New powder from Hodgdon!

Probably won’t work for 7mm-08 with a name like that.

Sounds promising ...

https://www.ssusa.org/articles/2019/10/22/hodgdon-announces-release-of-winchester-staball-65/

earlthegoat2 said:

Probably won’t work for 7mm-08 with a name like that.

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What about the name makes you say that?

Sta-Ball is a temperature “sta”ble “ball” powder.

Shane & Jaclyn Bryan have been running it in 6 creed and 6 GayTiger for a few months in their PRS rifles. Shane was dropping rounds with a Harrell measure and showing single digit SD’s, and their shooting this summer and fall have proven it’s more temperature stable than Varget or H4350 - aka, pretty damned temperature stable. Hard to complain about any of that. It’d cut my charging time by 2/3, easy!

Interested to know how it differs from other powders in their lineup.

Winchester says it’ll treat you well in the 7-08... like most other powders which do well in 6.5 creed...

Ohen Cepel said:

Interested to know how it differs from other powders in their lineup.

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It’s a temperature stable ball powder... that’s how it differs...

Are they making temp unstable powder for all other rounds?

I don't mean to come across wrong and sorry if I am, but the 6.5 Creedmore is not so new/unique in my mind that it needs its own powder from a physics standpoint. From a sales standpoint, yes, sell all one can.

Ohen Cepel said:

Are they making temp unstable powder for all other rounds?

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Have you shot ball powders before? Temperature stability is an issue.

Ohen Cepel said:

the 6.5 Creedmore is not so new/unique in my mind that it needs its own powder from a physics standpoint. From a sales standpoint, yes, sell all one can.

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The powder isn’t just for 6.5 Creedmoor. I actually hadn’t heard the “6.5” suffix until the official release announcement, but the name had been leaked around at least a month prior. A great number of cartridges have shared “ideal powders” with the 6.5 creed, and this one is no different. Interestingly, to me, Winchester included the 270win on the product page - not sure why they’d call that out.

Precision Rifle Competition is a unique beast - we shoot a LOT of rounds, so a reliable-metering ball powder would be great. But we also need extremely consistent ammunition, with dependable pressure and velocity for the long ranges we’re shooting - something ball powders are known to suck at. So this is different than what’s out there, with distinct advantages for the precision rifle shooter.

Does this powder change the world? Eh, not really. But when an entire sport is shot with 2-3 powders, H4350, Varget, and RL16, having another option, especially a powder-drop friendly ball powder with great temperature stability, is great for the sport.

The load data on Hodgdons website seems to put the Staball 6.5 burn rate at or slower* then H4350?

.Data available for.............

Just comparing some pretty pedestrian loads...6.5CM-140 grain and .270 Win 130 grain, Velocity, pressure and charge weight seem to closely parallel H4831 in the former, and H4350 in the latter. Probably lands in that burn rate.

Should be a fantastic powder in some of the overbore/heavy bullet cartridges.

@Varminterror,
Your above Post #15 is very well written with a good analysis.

ArchAngelCD said:

@Varminterror,
Your above Post #15 is very well written with a good analysis.

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Argh... now ya got me counting... Mobile platform doesn’t display the post numbers!

Varminterror said:

Have you shot ball powders before? Temperature stability is an issue.

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Yes, I have for 1000's of rounds as well as supervised 10,000's or more rounds of it. Wasn't looking for pin point precision though. Shot it at below zero and over 100F.

If you turn your phone sideways it will give you more information

I was just starting to look into powder for the 375 H&H and 375 Ruger! Maybe I’ll break from standard norms and jump straight to this for load development!

Why not add another powder to the already too many options I have at my bench, am I right?!

Walkalong said:

Personally, I would be happy if powder makers would go back to plain numbers for powder names.

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Amen. I hate all these crazy names...

Charlie98 said:

Amen. I hate all these crazy names...

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Same... AA5, AA9 or Reloader 15, Reloader 25, etc. are my favorite powder name-chains because you can judge the faster-slower burn rates with them .

LeveRevolution, Retumbo, Enforcer, Varget etc.... I have no idea where they may stand compared to others.

Stay safe.