Which primer for staball 6.5

[dthomas]

I just picked up a few pounds of staball 6.5 to try in a 7 saum i am having built. It will be used as a hunting rifle and i'm planning on using bullets in the 160 gr. class. I have never used a ball powder for rifle, i have read that ball powders can be hard to ignite. Has anyone had problems using large rifle primers with this powder when it gets cold? Should i just use magnum primers to be safe? I have cci 200 and 250 primers. I didn't want to do load development with the 200's and find out they aren't enough to reliably ignite the powder charge in cold weather when shooting at a deer. I am in Louisiana, we don't see temps get into the single digits much less below 0.

 

[RustyInBend]

I shoot nothing but StaBall in three 6.5-CM rifles I have ... all work great with CCI LRP's (#200). Never had an ignition problem, and my loads are giving very consistent SD's and velocities.

 

[6MMsteve]

Sta ball can build pressure pretty fast, it fooled me but if I was hunting in the winter yes I would use the magnum primers and develop loads as same, the extra fire won't hurt, imho

 

[L.Sherm]

Which ever one is the most accurate.

 

[Gb300wm]

Magnum primers, esp in the 7saum. I always use magnum primers with ball powder.

 

[Fuj]

Standard primers are fine. Staball is more of a flattened flake
ball powder, and as was mentioned it can spike on you. Never
found and accurate match worthy load for it other then in the
lower nodes. A little dirty also.

 

[MUP]

I shoot nothing but StaBall in three 6.5-CM rifles I have ... all work great with CCI LRP's (#200). Never had an ignition problem, and my loads are giving very consistent SD's and velocities.

I shoot Staball 6.5 in my 6.5 Creedmoor and use CCI LR primers as well.

 

[bks22345]

I use Staball in 6.5CM, 270 win and with 168s in a 280AI all with Fed 210s and never had a problem.

 

[dthomas]

Thanks for the replies. When the rifle is finished i'll see how well staball works in it and if it is accurate enough with aceptable velocity i'll see which primer it likes better. If i don't like the powder i'll move on to something else. I have h4350 and would like to try reloder 23 when it becomes available again.

 

[Rob01]

Sitting at the range right now putting first 20 rounds through a new 6 Creed barrel and using StaBall and they are going off fine with Fed 210 primers. I am using the minimum load also.

 

[Davidheart]

Whatever you do with Staball, make sure you don't push it outside published data. As others have mentioned, it has a reputation to spike easily. I never had a poor experience with the 270win and Staball using LRP but know individuals which had.

Do your test loads in the warmest temp you'll shoot in and use the most consistent primer you can.

I didn't realize there was published Staball load data for the 7 SAUM....

 

[Creedmoor02]

I’ve used rem 9 1/2 primers with it, but that’s all. I never had a problem.

 

[MUP]

Also in my experience it (Staball 6.5) shot inconsistently until I reached published book max load, then tightened up considerably. This was using 153 gr ATips, CCI LR primers, in my 6.5 CM.

 

[Mr. Seven]

I'm loading StaBALL with the Hornady 140gr ELD and I've found single digit SD loads at 42 and 44gr using WLR primers. I'm starting to think that this powder would shoot better with heavier ELDs (like 147s). I saw no pressure indicators up to the Max published data. 44gr loads gave me 2800 fps from a Bergara HMR Pro, although I suspect the barrel is still smoothing out a bit.

 

[jepp2]

I've shot some in 6CM's using SRP during warmer weather. They worked just fine.

 

[Murray Brook]

My experience with StaBall 6.5 has been in my 7/08 and 22/250. I always used mag primers in both cartridges, found the powder dirty at lower pressure but clean up nicely as pressure increased and one grain can take you from a good load to a blown primer. Happened to me. As others have posted best to stay with published loads.