Winchester Staball 6.5

DGY

DGY

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Winchester Staball 6.5… looks pretty good on paper, is it as good as it sounds?

Who on here that uses it? For what calibers and what weight bullets?

On paper it sounds more versatile than Varget or H4895 or H4350!

I would use it for 30-06, 7x57, 8x57 and 9.3x62…. Any thoughts?
Cheers
 
Nothing is more versatile that h4895 due to reduced load options. 6.5 is as versatile as anything else within its burn rate. I've always had higher SDs than many other powders in the same range and accuracy was never anything stand out. It will definitely do the job tho dont get me wrong. For a ball powder in the same burn rate, superformance is much better. Both produce high velocities. I've been using ram shot hunter too which I'd take over staball. Vihtavuori top pick if you can find it.
 
DGY said:
Winchester Staball 6.5… looks pretty good on paper, is it as good as it sounds?

Who on here that uses it? For what calibers and what weight bullets?

On paper it sounds more versatile than Varget or H4895 or H4350!

I would use it for 30-06, 7x57, 8x57 and 9.3x62…. Any thoughts?
Cheers
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IMR4350 or H4895 would IMHO be a better choice for the cartridges you list.

I tried a couple of pounds of it and found it was great in cases with smaller case capacities but a standard bolt face diameter.

It's noticeably to fast for the standard intermediate cases you list, other than the 9.3x62 because of it's larger bore diameter which requires faster powders for best performance.

My biggest issue with this powder was that pressures increased quickly with heavier bullets in all of the cartridges I tried it in.

It's great for the 6.5cm and gives consistent accuracy, not so much in the 6.5x55 with heavier/longer bullets 140 grains and over.

I tried it in the 8x57 but I mostly shoot 200 grain bullets and pressures were to high well before I could get the velocities I like.

Now, all this being said, in the present drought of components, IF Stabal6.5 is all you can get, it will do the job, but you have to do some due diligence, by looking online and at manuals, rather than just taking the words of people you don't know and proceed your load development from there.
 
I've used Staball in the 7x57 with 160 gr bullets, & .30/06 with 165's. Contrary to Bearhunter's experience, I found it slightly slower than W760.

I've gotten eyebrow-raising speed from the 7x57 without any pressure signs in the brass. I wish I had some way of pressure testing it. Good loading data is almost impossible to find for the 7x57 unless you source older manuals, which won't have the newer powders.

For the .30/06, the velocity was slightly faster. I took the data from the hodgdon website at the time, but I think they've updated their loads since then. I've noticed a tiny amount of cratering in the primers, but no flattening. I might have to back off a bit in my loads, but I want to fire some factory ammo first to see if the appearance of cratering is a fault in the rifle or not.

IMO, the powder is too slow for the 9.3x62 for best results.
 
bearhunter said:
It's great for the 6.5cm and gives consistent accuracy, not so much in the 6.5x55 with heavier/longer bullets 140 grains and over.
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Shows that every rifle is unique. One of the best load in my Tikka T3X in 6.5x55 is 140gr Accubonds and 6.5 Staball.
 
Tried it in my 7/08 with 145 gr Speer and in my 22/250 with 52 gr bullets. Worked good, got appx 3000 ft/sec in my 7/08 and 3800 ft/sec with my 22/250. Found it about 2 grs slower than WW760. JME
 
One thing I forgot to mention in my post is that I found StaBal 6.5 spike real fast. I found that one grain can make a big difference pressure wise.
 
9.3 Mauser, that's very interesting.

Maybe I was doing something wrong??? Wouldn't be the first time.

My go to pressure testing method is to measure the expansion of the base of the bullet, on the web, just after the extractor cut.

You have to measure each case first for proper comparison and mark them accordingly. I use a black Sharpie for this.

If the expansion is over .0015 IMHO you're very likely exceeding maximum pressures.

I measure the expansion differences after the case is once fired. Not all chambers are cut equal.
 
2970 FPS from my 30-06 Browning BAR with Staball 6.5 and Sierra SBT 165. Extremely accurate as well.
 
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I've been playing with it in 22-250, 7-08, 6.5x55 and will probably try it in 338rcm. It's netted the fastest velocity I've got to safely in all those calibers. I actually just grabbed a magnetospeed to verify.
 
mimile said:
2970 FPS from my 30-06 Browning BAR with Staball 6.5 and Sierra SBT 165. Extremely accurate as well.
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Yeah, I'm getting 2940 FPS in my Model 70 .30-06 with 165gr Hornady SSTs. This stuff is great, and the consistency is very good, too. SD of 12, ES of 22, sub-MOA 3-shot groups (barrel gets ripping hot otherwise).
 
You folks are getting much better results than I did.

To bad I gave the powder I had left away to a friend with a 6.5cm. He loves it as well. Hmmmmmmm?
 
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