Reloading Component Fads

RL338

Handloader
Mar 23, 2017
3,279
5,292
How many of you have tried these and still use them?
Powders -
Retumbo , shot several lbs in my 30-378 never saw advantage with it.

H1000 , was disappointed to no end with this powder.

RL26 , this one is magic in everything I ran it inđź‘Ť

Bullets -
Berger 215gr Hybrids , never shot these but hundreds of the 230gr Hybrids which worked great in my 30-378 until I put a new barrel on.

Sierra 39gr BK , I bought up a bunch of these when I got my 204 Ruger. Never found a great load with them , I think my 1:12 is on the slow side.

Primers -
Federal Ms
I’ve shot 1000’s of 205 , 210 , and 215 and never saw a real difference between them and the match ones. I think the M is for making money instead of match.
 
Retumbo is my go to powder for the 338 RUM. I've got close to 20#'s.
Federal GM210M and GM215M primers are my standard and I have a healthy supply of them.
It ain't broke so I'm not going to fix it.
I'm with you on RL26, it's magic dust.

JD338
 
No answer for you. I'm boring. Ha. My most used powders are IMR 4350 far and away the most used, with H4895 coming in second, IMR 4064 probably third, with Varget & IMR 4831 coming in last used on a few cartridges for specific loads. I have some varieties of other older powders almost all of which was given to me that I mess with sometimes......IMR 4320, H380, etc. Never tried any of the new powders, CFE 223, Staball 6.5, etc.

Cup and core bullets of all types, a few partitions mixed in on a couple calibers, and standard primers. I have 1 brick of Federal 210 gold medal match but haven't used any of them. Might be an old man till I get to them. Like JD, I have a healthy supply of rifle primers.
 
I use H1000 and Retumbo in my 7mm Rem Mag. H1000 with 160 AccuBond and Retumbo with the 175 Partition. And both loads hit same point at 100 yds. Go figure. If I could find Reloder 26 I'd be able to finish my load development of 140 AccuBond in my 270 win.
 
LOL...H1000 is my go to for 105gr in .243 and 140gr-180gr in my 7mm Rem mag. Absolutely not a fad imo and in fact, it's more like the gold standard.
What about it disappointed you?
Years back I bought 2lbs to try in my 30-378. I couldn’t get decent velocity and accuracy with it. Tried it in my sons 257 Wby couldn’t get velocity like RL26. Either I got a faster lot or H1000 doesn’t like overbore cartridges in my experience.
 
I'm with you on RL26, it's magic dust.
It works in so many cartridges for me , I don’t know what I’ll do when I’m out. I have about 12lbs left , but it goes fast when I get about 50 rounds/lb.
 
How many of you have tried these and still use them?
Powders -
Retumbo , shot several lbs in my 30-378 never saw advantage with it.

H1000 , was disappointed to no end with this powder.

RL26 , this one is magic in everything I ran it inđź‘Ť

Bullets -
Berger 215gr Hybrids , never shot these but hundreds of the 230gr Hybrids which worked great in my 30-378 until I put a new barrel on.

Sierra 39gr BK , I bought up a bunch of these when I got my 204 Ruger. Never found a great load with them , I think my 1:12 is on the slow side.

Primers -
Federal Ms
I’ve shot 1000’s of 205 , 210 , and 215 and never saw a real difference between them and the match ones. I think the M is for making money instead of match.
A significant aspect with goods, services and ultimately sales is perception.
The cerebral impact.

How many powders over the last 10-15 years were touted as being impervious to the barometer. That was such a trendy thing and still going on today.(not as frenzied)

Fad?
Hornady/Hodgdon Superformance...
Never seen any magical fps from that in a WSM no matter what Hornady printed.
R17 is the king of the short mag powders as I can get real close to Weatherby velocities. Nearly the same with a 180 and much less powder charged.

I shoot a lot of AR's and I'm hell bent on using #41 and #34
Can those primers really fend off slamfires better than regular old cci 400 or BR4...
Or Federal, Rem, Win equivalent?
Sure they can. The mfg told me so. 🤣🤣🙄🙄
 
Just going off memory here, as it's been a while since I have loaded any, but I think my .300 WM load uses H1000.

I've never shot a Berger in my life that I'm aware of. Nothing against them, just never got around to it.

Like JD, if I could find them, I'd be using Federal LR match primers for the majority of cartridges that require large primers.
 
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H1000 was my go to in my 338 Jarrett until I tried Ri26. 4350 and 4064 in my 06, until I tried RL26. Never tried Retumbo; I've picked up 8 pounds of 4350 as it started to show up, More than enough. Really like 26, only have one pound so I won't be experimenting on any of my lighter cartridges, 4350 is giving decent performance for now.
 
How many of you have tried these and still use them?
Powders -
Retumbo , shot several lbs in my 30-378 never saw advantage with it.

H1000 , was disappointed to no end with this powder.

RL26 , this one is magic in everything I ran it inđź‘Ť

Bullets -
Berger 215gr Hybrids , never shot these but hundreds of the 230gr Hybrids which worked great in my 30-378 until I put a new barrel on.

Sierra 39gr BK , I bought up a bunch of these when I got my 204 Ruger. Never found a great load with them , I think my 1:12 is on the slow side.

Primers -
Federal Ms
I’ve shot 1000’s of 205 , 210 , and 215 and never saw a real difference between them and the match ones. I think the M is for making money instead of match.
Retumbo does well in my 6.5 Gibbs, H1000 is great in my 7mm STW will be the first powder I try in my 338 Edge, do not use RE powders.
39 BK's shoot awesome in my Hart 12 twisted 20 tac. It did not like 35 gr. Bergers, would not stabilize 40 gr vmax. so halfheartedly loaded a few with a book max load of benchmark, and the 39 SBK's, had a target up at 150 yards so shot a group!
SalWXgn.jpg

load work ended there!
 
Varget is my go to powder in the .308 and 6 BR and H4350 in the 6.5 Creedmoor, got two 8 pound jugs for both of those. Still have H1000 and RL 26 to try in the 300 Win Mag once my last pound of RL22 goes. Got about 6 bricks on BR2 to last a while, and a few bricks of 450 small rifle and BR4.
Last used IMR4831 on the 7 Mag, but would not shoot a darn or maybe my barrel is toasted, had the Brux barrel for close to 12-13 years, but will try again after annealing my batch of 50 cases and try again. Retumbo worked real well in the 7Mag a few years ago, pushes those 160 Accubonds fast, around 3100 fps without pressure, but ran out of Retumbo.
 
so halfheartedly loaded a few with a book max load of benchmark, and the 39 SBK's, had a target up at 150 yards so shot a group!
SalWXgn.jpg
I could never get 3 to touch in my H&R. Maybe it was the quality of their barrel , but the holes weren’t clean.
R17 is the king of the short mag powders as I can get real close to Weatherby velocities.
Another magic powder that work well.
 
I think I have tried a grand total of 0 of the product you mention.

My philosophy when I started reloading was a rather egalitarian one. What one powder could I use to load for the largest number of chamberings? (That I could afford) That's why I have RL 15 and Blue Dot. Not pretty, not the best velocities, not the tightest groups, but across all the rifles and handguns I used to own before they were eaten by bears, it would produce functional groups and effects at the ranges I shot.

Thank goodness I hit my head and started branching out - this is fun! Still have a load of those two powders.
 
Mostly I have three or four powders I try to stick to but I have used H1000 in the 7mm Rem Mag with complete satisfaction and Retumbo in both my .25-06 and a 6.5x284!!

Never have used RL-26.
 
I have tried h-1000 and Retumbo in a number of cartridges I load. Other powders did better over the Chrono and gave excellent accuracy.
 
Mostly I have three or four powders I try to stick to but I have used H1000 in the 7mm Rem Mag with complete satisfaction and Retumbo in both my .25-06 and a 6.5x284!!

Never have used RL-26.
Never tried Retumbo in the 6.5 x 284, I have been using H4831SC and its accurate, but on the slow side of 2820 fps for accuracy. I have read that Retumbo is capable of 2950 fps roughly or more. I'm itching to try Retumbo, but H4831SC works and have about close to 7 pounds of it, enough to last the barrel.
What velocity are you getting with Retumbo?
 
Retumbo has been awesome in my 25-06 rifle... 110 Accubonds at 1/2 MOA and roughly 3200 fps... 115 grain Noslers & Bergers at roughly 3100 fps and lots of dead deer and a couple of antelope with it. :)

Guy
 
I used Retumbo in my 25-06 until I bought 12 lbs of RL26 several years ago. I now use 26 not only in my 25-06, but in my 280 Rem with 150g AB and 243 with several bullets. Great accuracy and velocity.
 
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