This Did NOT Work

[Ganderite]

At the range again. Tried Stabal Match in a 6.5 Creed and compared identical loads with N150.

Bit of a disaster. I used small primer brass (has not been a problem in the past) with Winchester stnd small rifle primers.

The Extreme Spread was the worst I have ever seen .Some over 100 fps! (These are all weighed charges.) Every shot with Stabal was a definite Click-Bang. Some of the N150 shots seemed a little slow, too.

I am going to repeat the test with Magnum CCI small rifle and with Stnd LR and Mag LR. Ball powders like Stabal are harder to ignite and I am guessing the little primer just does not have enough energy.

The good news is that my heavy barrel was not too fussed about all the velocity variations and shot some groups well under 1.00"

 

[Ganderite]

The fact that the small primer did not work well with the extruded powder or the ball powder was interesting. I am going to load the same loads again, but this time try a stnd large primer, a magnum large primer and a magnum small primer. I am hoping that the magnum small primer will at least work with the extruded primer brass. I have a quantity of that brass and need something that will work. It may not work with ball powder, but that is ok if at least extruded powder like N150 and 4350 works.

The huge Extreme Spreads were shocking. I would like to see an ES of at least in the 20s.

 

[old303]

With the current market shortage of small magnum or large primers, some folk may have to stick with extruded powders. Or is it possible that small rifle primers are better at lighting the volume of powder in a .223 case than a full-size 6.5CM/.308 case? Maybe the smaller calibre deserves a closer look nowadays.

I still have a wee stash of LRP and those will be earmarked for 6.5CM with ball powder.

 

[prarie_boy]

I’ve been playing with staball 6.5 in my 6.5x55 was able to work a 1/2 MOA load with Sierra MK’s good ES and SD. Tried the same powder with 200g bullets in my .30-06 good SD and ES but was fighting with the groups harder then I should have been.

 

[todbartell]

CCI450 in my 6.5cm Lapua brass ignites Varget, H4350, IMR4451, RL16, H4831sc, & RL26 no problem

With CFE223 & Win760 ball powder, bad ignition. Noticeable clickbooms and SD's in the 40fps range

 

[209jones]

Interesting stuff, Staball was only maybe around for 2 yrs when I retired, thought about it hard at the time, as I like to use ball powders in the thrower, and me being lazy, likes using the thrower. Kinda glad I didn't at the time, I bought H4350 & RL16 & 26., as I have MR 4350, WW760 around to try anyway, 760 has worked good for a hunting load in my 7-08. Over the time since, I've seen a lot of folk talking about erratic results with Match and the 6.5 Staball, definitely a lot of mixed results out there, haven't seen much on the HD yet.

As to the small primer issue, in cooler weather, Johnny's Reloading Bench did a 4 vid series on it, he had a pile of trouble with hangfires, so he tested various primers and powders at the time, it's a real hit & miss proposition with them and some powders as to temps. It was enough for me to not bother with trying SRP brass on my CM. Think half the hype on the SRP brass was better SD's to some extent, and being able to hot load them and have the pockets last a bit better, with the "My CM is a 6.5-06" crowd.

Thinking maybe I'd lke to try some N555, can't decide between N140 or 150 either for 135-144gr for the CM, results on paper with RL16 & H4350 are about the same, virtually interchangeable, RL16 is a tad faster. Think I'll save the RL26 for the 30R Blaser, found some loads on that, I need to test out with 185 bullets, looks to be much improved over RL22.

 

[Ganderite]

Did a lot of shooting today. 100 rounds of 6.5 Creed, all with 140gr HP Match bullets.

In a previous test with N150 and StaBal Match, using standard Small Rifle primers, the results were poor. he StabAl was almost 100% click-bang. The ball powder did not want to ignite. The N150 was not very good, either.

So today I primed 50 cases with CCI Small Rifle magnum and shot both N150 and StaBal to see if the click-bangs would stop and the ES-SD would improve. The ES-Sd improved - a bit - but results were not great and I still got some mild click-bangs.

Conclusion: I have a lot of small primer brass. I will buy no more and load what I have only with a stick powder.

For the other test, I loaded 25 cases with stnd Large Rifle primers (CCI) and 25 with LR Magnum (CCI) primers. I loaded all these with StaBal Match powder. There was some mild click-bang with the standard primers, but all the magnum primers were a pure BANG. (Confirming the loading manual recommendation).

I will try two more different brands of Magnum LR primers, in the hopes of finding a Dillon load with the ball powder. If that does not work out, I will use the N150. I have 3 jugs of it.

 

[todbartell]

Been shooting StaBALL Match recently in a Howa 6.5 Grendel / CCI450 small rifle magnum primer. No ignition problems, in fact the SD is fantastic

 

[Ganderite]

Your report gives me hope. I am about to try another brand of LR and LRM.

 

[LeeEnfieldNo.4_mk1]

Interesting.

I was thinking of trying Staball in .303 British, mainly do to metering, but the price point and actual availability is a major part of it.

Anyone try it in .303? Would Staball 6.5 or Match be a better option?

Was previously using IMR4895 but thats shot up to over 100/pound and is harder to find these days.

 

[todbartell]

StaBALL Match would be the one to use in a 303B

 

[hobophobe]

Good to know. I was going to buy a few pounds.....its pretty affordable close by locally. But I have had it easy with H and imr4350 in 6.5 swede.....think ill just stay there. Even 100v was alright.