Powder options for the 284 win

[its only light]

Ok guys I may be beating this to death a bit but you guys are getting me worried. I just bought 4 pounds of rl 17 for my new 284 build. I have a stock of 162 and 168gr bullets to shoot. I bought the rl 17 because they didn't have 4831sc.

Living in the Midwest I shoot in temps from freezing to above 100 degrees. I'm getting worried that maybe I should keep looking. I'm waiting for the snow to clear so I can get to my shooting spot. I'm wondering if there are any powders that aren't talked about as frequently as the main 3. Rl17, 4350, and 4831. Any help would be great! Or am I worrying for no reason?

 

[GSPV]

http://www.6mmbr.com/7mm284.html#284win

There are several in this article.

 

[its only light]

Believe me I have read that page many times. Kinda looking for more details and real world experience. The hybrid 100v intrigues me. Kinda want more numbers on that. Barrel length used for the velocities on the 7mm page. Also looking for some others that aren't listed.

This would help when searching for powders since they are out of stock everywhere

 

[TonyR]

I mostly shoot 180 gr bullets and in the 284 Shehane so I favor slower powders. Powders that work in the Shehane also seem to work well in the straight 284. VV N165 is excellent. Not the highest velocity but excellent otherwise and it still seems to be available. N160 is a little faster and should work well with the 162 and 168 grain bullets. I found N560 better than RL-17 with comparable velocity. With the lighter bullets, N550 should also work. IMR7828SSC was the best for me in the 284 Shehane, of those mentioned here. You can also get excellent results with Norma MRP but it can be temp sensitive as can the N560. I never did much with RL-17 because I couldn't get consistent results but I have used all of those mentioned with success and at least some of them appear to be available. I would definitely try to have something other than RL-17 for your rifle, in case it doesn't work for you.

 

[its only light]

Thank you! That's exactly the type of response I was looking for. I will see what I can find after work today!

 

[Raptor]

I shoot the 162AMAXs and the 168 Bergers in my 28" 284 and it loves H4350. I tried RL17 with mixed results and H4831 was OK but H4350 really was the powder for my 284 with the 162s and 168s. My vertical is usually under .5moa all the way to 1000+yds. I have had several groups at 1000yds that had verticals of 2 to 3" spreads.

 

[turbo54]

I did a lot of load workups in the summer heat with my last 284 barrel...

It was 25.5" recoil lug to crown, bartlein, 1-9 twist, with a .100" throat.

I could push 162s to 3000fps with H4350, RE17 and Hybrid100V, but I had to push. Splitting hairs, but I want to say the 100V would go ~25fps faster than H4350 and RE17; those two seemed to perform (velocity-wise) nearly identically. Realistic velocity with the 162s was more like 2900-2930 with these powders.

I tried 175s and 180s with these powders and they seemed a bit too fast.

The H4831sc is case capacity limited (at least with a 3" COAL) with 162s and could achieve 2875fps.

I replaced that barrel with a 28" Krieger, chambered with the same reamer. Mind you, this is a short action repeater application, so the COAL I load to is 2.950"!

So far I haven't hardly done any load workup at all. It shot my first load right out of the gate, which was a 175smk over 54.5gr H4831sc, and that clocked ~2850.

I backed it down a little to 54.0gr @ 2825fps because for my shooting, the difference is negligible. After ~750 rounds, the velocity has decayed to 2800-2810 with the 54.0 load.

After messing around with the 284, I'm of the belief the H4831sc is really a bit too slow for all but the heaviest bullets, but H4350 is too fast for all but the lightest (long range) bullets. The 100V is between the two, and offers better load density than H4831sc. To me it seems ideal, except it is temperature sensitive. Too bad Hodgdon doesn't offer an extreme powder in between H4831 and H4350.

 

[its only light]

I went everywhere in town and the only thing I could find that I could use at any of them was hybrid 100v. I bought the two pound limit to try. I can deal with a little temp sensitivity as long as its not super dramatic. Some of the things I've read about rl 17 kind of scare me for the type of shooting I do.

 

[racesnake]

I've used rl-17 for years and have not had temp/pressure variations any worse than some of the so-called extreme powders. I think where some folks (me included) get in trouble with pressure is they're running ragged-edge loads and ANY variation in atmospheric conditions can cause pressures to escalate. They then blame it on the powder when it's actually a loading problem. IMO!

 

[its only light]

Interesting. I definitely plan on trying it out. Hopefully I have the same experience as you. I don't really plan to push it to the edge.

 

[X-RingCustomGunsmithing]

I run RL-17 in mine with the sierra 175 SMK for my f-class load it runs great but I haven't tested it for cold weather since competitions are summer time. I also started out with H4350 and it shoots extremely well as well the RL-17 gave slightly higher velocities for me so I stuck with it.

 

[Heman]

In talking with him Bryan Litz started with 4831SC powder then since has gone to 4350 powder in his .284 Win with the 180 Hybrids. Said 4350 helps with vertical spread.

 

[flatlander]

turbo54 - Actually, Hodgdon does make a powder with a rate between 4350 & 4831SC - plain old H4831 is about 2% faster than the SC version. Might not sound like much, but it's one of my favorites in my 284s.

As Tony mentioned, N165 is also very good - not the best velocity, but very good accuracy, plus one of the lowest flame temps listed in QuickLoad, so it's gonna be a little easier on throats than 4831, and a bunce better in that regard than 4350. I bought an 8lb jug of 7828SSC before all this craziness/shortage got started, and only tried one load with 180 VLDs out of a 28" 5R Bartlein on a DTA SRS. Velocity was similar to what I get with 4831, but accuracy wasn't much to shout about. Perhaps it's worth further experimenting (seating depth/primers); otherwise, I might as well see if I can trade it locally for something I have more use for.