Article on St Mark's powders

[RegionRat]

https://www.gunsandammo.com/editorial/ball-powder-st-marks-powder/462658

Just FYI - Some nightstand reading on St Mark's powders where a variation of ball powder is mentioned.

..."The most recent development by St. Marks Powder addresses one of the biggest drawbacks of Ball powder propellant: poor temperature sensitivity performance as compared to extruded stick powders. St. Marks Powder has solved that problem and is now offering a line of propellant called “AccuFlat.” This family of powders matches Hodgdon’s Varget, H4350, H1000 and Retumbo for charge weight, performance and temperature sensitivity. Initial reports from the industry indicate that this propellant also offers high levels of accuracy. The military is currently taking a close look at these propellants for its match ammunition because of its loadability, performance and reduced cost. "...

 

[KMart]

It will be interesting to see how well they work in the shooting sports. I hope they are a success. I am curious if StaBall is one of the AccuFlat powders.

 

[6MMsteve]

is the accuflat powders on the market, by reading General Dynamics it isn't on the market yet still pending by what I understand

 

[KMart]

is the accuflat powders on the market, by reading General Dynamics it isn't on the market yet still pending by what I understand

From the article
St Marks Powder has solved that problem and is now offering a line of propellant called “AccuFlat.”

I would think that they would put out one powder as a test to see how well it would be received, prior to developing an entire line of powders. Maybe that test was StaBall.

 

[Fuj]

Staball must have been the first test to the market. I ran it in
several cartridges when it came out, but it did not surpass any
of my stick powders. It did shoot as well in a few loads but I'm
not looking for "as well". I did find it's slower and dirtier then
H4350, and Reloder 16, and could get more in the case, just not
as accurate as the the first two. I also noticed static problems
with the stuff I never get with stick powders.

 

[Gtscotty]

Slower velocities or burn rate than H4350? Slower velocities has certainly not been my experience, StaBall has given me better velocities in 6.5, .30-06 and 6GT. Not quite RL16 velocities, and at higher grain weights, but that's to be expected for a slower burn rate powder. It hasn't been dirtier than RL16 for me, but that's not saying much.

A poster on the Hide who supposedly works in the shooting industry stated that StaBall and SMP 768 are the same technology, but different from the newer supposedly better Accuflat... I don't know if I buy that, seems like an odd coincidence for StaBall (likely produced at St Mark's since it's a ball powder) to have come out in the last few years at roughly the same time that a similar temp resistant ball powder series from the same factory has become available (but not as a separate commercial product). I called Hodgdon/Winchester probably a year ago to see if other StaBall powders were coming out, and they stated that the intent was to have a full series of StaBall powders.

Edit: per this Handloader Magazine article StaBall is a St Mark's product as well...

https://www.handloadermagazine.com/propellant-profiles-17