Hodgdon CFE223 in the 308 Winchester Cartridge.....

rojogrande

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Just wondering if anyone has worked up some loads with this new powder from Hodgdon....? From what I've read, it is supposed to be a top performer as far as muzzle velocity is concerned......competing against Alliant's Pro Power 2000-MR powder......Magnum primers with this ball powder in cold weather might be the way to go for a more efficient burn of the powder stack.....

Cabela's Canada has this new propellant in stock at this time....

Anyone chronograph their loads yet....?
 
I haven't seen any spectacular results over 748 or Varget in the .308. Now it's just another can of powder I don't really use like Leverolution or Superformance which also promised better performance but doesn't deliver.
 
I wasn't super impressed either, no chrony results but when everyone ran out of H4895 I grabbed some to try, couldn't get it to group 1/2 as well as the 4895. I mean I didn't fight with it too much but after a few different attempts I wasn't all the impressed by it.
 
I know not a 308 but I tried it in my 223. Varget and h4895 group better, give me good speed, are cleaner, and use less powder. I use 25.7gr of varget/h4895 and needed 28 to get close to the same speed form cfe. Accuracy want as good either.
 
Guess it's good for making cheap plinking ammo? I bought 2lbs of it to try out on my next range session. I'll pack the chrony with me.
 
I tried CFE in 308, 22-250 and 223. I found Varget to be a better performer in 308 and 22-250. I did a fair bit of testing two summers ago when it first appeared. In 308 when I got the accuracy I was after the vel. was just not there, and it seemed to favor the heavier bullets where Varget seemed to be a middle ground. I only did a little testing in 22-250 and all indications were it would prove to be about the same as my current load of 4064 in accuracy and vel. In the .223 I found it to be fairly accurate, I still need to do some more testing, I found that the harder I pushed it the better accuracy I got, I am 1 gr above max with a 53 gr out of a 24 inch barrel for a grand total of .... (drum roll).... 3333 to 3370 fps over 10 rounds. By Hodgdons manual I should be getting above 3450 fps I think if I had a fresh barrel from Gillard I might get that kind of vel. But back to the 308 I feel there are better powders 8208, 4064, r15 Varget just to name a few.
 
In the .223 I found it to be fairly accurate, I still need to do some more testing, I found that the harder I pushed it the better accuracy I got, I am 1 gr above max with a 53 gr out of a 24 inch barrel for a grand total of .... (drum roll).... 3333 to 3370 fps over 10 rounds. By Hodgdons manual I should be getting above 3450 fps I think if I had a fresh barrel from Gillard I might get that kind of vel. But back to the 308 I feel there are better powders 8208, 4064, r15 Varget just to name a few.

Thats kind of funny. I used cfe and 53gr vmax in the 223 and at 28gr (half a grain under max) I was getting 2990-3010fps. Bolt lift was just getting hard and primers were flattening a bit as well.
 
Thats kind of funny. I used cfe and 53gr vmax in the 223 and at 28gr (half a grain under max) I was getting 2990-3010fps. Bolt lift was just getting hard and primers were flattening a bit as well.

That's reloading for you! What is safe in one gun might not be safe in another gun. How much jump were you giving it, I have 15 thou jump. At what temp were you shooting? I was testing at 3 degrees sooo my load might be a little hot on a warm day. I have a 1-12 and just a little flattening of the primers.
 
That's reloading for you! What is safe in one gun might not be safe in another gun. How much jump were you giving it, I have 15 thou jump. At what temp were you shooting? I was testing at 3 degrees sooo my load might be a little hot on a warm day. I have a 1-12 and just a little flattening of the primers.

Col was the same as my varget load 2.244" When that failed to impress I went long to like 2.392" still failed to impress. Got almost the same results. My twist is 1-9 in the axis. Was shooting in the summer so probably around 25-30 degrees.
 
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