This Did NOT Work

Ganderite

Ganderite

CGN Ultra frequent flyer
Rating - 99.7%
355   1   0
Location
Farm south of North Bay
I load 308 match ammo by weighting each charge of Varget (or N140) with a RCBS ChargeMaster. This a bit slow, but the ammo has been excellent.

I recently acquired 3 jugs of Winchester StaBall Match in the hopes that I could develop a ball powder load that I could make with the Dillon. Ball powder tends to throw excellent charges.

My first test with StaBall was in 308 with 175 gr bullets. Averaged around .6 of a minute. Excellent! That is how I will make my own 308 ammo in the future.

I also make ammo for my son. He needs 308 ammo loaded with 155 gr bullets. I estimated that the Staball was a tad slower than N140, so would need about a grain more powder.

The first group was with the usual N140 load. Did ok, although my rifle does not like this bullet.
ZE9b1RK.jpg


The I tried 47.2 gr of StaBall. A bit slower and a terrible group.
hTUXuH7.jpg


So I tried more powder, to get the velocity closer to the N140 load. Still terrible. But notice the ES and SC is very good.
9rIwwuA.jpg


I started to think something must have gone wrong with the rifle or scope, so shot another N140 group. Good group.
nQJKXll.jpg


I then tried a similar test with a 6.5x55 loaded with 129 gr bullets. Terrible groups, but a previous test with 140 gr bullets was excellent. It seem this powder needs heavier bullets....

I was getting the chrony data via bluetooth from a chrony about 20 feet in front of the bench. A buddy just got a Garmin, so he put it on the bench and we compared. The Garmin was a consistent 50fps faster. I assume that is the difference between muzzle velocity and down range velocity.
 
Last edited:
Just be sure it is a bullet issue and not the gun, I went back today and developed a load using IVI military brass, StaBall match and 175 gr bullets. Not great groups, but still groups - not patterns.
QqPe6Eb.jpg


This barrel is about to be replaced.
 
Maybe in the 308 with that bullet, StaBALL is quite a bit slower than N140 than you thought. With 1.3 grs more powder it's still producing an MV slower than N140, hence its pressure will be lower than it is with N140. Maybe you need to go progressively higher with StaBALL until you're seeing 2800 fps or so.
 
Last edited:
I never did have any success with any type of ball powder. My latest was StaBall 6.5, reloading for 7x57 with one inch, 3 shot groups, however not to my liking. Alliant, Hodgdon and IMR have been great powders. I recently purchased 2 pounds of Reloder #16 (temperature insenseitivity/copper cleaning) which I plan to use this coming 2025 winter for load development, in my 6mm remington.
 
track, I have had a completely different experience with "ball" type powders than you have.

I use at least a half dozen different ball powders for cartridges from the 17 rem to 30-06, with excellent results.

That being said, I've found some rifles will not shoot any of the recommended ball powders well.

I load for a lot of different cartridges and rifles, so from my experience I've come to the conclusion that different barrels will shoot certain bullets into little tiny groups and others of similar weight and length into what could be best described as large clusters.

As for Stabal, I've never been able to get it to shoot well in any of my rifles.

I've made three different attempts, utilizing four rifles, with the same case manufacturer, four different bullet weights for each cartridge and run several ladder tests with each. The "groups" were mediocre at best.

This is my personal experience. Others I know use this powder in several different cartridges, some the same as I tested, and shoot fantastically small groups with the same bullets and very similar powder charges.

Their rifles aren't any more accurate than mine, but they do work well with StaBall or StaBall Match.

Go figure.
 
Ganderite,

If you're seeing 50 fps difference in an optical chronograph set at 20 ft vs Garmin, then about 35-40 fps of that is a "difference of opinion" between the 2 units.

The bullet loses about 10-15 fps over that distance in my experience. The Lapua app for one of my loads shows 2780 fps at muzzle vs 2769 fps at 7 metres.
 
I just tried Stabil Match in a 6.5x55. The test included a survey of 4831, N150, Win 760 and Stabl Match.

The Stabl sucked. Other powers shot tight groups over the range of charges I tried.

I have 24 pounds of this. I hope I can find a use for it.
 
Most of the folk I know using Stabal powders use it in 308 Win capacity and smaller cases, to get the best results.

I've been playing different powders for the 6.5x55 and for bullets 140 grains and heavier, I use IMR7828ssc, sc or long kernel.

My hunting rifle is a very strong/accurate Tikka T3 and the load is:

Case - Lapua
Primers - CCI250
Powder- 51.0 grains Imr 7828ssc
bullet - sierra 140/Hornady 140 Interlock, flat base or boat tail, Hornady SST IL.
Velocity - 2825fps +/- 25fps depending on which bullet used

Accuracy results - consistently sub moa out to 300 yds.

I've been playing with H100V in this cartridge as well, which is OK for the 140 grain bullets but can't produce as much velocity or accuracy without pressure signs appearing.

H100V has been around for at least ten years, but I haven't bothered with it because I had so many other powders on hand in useable amounts.

Recently, I realized I had almost 12 pounds of it on the shelf and should try it out.

It's a bit too fast for best performance in the 6.5x55 but 48.0 grains work well under 120 ttsx bullets and I would say it's a max load for my rifle.

H100V works very well in 6.5cm for both accuracy and velocity.

It's one of the best powders I've found for the 270Win, 280Rem and 7x57 Mauser with light and medium bullet weights.

Just like IMR7828, very consistent burning with extremely low velocity spreads.
 
Last edited:
I've have gotten good results with StaBal 6.5 in 2 different 7/08's I have with 140-150 gr bullets. Accuracy was good , velocity real good but I found that it spiked pressure wise real fast. Also used it in a 22/250 with 55 gr bullets and it worked real good..
 
Todbartell, you bring up something many folks don't know.

Winchester really confused the situation for a lot of people when they introduced "THREE" different types of 6.5 Stabal.

6.5 Stabal, 6.5 Stabal HD and 6.5 Stabal Match.

I believe it was an effort to cover all of the bases with only a few powders, in a similar fashion as Norma, IMR with their Enduron lineup, etc.

They are very different from each other but to confuse the issue further, they each cover a broad range of cartridges and bullet weights in an acceptable manner for most applications.

I haven't had your success with any of the Stabal offerings, but that's likely something I'm not doing right.
 
I thought only the one StabAll grade was called 6.5, with the others being HD and Match. I lucked into several pounds of the 6.5 and whether that was good luck or bad luck remains to be seen; my first bet is continuing to work up my N555 load. But I should load both and dragrace them at the range and measure groupings. I'm loading 6.5 CM so the one that says 6.5 on the can ought to allegedly do well there.
 
bearhunter said:
Winchester really confused the situation for a lot of people when they introduced "THREE" different types of 6.5 Stabal.

6.5 Stabal, 6.5 Stabal HD and 6.5 Stabal Match.
Click to expand...

Only the first Winchester StaBALL was called StaBALL 6.5

The next two releases were StaBALL Match (faster burning than StaBALL 6.5) and StaBALL HD (slower burning than StaBALL 6.5)

uK0vooz.jpeg
 
6br with 112 match burner rem 71/2 primer lapua brass
6.5staball @34.3 27
100y 5 shot groups
.5 inch dot

If you are to high in presser it will spray them to low es sd are not great
ES and SD at the best will bw to mich and groups will open up and flyer city take fair number and good groups
 

Attachments

  • d4fbab06-8fcf-4677-b12b-34148e866664.jpg
    d4fbab06-8fcf-4677-b12b-34148e866664.jpg
    78.3 KB · Views: 2
  • 767e1dc5-e988-4543-90b9-5eca42673229.jpg
    767e1dc5-e988-4543-90b9-5eca42673229.jpg
    59.3 KB · Views: 2
Just returned form the range., I gave Stabal Match another chance. I have 3 jugs of it, so really want to make it work. A ball powder I can load in my Dillon would be so handy.

I used the Sierra 175 Match King in a 308, Lapua cases, weighed charges of Stabal Match and N150. I was guessing they are similar in speed.

I loaded 45.0gr, 45.3 and 45.6gr. of each. All groups were about the same size, about 1.3". The Stabal Mtch is a tad slower - about 50fps slower at each loading. These are about max loads.

I used a standard GNX primer. ES and SDs were quite good. Some single digit SDs

I will try this powder in other calibers with the heavier bullets.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom