I was wondering if many have ran this in f-class on the long haul on them 60 shot strings for score with no ill effects. Its sure showing nice promise, Very temp stable, good ES and aggen well. Just a little nervous on possible fouling. I'm sure a good cleaning regiment would keep the carbon ring in tack. Thanks Bill
I have only used a little Re16 in a 284win, I liked the case fill and achieved similar velocity to H4350. But I have used a good couple of lbs of RL 23 down my 300WSM F-open barrel. Which has the same supposed ‘de-coppering’ additive that RL 16 has. This could be barrel specific, but this barrel running only RL23 cleans up very easy, it exhibits very little copper fouling. I had a look with a borescope after 400 of rounds only cleaning with a Bronze brush and solvents at the end of every days shooting and there was no heavy carbon fouling in the grooves and no copper fouling to speak of on the lands. The most I have shot it is 55rounds without cleaning with no perceivable effect on accuracy. I think RL16 is definitely worth a try for F-class use. I would be interested to see how you go. I find with H4350 in my 284’s they pick up more copper and carbon (but is the difference powder or the barrels???)
Before I sold my "extra" F-Class rifles, I ran RL-16 in 2 of them. 1 was a .260A.I. and the oher was a 6 x 47 Lapua. I could easily go thru 100 rounds with no ill-effects on accuracy. I did find that the "loose" carbon was a bit heavier with RL-16 than either H4350 or H4831sc. However, if I cleaned my rifle after every match, it did not suffer at all. The "hard" or underlying carbon, was no different than any other powders. In my not so humble opinion, I think that RL-16 and RL-23 are a better choice than either H4350 or H4831sc. They are definitely more temp stable than either of their Hodgdon "counterparts" and their lot-to-lot consistency is definitely better too>>>>>PLUS they generally deliver the same velocity with a lower charge weight!
RL16 is my first choice in the BRX and Dasher. I’ve gone through about 30lbs of it in F Class. It holds up great over long strings and is very accurate.
I regularly use RL16 for 6.5x57, 6.5 Creedmoor, 284 Win, 7mm Shahene. Carbon and copper fouling are within the norm. While I like to use a bronze brush and a couple of dry patches after each match, I never had any problem when I did not. RL16 seems to be slightly faster than H4350 and it produces less pressure at speed parity. Both powders have low sensitivity to temperature changes and work well in f class shooting
The only thing I didn’t like about R16 was that it was bulkier than H4350, and the kernels were not as uniform as H4350. Some kernels were bigger and some smaller. Other than that, the powder worked really good in my straight 284. I would definitely give it a try. I liked the powder.
I run RL16 in one of my three prone rifles, (6.5 GWI) RL23 in the other two (6SLR & 284 Shehane). Both powders with give me 50%+ X counts if I do my part. Everything @ShootDots said is spot on as well. I hope this helps, Lloyd
Shoot RL16 and 140 SMK out of my 6.5 Creed to a 200-9X last sunday at 600. Id say im on board for a while.
Thanks for the input. I've played with it a fair amount in the .284 and as Ben stated, There's a lot of pluses to that powder. Very temp stable, Ive seen a little less coppering on ruffly 60 shots on a match I recently shot it in. The node seems to be a bit wider and is has always showed low ES numbers. Just hard to get away from the H powder with it burning a bit cleaner and shooting well to.
