Superformance for .308..........

[45 long]

Checking Hodgdon's website & couldn't find any load data for Superformance in .308. I emailed them asking why & was told that the burn rate doesn't line up with .308 . Huh ??
I've purchased Hornady Superformance 150 grain .308 rounds & found them to be very accurate. I imagine they use Superformance powder.
Has anyone stumbled across any reloading data for Superformance powder in .308 ??

 

[doubleh]

I think it is pretty caliber specific. What little I have seen about using in 308 says it's too slow burning for the caliber. I have only used it for 22-250 and it gave excellent performance. Good luck on your hunt for info.

 

[AJC1]

I always believed it was a powder sesigned for 30-06 or its direvative cases. Maybe in more overbore like 243 in 308 class cases. Being in the 4831 burn rate id not expect good efficacy. Can you make it work maybe. I've not loaded anything slower than 4350.

 

[Charlie98]

I've purchased Hornady Superformance 150 grain .308 rounds & found them to be very accurate. I imagine they use Superformance powder.

Just because it's Superformance ammo does not necessarily mean it's using Superformance powder; further, whatever powder they are using isn't available to you, anyway. I would take Hodgdon at their word that Superformance powder is not appropriate for .308... there are plenty of other powders that are.

FWIW, I fired exactly 3 rounds of that Superformance ammos in my M1a.... WAAAAAY too much for the M1a action.

 

[N555]

Might be like using n555 in a 30-30. It could work? The superperformance 308 may have its own power blend and not be what they sell commercially.

 

[45 long]

Thanks for the replies. I was hoping to have some adventures with this powder, but I guess it wasn't meant to be.

 

[Varminterror]

I imagine they use Superformance powder.

A lot of people imagine this, but it’s not typically true.

Recall, Hornady is a manufacturer, with access to any non-canister powder they want. I’ve asked this directly to Hornady and they confirm, not all SP ammo uses SP powder. Shooting PRS matches with some of their engineers, they have mentioned handloading with these non-canister powders for their match ammo (perk of the job) - and one of these guys even said MOST of the SP ammo isn’t using SP powder. The Super-Performance branding isn’t a covenant that all of their ammo marketed under that label are ONLY using that same powder as well. It’s just a bad assumption by a lot of consumers.

 

[sparkyv]

I've used it in 6.5CM, but not 308Win.

I think it is pretty caliber specific.

 

[jmr40]

The Superformance powder they sell to reloaders is formulated to work in 30-06 and similar cartridges. They have different powders that they use for other cartridges that are factory loaded.

I've never used any of their powder for handloads. But did pick up a couple of boxes of factory loads in both 308 and 30-06. Neither produced anywhere near advertised speeds when I shot them over my chronograph. The 30-06 was considerably slower, in fact my handloads using H4350 were faster and much more accurate.

The 308 factory loads were slower than advertised but were still faster than any handload I've been able to develop. And the accuracy was acceptable. That is a small sample and may well not be typical, but that is my experience.

 

[FLIGHT762]

If you want a powder that performs better than most other powders in the 308 Win. Alliant's 2000 MR gives higher velocities. I use it myself. I have chrono'ed, safe, 175 gr. loads @ well over 2700 FPS. Only downside is it's temperature sensitive like most double based ball powders. CFE 223 can also get you higher than normal velocities.

 

[Jerry M]

As stated above superformance is too slow for .308 Winchester.

 

[2ndtimer]

Thanks for the replies. I was hoping to have some adventures with this powder, but I guess it wasn't meant to be.

Direct from Hodgdon’s website:
“Hodgdon® Powder Company and Hornady® have teamed together to answer the reloading question; "Can I buy the powder used in Hornady Superformance factory ammunition?"
Superformance delivers striking velocities in cartridges like the 22-250 Remington, 243 Winchester and 300 Winchester Short Magnum. Targeted velocities are well in excess of 100 fps over the best published handloads and even larger gains over factory ammunition!
Because this propellant is tailored for specific applications, the number of cartridges and bullets is limited, but where it works, it really works!”

So, according to Hodgdon, you can have adventures with this powder, just not with a .308 Win. Interesting to note that very few loading manuals or online providers list data for Superformance powder, even in the cartridges listed above. Maybe the name is too long?

 

[Varminterror]

So, according to Hodgdon, you can have adventures with this powder, just not with a .308 Win.

It’s just too slow for 308. Wrong combination of bullet weight, case capacity, and bore expansion ratio.

I suppose if a shooter were loading 230-250grn bullets in 308win, maybe Super Performance might have a play. But not many folks are chasing that particular rabbit.

 

[45 long]

So, according to Hodgdon, you can have adventures with this powder, just not with a .308 Win. Interesting to note that very few loading manuals or online providers list data for Superformance powder, even in the cartridges listed above. Maybe the name is too long?

I think this is a fairly new powder. May be listed in future manuals.

 

[Varminterror]

I think this is a fairly new powder. May be listed in future manuals.

Superperformance is plenty old to have made it into manuals - especially for such a staple cartridge like 308win. Hodgdon released the SuperPerformance powder in 2011, announced in 2010, and there were already entries for the powder in the 243win, 6.5 creed, and .30-06, among others, published in the Hornady 9th Edition, which was released in 2012 (11 years ago). You don't see SuperPerformance listed for 308win, because it's too slow. You don't typically see powders slower than CFE223 ballpark being recommended for 308win, and SuperPerformance is several steps down the chart from there.

 

[45 long]

released the SuperPerformance powder in 2011,
Didn't know that, thought it was fairly new.

 

[45/30-06OKIE]

Checking Hodgdon's website & couldn't find any load data for Superformance in .308. I emailed them asking why & was told that the burn rate doesn't line up with .308 . Huh ??
I've purchased Hornady Superformance 150 grain .308 rounds & found them to be very accurate. I imagine they use Superformance powder.
Has anyone stumbled across any reloading data for Superformance powder in .308 ??

Im pretty sure that the "superformance" powder we can buy as reloaders, isn't actually the same stuff Hornady uses, as they have very very custom blended powders for every caliber and bullet weight supposedly. I read this online so take it with a grain of salt.

 

[LoonWulf]

Im pretty sure that the "superformance" powder we can buy as reloaders, isn't actually the same stuff Hornady uses, as they have very very custom blended powders for every caliber and bullet weight supposedly. I read this online so take it with a grain of salt.

The blend probably changes lot to lot as well.

In my experience, bottle Superformance is very close in terms of burn rate to RL-19. It has worked great (tho its temp sensitive) in the same cartridges.