ken hebert Posted December 13, 2011 Share Posted December 13, 2011 got a pound of Superformance, looking to cook up some .223 but I'd like to hear from y'all that have tried it. barring that, I ordered a box of 75g so I can pull a bullet weigh the charge for a reference and starting point. not really interested in the 55g, just trying to get 69's and 75-77's moving a little faster, see what happens. thanks guys Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AustinT Posted December 13, 2011 Share Posted December 13, 2011 Are they selling the powder now? Last I heard they weren't going to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ken hebert Posted December 13, 2011 Author Share Posted December 13, 2011 yup, being sold. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
00bullitt Posted December 13, 2011 Share Posted December 13, 2011 Be careful going outside the prescribed loads on the bottle. Its not the same powder used in their other Superformance loads. All their Superformance loads have specific proprietary blends for each specific caliber. Excersize caution while loading. Matching up the same load from their loaded ammo might not be safe. With all that said, I am going to try their Leverevolution powder in 308 loads since it is so close to 308 Marlin Express. It might get me that extra little bit of velocity I am searching for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ken hebert Posted December 14, 2011 Author Share Posted December 14, 2011 ok, with what Tod said in mind, I just pulled a bullet on a 75g .223 superformance match. measures out to 26.8g, which honestly is more than i expected. hmmm. I see me doing a ladder test this weekend. starting LOW. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham Smith Posted December 14, 2011 Share Posted December 14, 2011 I just hope they have gotten past some early problems. Back in May, I shot a three day course with a Georgia State Police sniper who was using the new Hornaday .308 178gr Superformance ammunition. In the first two days, he had 2 primers back out enough that they jammed and he had 3 blown primers which almost destroyed his bolt. The last day he was shooting Federal Match 168gr .308s that he got from the local County SWAT team. I have seen this same problem reported several times for both .308 and .223 ammo. Looks like they are running over-pressure loads and it's creating problems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ken hebert Posted December 15, 2011 Author Share Posted December 15, 2011 well i'm gonna run some of the factory loads through an 18" Firebird this weekend and over the chrono, i'll post results here later. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smokshwn Posted December 15, 2011 Share Posted December 15, 2011 keep us posted. I know early on the .308 loading was very hot in a lot of gas guns. It will be interesting to see what the .223 stuff does. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MustangGreg66 Posted January 7, 2012 Share Posted January 7, 2012 Any update? Just curious as well, what range(distance) are you doing ladder tests for the .223? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ken hebert Posted January 28, 2012 Author Share Posted January 28, 2012 (edited) update: (and sorry i took soo long to do it) built me a ladder test on 69g smk's, winchester brass, winchester primers. rifle is a Firebird 18" 1:8". 100yd distance. started at 24.0g and went to 26.0g in 0.5g increments. thought surely i wont even get to the 26g load, as my current load is 25.0g of RL15 and this hornady stuff is hottt. wrong. oh so wrong. testing was in a nice afternoon, about 65 deg, less than 5mph crosswind, 60% humidity, roughly 50' ASL, and over an Oehler chrono. 24.0g Hornady Superformance: 1889fps average of 5 shots, sd of 41 wow, didn't expect that. hmmm. so lets skip all the way to 26.0g cuz i think i see where this is going. i'll just go pull the bullets and save them and the powder. soooo,: 26.0g Hornady Superformance: 2165fps average of 5 shots, sd of 21 (maybe my barrel was warmer, mitigated the sd...?) i should also say that i loaded all this on a 550, and taking into account the sd i see here i bought a rcbs competition die set for my single stage where i will meter out every charge to the tenth grain and carefully load one at a time to try to remove the human (read: Ken) error from the next test. so i'm back on the load bench this afternoon, pulling all the test rounds. jokingly, i guess i'll just fill the case to the bottom of the neck and see what i can get in there and make a SWAG on a starting point for test #2. as an aside, i also tested some factory ammo. hornady superformance match 75g, 2704fps, es 19, sd 12. nickel size group at 100yds. hmmm, daddy likes. wolf gold match 75g, 2546fps, es 31, sd 14. again, great group, but not quite what the hornady was and slow compared to the Hornady. asym tac match grade, 77g bthp, 2574fps, es 96, sd 30. liked the wolf better. little more accurate too. MORE TO FOLLOW. Edited January 28, 2012 by ken hebert Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AustinT Posted January 29, 2012 Share Posted January 29, 2012 Ken, you really need to be careful. A friend of mine talked to one of the bigshots at Hornady and they said they had no intention of selling the .223 superformance powder. That may not be .223 superformance powder you've got. There is always a possibility that I'm wrong, but please don't blow yourself up. Just for reference, every 223 powder I've used has been in the 25 to 26 grain range for a reasonable charge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ken hebert Posted January 29, 2012 Author Share Posted January 29, 2012 check out post #4. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ken hebert Posted January 29, 2012 Author Share Posted January 29, 2012 looks like you could get 29g into a case at the top of the shoulder, bottom of the neck, which would be compressed with a 75g, which i'm guessing would get it to about 2500fps, give or take. IMO, not worth it, and i'm not going to even pursue this anymore, at least in 223. may play around with it in .308 later on a 110vmax, see if i can gain anything over the 49g WIN 748 3180fps load i'm using now. but thats another story for another time. g'nite folks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham Smith Posted January 29, 2012 Share Posted January 29, 2012 (edited) According to the Hodgon web site, "Because this propellant is tailored for specific applications, the number of cartridges and bullets is limited, but where it works, it really works!" Well, that slow with a 69gr would seem to indicate that .223 is not going to be one of the applications where it works. Looking on their powder burn rate chart, Superformance is pretty slow. You are probably aren't even getting a complete burn in an 18" barrel. Edited January 29, 2012 by Graham Smith Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
landshark45 Posted September 29, 2012 Share Posted September 29, 2012 Any updates on this powder in 308 with 178gr Amax? Is it similar to the factory load if you have tried it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FightFireJay Posted September 30, 2012 Share Posted September 30, 2012 I was under the impression that .223 superformance used the CFE 223 powder. I know this powder is also used for Hornady's .204 Ruger load, and possibly for their .222, .243 and 22-250 superformance as well. Consulting Hodgdon's load data puts CFE 223 on top for nearly every .223 bullet (although it's back and forth with Varget on heavier bullets). Velocities are VERY close to Hornady's listed superformance velocity for .223 rem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now