RL17 w/ 6BR, BRX & Dasher--Questionable

[rcw3]

I keep seeing postings where people are hoping that RL17 will be good with the 6BR, the 6 BRX and the Dasher. Based on my testing, none of these cases have enough powder capacity to effectively use RL17, even with the heavier bullets. The general rule I have is that if you have a case with enough powder capacity to effectively use H4350 with the cartridge, then you have a chance that RL17 will be a good match. The 6BR, the 6mm BRX and the 6mm Dasher are not known as being cartridges that work well with H4350, mainly because of their limited powder capacity.

Robert Whitley

 

[DukeDuke]

This is a post from John708's project and he got great results with H4350 in his 6BRX

Old post 03/08/07 Reply #25
Pierced primer problems, and new load testing.

I've been having problems lately with pierced fed 205's behind 32.5 grs of Varget and the 105 Bergers. This load has always caused an occasional pierced primer. This hasn't been a problem up to now as my primer pockets have always been tight. I got 15 reloads out of the Lapua brass before the primer pockets started to loosen.

I think the problem is related to either a batch of slightly softer brass, or some throat erosin raising pressure slightly. Before playing with JB bore compound or Tubb's throat maintance system, I thought it would be prudent to go back to the harder cups of the CCI br-4's. I did a ladder test with H-4350 and the CCI match primers in my current rifle. The velocity data is listed below:

34 grs-3030 fps. 34.5 grs-3066 fps. 35.5 grs-3110 fps 36 grs-3145 fps. There were no pressure signs or pierced primers with these loads. I shot a 5 shot group with both 35.5 grs- .37in at 100 yds. and 36 gr. .45in at 100 yds. I'm going to test the 35.5 gr. load against my current long range load on Sat. I'll post the results when I done testing.

John Skowron

 

[257Roberts]

Ah hah! Maybe the magic powder for the 257 Roberts...

 

[billmo]

Yep, should have enough case capacity in that bad boy. I am waiting on my RL-17 to try out in my 6 X 47 Shehane.

 

[rcw3]

This is a post from John708's project and he got great results with H4350 in his 6BRX

Old post 03/08/07 Reply #25
Pierced primer problems, and new load testing.

I've been having problems lately with pierced fed 205's behind 32.5 grs of Varget and the 105 Bergers. This load has always caused an occasional pierced primer. This hasn't been a problem up to now as my primer pockets have always been tight. I got 15 reloads out of the Lapua brass before the primer pockets started to loosen.

I think the problem is related to either a batch of slightly softer brass, or some throat erosin raising pressure slightly. Before playing with JB bore compound or Tubb's throat maintance system, I thought it would be prudent to go back to the harder cups of the CCI br-4's. I did a ladder test with H-4350 and the CCI match primers in my current rifle. The velocity data is listed below:

34 grs-3030 fps. 34.5 grs-3066 fps. 35.5 grs-3110 fps 36 grs-3145 fps. There were no pressure signs or pierced primers with these loads. I shot a 5 shot group with both 35.5 grs- .37in at 100 yds. and 36 gr. .45in at 100 yds. I'm going to test the 35.5 gr. load against my current long range load on Sat. I'll post the results when I done testing.

John Skowron

Yeah - so what happened with his Saturday results?

One test at the range does not mean H4350 generally works well in most BRX's and Dashers,and it doesn't or a lot of shooters would be using it - and they are not). He also did not post ES and SD numbers.

You can shoot H4350 in the 6BR, the BRX and the Dasher but other powders work a lot better in them,i.e. faster powders) because of their limited capacity.


Robert Whitley

 

[DukeDuke]

I guess we won't know till someone tries RL17 in BRX or Dasher

 

[flatlander]

Curiousity & a lot of prodding from a buddy who also shoots a Dasher - but who is at Perry with his service rifle right now - led to a comprehensive test of RL17 with DTAC 115s this evening. I loaded one round with a Wolf SRM primer, 35.3grs. of RL17, and seated a moly'd 115 to jump .020". It clocked 2771fps out of a 30" Krieger .236" bore 8-twist, according to my CED Millenium chrono. The barrel was clean, so from past experience, I'd expect avg. vel. to be as much as 30-40fps faster once a few moly'd rounds had been fired. The high temp here today was 77F, so you might gain another 30-40fps on a day with temps in the 90s - not sure how temp. sensitive this new stuff is, but that's about what I'd expect based on past experience with RL15. I'd estimate that there's enough case capacity left to get around 36grs. in under a 115, which might give another 50-60fps. Best case scenario, based on these estimates for a warmer day, with a fouled barrel, and as much RL17 as you can stuff into a Dasher case would be around 2900fps. N550 will beat that any day of the week, and in at least two Dashers that I know of, give good enough accuracy with DTAC 115s to shoot cleans with high X-counts at both 600 & 1000.

Y'all are welcome to test away with your own BRXs & Dashers, but I'm saving the rest of my RL17 for my 6x47Ls & 284s - though I may also try a little of it in a 6.5x55 Ackley.

 

[Varminator]

I keep seeing postings where people are hoping that RL17 will be good with the 6BR, the 6 BRX and the Dasher. Based on my testing, none of these cases have enough powder capacity to effectively use RL17, even with the heavier bullets. The general rule I have is that if you have a case with enough powder capacity to effectively use H4350 with the cartridge, then you have a chance that RL17 will be a good match. The 6BR, the 6mm BRX and the 6mm Dasher are not known as being cartridges that work well with H4350, mainly because of their limited powder capacity.

Robert Whitley

I think it [RL-17] may prove to be a good powder in 22 Dasher as H4350 works well.
Mark