6mm ARC Loads with Temp Stable Powders

[Nathan Peterson]

I believe this is my first post here. Found out about Snipers Hide's listing fees and thought I'd spend more time elsewhere...

Had a bad run with temp sensitive powder loads and PRS (never leave a mag in the sun, period) and have stuck to temp stable powders for all loadings since.

Wondering if anyone has found a sweetspot for their gas gun with Varget, xbr8208, etc.

Preliminary testing in my 18" proof give the following as promising - less velocity by about 100 fps as compared to Factory or CFE and Lever, but still great ballistically.

Hornady Brass
CCI 450
108 ELD-M
26.7 Varget
Mag length load
2453 fps at 28 degrees farenheit

Same as above but
25.0 xbr8208
2450 fps at 28 degrees faranheit

For reference, factory 105 Black ran 2560 and factory 108 Match ran 2580 the same day (28 degrees).

 

[RustyInBend]

Winchester StaBall is very temp-insensitive ... I wonder how it would work with 6mm. And the best part about it is that it's usually not hard to find in-stock somewhere. Shoots awesome in my 6.5-CM with 140gr Bergers.

 

[Nathan Peterson]

Winchester StaBall is very temp-insensitive ... I wonder how it would work with 6mm. And the best part about it is that it's usually not hard to find in-stock somewhere. Shoots awesome in my 6.5-CM with 140gr Bergers.

Interesting - if anyone has Quick load and can give some insight that could be interesting if velocities are in the cfe223 or lever ranges.

 

[darkangel_r2]

Winchester StaBall is very temp-insensitive ... I wonder how it would work with 6mm. And the best part about it is that it's usually not hard to find in-stock somewhere. Shoots awesome in my 6.5-CM with 140gr Bergers.

Too slow for that cartridge. 22 grendel can do it. 6 dasher has a hard time with 105s so this one would be too small to get it up to pressure I think. But yes my 6.5 creed ar10 with the 140s likes staball as well.

 

[Nathan Peterson]

Anyone with loads for 6mm ARC with stable powder?

 

[Hoser]

Too slow. Something around Varget or 4895 will work.

 

[Oso]

AR-Comp, H4895, 8208 XBR, and Benchmark are all temp stable and should work fine in the 6ARC. These same powders are used in 6.5 Grendel with very good results for range of bullet weights.

If you want more velocity then consider LeverEvolution, which is temp sensitive, but is a proven performer from 223AI to 6.5 Grendel for top speed and low ES/SD. CFE 223 is also very good, but temp sensitive as well.

 

[Ray123]

Anyone with loads for 6mm ARC with stable powder?

Haven't tried it in 6 ARC but it's fast in the dasher I posted the data got a top speed of 3133 for the 107 SMK in the 6 dasher.
But here is published data for 6mm ARC and 6.5 Staball.
6 mm ARC
StaBall 6.5
103 gr bullet 27.6 start 30.7 max at 2612 fps
107 gr bullet 27.2 start 30.3 max at 2557 fps
110 gr atip bullet 27.0 start 30 max at 2555 fps
This is Hodgdon load data.. haven't gotten around to trying it in the 6 ARC but in the 6 dasher accuracy and lower S/D was on the top loadings where the pressure is at. Other than that accuracy and S/D were not particularly good...have to hunt for it with 6.5 StaBall. It's temp stability isn't that great as tested ...but better than most any ball powders, and worth a try to see if it fits your application.

 

[Nathan Peterson]

Very interesting - I've never heard of that powder!

 

[Ray123]

I believe this is my first post here. Found out about Snipers Hide's listing fees and thought I'd spend more time elsewhere...

Had a bad run with temp sensitive powder loads and PRS (never leave a mag in the sun, period) and have stuck to temp stable powders for all loadings since.

Wondering if anyone has found a sweetspot for their gas gun with Varget, xbr8208, etc.

Preliminary testing in my 18" proof give the following as promising - less velocity by about 100 fps as compared to Factory or CFE and Lever, but still great ballistically.

Hornady Brass
CCI 450
108 ELD-M
26.7 Varget
Mag length load
2453 fps at 28 degrees farenheit

Same as above but
25.0 xbr8208
2450 fps at 28 degrees faranheit

For reference, factory 105 Black ran 2560 and factory 108 Match ran 2580 the same day (28 degrees).

There is no such thing as a temperature stable powder...some are just more temperature sensitivite as the temperature fluctuates...but they all move, but to what degree, it varies constantly lot to powder lot, cartridge case and volume...everything has an influence. Whats fairly stable in one cartridge falls down the ladder in a different cartridge. H4350 is the only powder that has pretty fair temperature tolerances across the limited number of cartridges I've seen with actual testing data. Stabal was fair in low temps, but moved in higher Temps, Varget was mid level, RL 17 bad H414 bad according to this test and H 4350 the clear winner.. again, in this test, even so, it still moved, but a lot less then the others. But I don't shoot in extreme temperature fluctuations, most of the time its with in 20 degrees. So my go to powder is Leverevolution for the 6mm ARC, so far. It's accurate, fairly fast and works in the AR platform. So I'm no concerned about it...But that's for me. You do what ya like. I may try 6 5 Staball in the 6 ARC to see whats possible.

 

[ranger0787]

After noticing that the Hornady line uses temp-sensitive powders, I tried developing a load yesterday with Varget. I initially didn't want to use it due to QL showing the MV would be pretty low. I thought it may be better to have consistency over MV. The below results were shot at 100yds in the prone with Harris bipod and rear squeeze bag. Rifle specs are: JP Enterprises thermal-fit upper with 20" Compass Lake Engineering-chambered Criterion 6 ARC barrel which I asked them to set up for the 108gr ELD-M bullet. Daniel Defense DDM4V7 lower with TriggerTech AR trigger set at 4.5 pounds and Magpul PRS stock. Scope was a March 1.5-15x42 with MTR-4 reticle. Rifle weighs in complete at 14 pounds.
The factory Hornady 108gr ELD-M wouldn't initially shoot here in SoFla, so I took everything with me to Virginia. The temps were between 32-58F and both the ELD-M and the Hornady Black 105gr BTHP shot very well; largest groups were @ .750, smallest were @ .450 for 5 shots. Brought everything back to SoFla and the groups opened up again. So...On to Varget. I'll reload 26.2 through 26.9 in .10gr increments and see if I can spot the tightest of all. Then maybe play around with seating depths.

 

[ranger0787]

Here are the rest...

 

[Freerange13]

Too slow for that cartridge. 22 grendel can do it. 6 dasher has a hard time with 105s so this one would be too small to get it up to pressure I think. But yes my 6.5 creed ar10 with the 140s likes staball as well.

Almost everybody uses 105's in 6 Dasher. It's literally tge most used and won w in PRS. I'd stop giving people advice.

 

[SKWERLZ]

I’m running 6.5 stable in my 22 arc, easily got the speeds I want with surprising good case fill.

Even with the the shorter body it might be good in 6 arc as I’m not getting a compressed load but close to it.

I haven’t shot it long but it’s behaving well over the winter and into spans summer.

 

[JLT]

Too slow for that cartridge. 22 grendel can do it. 6 dasher has a hard time with 105s so this one would be too small to get it up to pressure I think. But yes my 6.5 creed ar10 with the 140s likes staball as well.

I can get a 105 Hybrid clocking over 3,025 fps without any problems whatsoever in my Dasher. If I could find a way to stuff more RL-16 in the case, I'm sure I could get 3,100 with safe pressures. Groups are small and repeatable at 2,980, though.