Reloader 22 temperature sensitivity

[Wyatt Smith]

I wanted to try a slightly slower powder in my 30-06 than IMR 4350 for use behind 180 and 200 grain bullets. I picked up a pound of reloader 22, because my various load manuals showed good results. My buddy then tells me that reloader 22 is very temp sensitive, is there any truth to that or should I have got some IMR4831 or H4831SC? Thanks for the help.

 

[fourfive8]

I have no experience with Rel 22 but Rel 19 has given me very good results in the 30-06. But most tests of the Reloader series I've seen show them to be temp sensitive. I'm likewise not sure about IMR 4831. But the H4831SC is in the extreme series so it would certainly be less temp sensitive than Rel 22. It may not matter for normal applications in the -06 unless the load was worked up to near max in cool conditions then used in very hot conditions including the ammo and/or rifle sitting in exposed sun where the actual temp of the ammo or rifle could greatly exceed the ambient temp.

 

[Edge]

RL 22 1.71 FPS per degree from what I have found on-line, every cartridge is different and sensitively is not linear.

H4831 0.37 FPS per degree, again varies by cartridge.

You can google RL22 and temp sensitivity and spend hours reading posts.

 

[Wyatt Smith]

Thanks guys! I never load near max. I don’t think I will gain any speed over 4350 I’m just hoping to gain a little accuracy. I get about 1.5 inch groups at 100 yards out of my pre 64 model 70. Thats good enough but I’d like a smaller group.

 

[Fred Gunner]

RL-15 has been Selected as the powder for U.S. Military's M118 special ball long range sniper round. So I use it for my .308 Win and 30-06 loads.

Swift recommends RL-22 as the powder for .375 Ruger 300gr. A-Frame load with the lowest standard deviation...Thats what I've been loading for three years with outstanding results.

However Nosler Accubonds 300 gr. 375 Ruger loads love RL-19 with the best 300 yard performance I have yet to achieve.

Zeroed in the Adirondack Mountains in April at @55deg. F and zero change in Namibia in Oct at 120+ deg.

 

[JimP]

I have been using RL22 for number of rounds and have had zero problems with temperatures and it. I do however do my load development in the summer when it is warmer and I stay under the max loads.

That way when hunting in cooler weather I won't have any problems with pressures.

 

[shootist~]

Ask me when the weather warms up. The RL22, 200 gr NPT load I recently worked up was chronograped at 50.5* F; (2,674 fps /w a 22" barrel). I suspect I may need to back off some in hot weather, but don't know that for sure.

This load, plus a 180 gr Scirocco load (using H4350), print close to the same POI at 200M, btw. One good thing about the 200 grain load: now the 180s don't seem to kick as hard as before.

 

[wswolf]

I wanted to try a slightly slower powder in my 30-06 than IMR 4350 for use behind 180 and 200 grain bullets. I picked up a pound of reloader 22, because my various load manuals showed good results. My buddy then tells me that reloader 22 is very temp sensitive, is there any truth to that or should I have got some IMR4831 or H4831SC? Thanks for the help.

Don't have much experience with H4831 but I have found that Hunter, H4350, IMR4451, Reloder 16 and Reloder 26 all work very well with 180 gn bullets. H4350, IMR4451 and Reloder 16 are likely the least temperature sensitive.

Reloder 26 has been very accurate with 200 gn bullets and, because is very dense and a lot will fit into a case, gives outstanding velocity.

 

[Ridgewalker]

My Remy 78 (cheap 700) 30-06 using 200 gr Nosler Partitions likes H414 which isn’t temp sensitive according to Hodgdon. Velocity out of the Remy’s 22” barrel is 2,576 FPS. It craters primers in my Rem 7600 though.

 

[wswolf]

My Remy 78 (cheap 700) 30-06 using 200 gr Nosler Partitions likes H414 which isn’t temp sensitive according to Hodgdon. Velocity out of the Remy’s 22” barrel is 2,576 FPS. It craters primers in my Rem 7600 though.

My .416 Howell (an old wildcat similar in capacity to the .416 Ruger) with H414/760 had a velocity variation of 100 fps between 45 deg. F and 80 deg F. This adds up to 2.85 fps per degree F and I would expect that amount of variation to increase above 80 degrees F.

Temperature sensitivity of a given powder varies with the cartridge, bullet and pressure so the '06 might react differently. That said any of the Hodgdon Extreme, IMR Enduron and some of the Reloder powders show far less variation than H414/760. Ramshot Hunter is pretty good, too.

 

[7mmGumbo]

I’ve had great results with R22 in my 7mmWSM. It likes a stiff charge under a SGK 150 grain. No problems to speak of with temperature.

 

[Alistair]

I use RL-22 in my .270win hunting loads. It does seem slightly more temp sensitive than my Viht N160 loads, but only say 20-30fps swing for the temp ranges I use it at. Out to 300yds, no impact on POI. Really easy to work with and gives good accuracy.

RL-22 does seem to give really good velocities versus everything else I've tried and I'm more than 200fps up over the N160. ES at a given temp is single figure.

I worked up the load in the early summer at 24 degrees centigrade (145gr bullet at 2980fps). It's since been shot from 30 degrees in summer comps (2985fps) through to -8 degrees centigrade for Hinds in scotland (2960fps).

Would I use it for a single load to cover Russia to Africa? No. But assuming you're only seeing swings of 40 degrees or so, I reckon it's just fine.

 

[wswolf]

I used to use R22 with 200 gn bullets in the .300 Win Mag and had no problems but never tried it in very high temperatures. Switched to N560 which produced slightly better accuracy and, interestingly, gave nearly identical velocity as the same charge of R22. Now use Ramshot Magnum due to higher velocity, at least equal accuracy and allegedly better temperature stability.