want to throw charges and Staball is sold out.
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