Hi all. I’ve got this Remington 7600 in 35 Whelen. I’ve become very fond of the Hornady Superformance 200 grn. Factory loading. I decided to make my own and purchased some Superformance powder and some bullets. Like a fool I assumed that Superformance powder available to joe blow would be the same as what’s in the loaded ammo but from what I can find online this isn’t the case. Has anyone got real experience with this powder in this caliber? I’m in no hurry to splode one of my favourite pig guns in my face. Thanks in advance for any information.
Superformance powder
- Thread starter Gun hog
- Start date
Hodgdon Superformance is certainly not the same powder as used in all the Hornady factory ammo. Its burn rate is near H4831/RL22, which puts it much too slow burning for use in the 35 Whelen.
If I had to guess, the component powder is close in burn rate to what a lot of the meat & potatoes offerings from Hornady are loaded with. 243,6.5 Creed, 270, 7mm Mag, 30-06, 300wm, 338wm
If I had to guess, the component powder is close in burn rate to what a lot of the meat & potatoes offerings from Hornady are loaded with. 243,6.5 Creed, 270, 7mm Mag, 30-06, 300wm, 338wm
My experience is the same. Quite slow, and as such not suitable for the Whelen. I have some excellent loads in the 7mm mag with it. Dave.
OP, Ganderite has several posts on the differences between "cannister grade" powders and powders produced for commercial ammunition manufacturers.
There was NOTHING FOOLISH about your assumption. The information on the Hornady boxes is quite misleading.
They ordered a special lot of Superformance, with a special coating to create a faster burn rate than cannister grades normally made available to you and I.
This isn't unusual for ammo manufactures.
IMHO, the powder Hornady uses in their advertised Superformance loads is almost identical to Varget.
Last fall, a nice young fellow, with the same REM 7600 rifle that you have, came to me for some lessons on reloading. His rifle is a late model carbine, with an 18.5 in bbl and synthetic stock.
He's a south paw and has become familiar with and accustomed to pump action firearms.
He brought three boxes of mostly once fired brass, there were five unfired factory rounds included.
We pulled the bullets and poured the powder in them onto a scale to get an average weight. That was 58.5 grains.
We all know that you can't establish what a powder is by how it looks.
The powder in the factory loads looked identical to what I had in my Superformance cannister grade tub. Spherical in shape and the same size.
Performance wasn't even close to similar. For safety reasons, we used a bold action rifle as a test bed for both the factory and hand loads, before switching to using the hand loads in his rifle. The 7600 isn't quite as strong as the bolt action. Not that it will Kaboom but I've seen them unlock the bolt with hot loads.
Safety, wouldn't have been a concern if we had used the same charge of powder under the 200grn bullets he had.
We used the magnetospeed to check velocities. The velocity out of his carbine, was around 2500fps with the factory load and about 2250fps with our hand load, using the same amount of "CANNISTER" Superformance.
We knew when to quit with the Superformance we had on hand.
We switched to VARGET.
The load was 60.0 grains of Varget over CCI250 primers, under 200 grain Hndy Spire Point bullets
This load came very close to duplicating the factory load at 2470 fps average, with appx 35fps spread.
The very short bbl on that very handy and well handling rifle, shot very well but also limited velocities. The above load delivered 1.6moa groups out to 200 yards which was what the trajectory was sighted in for. 2 inches high at 100 yds and appx 12 inches low at 300yds.
There was NOTHING FOOLISH about your assumption. The information on the Hornady boxes is quite misleading.
They ordered a special lot of Superformance, with a special coating to create a faster burn rate than cannister grades normally made available to you and I.
This isn't unusual for ammo manufactures.
IMHO, the powder Hornady uses in their advertised Superformance loads is almost identical to Varget.
Last fall, a nice young fellow, with the same REM 7600 rifle that you have, came to me for some lessons on reloading. His rifle is a late model carbine, with an 18.5 in bbl and synthetic stock.
He's a south paw and has become familiar with and accustomed to pump action firearms.
He brought three boxes of mostly once fired brass, there were five unfired factory rounds included.
We pulled the bullets and poured the powder in them onto a scale to get an average weight. That was 58.5 grains.
We all know that you can't establish what a powder is by how it looks.
The powder in the factory loads looked identical to what I had in my Superformance cannister grade tub. Spherical in shape and the same size.
Performance wasn't even close to similar. For safety reasons, we used a bold action rifle as a test bed for both the factory and hand loads, before switching to using the hand loads in his rifle. The 7600 isn't quite as strong as the bolt action. Not that it will Kaboom but I've seen them unlock the bolt with hot loads.
Safety, wouldn't have been a concern if we had used the same charge of powder under the 200grn bullets he had.
We used the magnetospeed to check velocities. The velocity out of his carbine, was around 2500fps with the factory load and about 2250fps with our hand load, using the same amount of "CANNISTER" Superformance.
We knew when to quit with the Superformance we had on hand.
We switched to VARGET.
The load was 60.0 grains of Varget over CCI250 primers, under 200 grain Hndy Spire Point bullets
This load came very close to duplicating the factory load at 2470 fps average, with appx 35fps spread.
The very short bbl on that very handy and well handling rifle, shot very well but also limited velocities. The above load delivered 1.6moa groups out to 200 yards which was what the trajectory was sighted in for. 2 inches high at 100 yds and appx 12 inches low at 300yds.
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Are you shooting a Rem 7600??? They will not take the same pressures as a bolt rifle. That's why we first tested the loads out of a bolt rifle, to check for pressure signs.
The load we settled on, was the most accurate out of his rifle and it suits his needs quite well. Shooting from a blind and tree stand, on the edge of his father's dairy farm, hay fields. Mostly at Black Bears but also Deer.
Some POWER BURN RATE charts rate the Superformance powder burning rate right at H414 ?? as in the newest Nosler manual #9 - not near as SLOW as H4831 and Hornady does too Rate it at H414 burn rate ! So ??? RJ
YOUR OPINIONS ARE ????
YOUR OPINIONS ARE ????
This chart shows it at - Close to H4831 Burn Rate ! ?? RJ
CFE223 is magic in the .35 Whelen IMO. I don't bother with lighter bullets though, if there was a good, high BC bonded bullet in the 200 grain range I would consider but the 200 Accubond isn't that hot at long range. I prefer higher BC and a higher SD for my Whelen use case. Getting near 2650 FPS out of the Speer 250gr and that's fast approaching 4000 ft/lbs of energy, no pressure signs at 2650 but I backed off .3 grains to about 2625.
It's one of those loads that is almost anomalous - I know lots of reloaders who were fine getting ~2400 with 250s, but then there is this monster load (Power Pro 2000-MR is another, 2700+ with 250s) that cranks it up a big step and is just brutally crushing.
It's one of those loads that is almost anomalous - I know lots of reloaders who were fine getting ~2400 with 250s, but then there is this monster load (Power Pro 2000-MR is another, 2700+ with 250s) that cranks it up a big step and is just brutally crushing.
Any one BURN Superformance in any Cartridges ? RJ
https://www.canadiangunnutz.com/for...-7mm-Mauser-175gr-Loads-10-Different-Powders?
https://www.canadiangunnutz.com/forum/showthread.php/1173651-Some-8X57-Loads-with-a-218-gr-Bullet?
https://www.canadiangunnutz.com/for...62-Loads-285-gr-PRVI-Three-Different-Powders?
In the cases I've used it, its Burn Rate varies depending on the application - either a bit faster or a bit slower than H4831.
As Andy states, it depends on which cartridge it's in.
I would say it's closer to the old IMR4831 than H4831 in most medium size cases, with 30 caliber bores.
It's a great powder for the 338-06 and gives me the some of the better velocities/accuracy of the powders I have on hand for that cartridge, with 225 grain bullets or heavier.
It seems to do better with heavier bullets, than lighter bullets.
Hodgdon's site says it the next slowest powder after H4831, so you need to do some careful work up with it
I don't use it much, because it's always been difficult to find in large containers and I have other powders that are kissing cousins, performance wise in the cartridges I would use it in.
Superformance is rated as an "extreme" powder, so not over temperature sensetive.
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bearhunter this is interesting :
Some POWER BURN RATE charts rate the Superformance powder burning rate right at H414 ?? as in the newest Nosler manual #9 - not near as SLOW as H4831 and Hornady does too Rate it at H414 burn rate ! So ??? RJ
YOUR OPINIONS ARE ????
Some POWER BURN RATE charts rate the Superformance powder burning rate right at H414 ?? as in the newest Nosler manual #9 - not near as SLOW as H4831 and Hornady does too Rate it at H414 burn rate ! So ??? RJ
YOUR OPINIONS ARE ????
Jim, In my humble opinion, Superformance is considerably slower than H414/W760.
I load 60 grains behind the 180 AB in the 30-06 for just shy of 2800. No abnormal pressure signs.
[Cannot go there with H414, 57.5 is a max load in my Vanguard] Dave.
I load 60 grains behind the 180 AB in the 30-06 for just shy of 2800. No abnormal pressure signs.
[Cannot go there with H414, 57.5 is a max load in my Vanguard] Dave.
Eagleye has had similar results to mine.
If I'm going to be shooting a powder, such as H414/W760 in a rifle with a larger than normal bore diameter, I will use those powders with lighter bullets.
If I'm going to be shooting heavier bullets, say a 250 grain bullet in my 338-06 Superformance would be a better choice and give more consistent perfomance all around, before showing any signs of pressure.
I agree, the charts rate it differently, not sure why but if it's better to err on the side of caution if you're at all concerned
If I'm going to be shooting a powder, such as H414/W760 in a rifle with a larger than normal bore diameter, I will use those powders with lighter bullets.
If I'm going to be shooting heavier bullets, say a 250 grain bullet in my 338-06 Superformance would be a better choice and give more consistent perfomance all around, before showing any signs of pressure.
I agree, the charts rate it differently, not sure why but if it's better to err on the side of caution if you're at all concerned
