I have just started using this in my 9.3x62mm and I was wondering how temperature sensitive it was.

I have developed a load running at what I suspect is near max, here in the UK and it does not show any pressure signs in our low 60sF weather..

I hope to be hunting in RSA with this load and understand the temps could be in the 80sF...

Is this any cause for concern?

Regards,

Pete

RL-15 is made by Bofors in Sweden. The US military uses it in their M 118LR 7.62 x 51 (.308) sniper round. It is the least temperature sensitive of the RL series of powders. You should have no worries only going up 12-14 degrees C.

lawndart

Having lived in Britain for 3 yrs a long time ago, I at least remember the weather...
I have also handloaded a lot of RL 15 over the years and have hunted in some pretty extreme temperature spreads.

Britain's weather is not as dramatic up or down to worry about temp sensitivity in RL 15, or many other powders in my experiences.

Cheers
seafire

I used RL-15 for my .416 Rem in Africa for Buffalo where temps were 95 degrees. I developed the load at about 70 degrees and shot it from 30 degrees up to 95 during developement. I had not problems and could see no difference in performance or POI with my load. Good luck and good shooting.

Thanks Gents!

Lawndart...I was looking at the RL15 and eyeing up my .308 even before you mentioned that! I currently use BL(C)-2 and have no real need to change, but....well you know how it is!

Regards,

Pete

After experimenting with RL15 and several other powders, I found that Varget was very useful. I won't share my loads, which are very intense, but Varget has proved accurate, very smooth power curve, and pretty impervious to temp changes. I find it works with 250, 270 and 286gr bullets pushing them as fast as one would want them to go (in round numbers 2600, 2500, and 2400fps respectively). Conversely, the RL15 seems to be the favorite of my 375HH. Kudude

Hey Pete,

I have over fifty different powders on hand. I use them in my avocation as a semi-competent ballistician. When loading for my own use I only reach for a few of those powders. In the 9.3 x 62, .375 H&H and .416 Rem Mag I only use RL-15. Varget is very good in those calibers, but RL-15 is "gooder".
BL(C)-2 was the RL-15 of its time. It is still a great powder, especially at full density in a moderate climate. The price is attractive as well. BL(C)-2 is the best powder going in the .376 Steyr.
In modern magnum cartridges RL-22 should be the best powder choice; it is accurate and delivers high velocities at sane pressures. But. It is not stable over a range of temperatures. I have watched the muzzle velocity of 7mm Rem Mag and 300 Win Mag cartridges vary by 250 - 300 fps over the course of the day here in the high desert where a sixty degree F temperature variation is not unusual. So. I use H-4831 and sacrifice some precision and velocity for consistency and accuracy.
In the common semi-auto pistol calibers I have a myriad of powders gathering dust on the shelf while I go through VV N-340 by the keg.

lawndart

quote:

Originally posted by Pete E:
Thanks Gents!

Lawndart...I was looking at the RL15 and eyeing up my .308 even before you mentioned that! I currently use BL(C)-2 and have no real need to change, but....well you know how it is!

Regards,

Pete

The US Army marksmanship team uses a load in their 308s of 42.5 grains of RL 15 and a 175 grain Sierra HP Match... if that says anything for the powder in a 308......

Cheers
seafire

Thanks Gents,

All the replies are very useful and much appreciated...

One more question; well actually two!
I would like to try RL15 with the 270speers next..Can anybody suggest a safe powder range to try? I assume (a dangerous thing to do!) that the Speers should take a grain or two more than the heavier 286grn Barnes?

As a bonus and just on the off chance, I don't suppose that RL15 would work in .223Rem loads?

thanks again,

Peter

Pete, RL15, while not "ideal" still works very well in the 223.

If I were limited to two powders for all my handloading I'd pick H4350 and RL15...

quote:

Originally posted by Pete E:
Thanks Gents,

All the replies are very useful and much appreciated...

One more question; well actually two!
I would like to try RL15 with the 270speers next..Can anybody suggest a safe powder range to try? I assume (a dangerous thing to do!) that the Speers should take a grain or two more than the heavier 286grn Barnes?

As a bonus and just on the off chance, I don't suppose that RL15 would work in .223Rem loads?

thanks again,

Peter

Pete,

Just some suggestions. I collected and used this data as a starting point when I started working up loads for my 9.3x62.

Sorry that the image is so wide but I just couldn't reduce it much more and have it still be readable.

-Bob F.




*** NOTE: R-P brass indicates Remington .30-06 and /or .35 Whelen brass was used by the author of the article. ***

Muzzle Velocities are those given/stated by the author in their article.

Also, for those that may not know, you can right click on the image and save it to your local hard drive for future reference if you'd like.

Bob, do you have a chart like that for the 35 whelen???
Craven

Bob,

You are one organized dude. Love it. Thanks for sharing!

Cheers,
Canuck

Craven,

I don't have one for the .35 Whelen. Sorry.


Canuck,

You're welcome! I'm glad you found it useful.

-Bob F.

Bob,

Thanks for that, its just what I am looking for!
I assume the powder charges listed are actual loads favoured rather than minimums or maximums?

Brad,

To mimimise the number of powders I have to buy, I currently use BL(C)-2 in my .223Rem...Would you say RL-15 is likely to be a better or worse choice?

Regards,

Pete

Pete, I'd say it's at least as good (sounding like Tony Blair?)... it's certainly temp insensitive and gave outstanding accuracy in my 223. 50 gr velocity was in the 3,400 fps range if memory serves.

Brad,

Thanks again for the advice...I think I will try a load or two of that and see what happens,

Regards,

Pete

Bob,

Looking at your table has hightlighted something I first noticed when reading the reloading manuals.

My COL seems to be very long..As a reference, I loaded a dummy road (286grn BarnsX) so it is just touching the rifling and it is 3.4"..At that length it feeds through the magazine too. Obviously my reloads are slightly shorter, but not by much..Everything seems to function fine but that still seems quite a big difference?

Regards,

Pete

quote:

Originally posted by Pete E:
Bob,

Thanks for that, its just what I am looking for!
I assume the powder charges listed are actual loads favoured rather than minimums or maximums?
......<snip>.....
Regards,
Pete

Pete,

That's correct. However, for safety's sake, assume that the loads are near maximum and work up carefully. I have gone to 59.0 grs of RL-15 with the Privi Partizan 285 gr bullet for an average muzzle velocity of 2407 fps (COL 3.29"). 286 gr Woodleigh RN go 2393 fps with 58.0 grs of RL-15 (COL 3.29"). With the Nosler Partition, I got an average muzzle velocity of 2356 fps with 57.0 grs of RL-15 (C.O.L.: 3.34"). I haven't tried 58.0 grs with the Nosler Partition yet. I also have not gotten around to trying the 250 gr Nosler Ballistic Tip or the 270 gr Speer.

See my thread 9.3x62 RL-15 285gr in the "Your Favorite Loads - Share Them With Us" forum for more information.

quote:

Bob,

Looking at your table has hightlighted something I first noticed when reading the reloading manuals.

My COL seems to be very long.. As a reference, I loaded a dummy road (286grn BarnsX) so it is just touching the rifling and it is 3.4"..At that length it feeds through the magazine too. Obviously my reloads are slightly shorter, but not by much..Everything seems to function fine but that still seems quite a big difference?

Regards,

Pete

I have found that in my CZ 550 that the spitzer shaped bullets can be loaded to a longer overall length than the factory (CIP) spec. I believe the factory COL spec for the 9.3x62 is 3.29 inches. However, unless I'm mistaken, the 9.3x62 was designed to fit in a standard Mauser 98 magazine. Thinking about it, I thought that most rifles nowadays would probably have a standard magazine designed for the .270 Winchester, .30-06, etc. which have a slightly longer factory spec COL than the 9.3x62. So, I thought I would try a longer COL with the Nosler Partition.

I have found that I can seat Nosler Partitions out to 3.35 inches and they still feed fine through my CZ 550. (I didn't try a COL longer than 3.35".) I settled on 3.34 inches for the Nosler Partiton just to have a little margin of error. My CZ 550 also has a long throat.

Using round nose bullets like the Woodleigh or the Privi Partizan, I have found that seating to a COL of 3.29" results in the base of the bullet being right at (approximately) the bottom of the neck.

I hope this is of help to you,

-Bob F.

BTW: If anyone would like to have my load table shown above in it's original Excel spreadsheet format, it can be found here:

http://www.oqlaw.com/staff/bob/other/93x62-RL15.xls

It's a Microsoft Excel 2000 (Windows) file. Just right click on the link above and save it to your local hard drive.

-Bob F.

Thanks Bob, Just what I was looking for as well. Would you happen to have a table like this for the 9.3x62 and BigGame??

Steve,

I don't have one for Big Game; just for RL-15. Sorry. I went through my magazine back issues specifically looking for RL-15 data when I compiled the info.

-Bob F.

Bob,

Again thanks for the help; I did not think anything was wrong, but the difference just seemed a bit large..

Over the next night or so I will load a few of those 270grain speer and hopefully try them at the range on the weekend..

Regards,

Pete

Glad you asked about RL15. A lot of people here seem to like it. I have not tried it yet but if you want another option I have had great success with H4350 EXT in both a 7/08 and 300 SAUM. It is designed for temp extremes.

quote:

Originally posted by Pete E:
Thanks Gents,

All the replies are very useful and much appreciated...

One more question; well actually two!
I would like to try RL15 with the 270speers next..Can anybody suggest a safe powder range to try? I assume (a dangerous thing to do!) that the Speers should take a grain or two more than the heavier 286grn Barnes?

As a bonus and just on the off chance, I don't suppose that RL15 would work in .223Rem loads?

thanks again,

Peter

Pete,

I use RL 15 in the 223, in fact it is my main powder ( along with H 380) in a 223, when I am using bullet weights of 60 grains and up. I load it with 69, 75 and 80 grain match bullets in a 223, with a 1 in 7 twist ( bolt action). It has shown excellent accuracy out to 600 yds in target shooting matches I have been involved with ( not seriously competing, you hacking around!, but I was seeing what the rifle could do in my hands. I was very impressed with RL 15.

Cheers
seafire

I have found that RL15 gives the highest velocity and best accuracy in my Lazzeroni 9.53 HellCat (375-cal based on short Partriot case) but it's also been my experience that the lot-to-lot variation in batches of RL15 can be extreme to the point where I have mostly given up on it and now use Varget. A bit less velocity and accuracy is still sub-moa with the 300gr Nosler Partition bullet.

For example! One batch of RL15 allowed me to go to 2575fps with the 300gr Nosler while another started showing pressure signs at 2450fps. I just got tired of playing with it.

quote:

One batch of RL15 allowed me to go to 2575fps with the 300gr Nosler while another started showing pressure signs at 2450fps.

I wonder if that's been my problem of late. I haven't been doing enough shooting lately to know for sure if it is just lot to lot differences (ie. the reference to a previous lot would be about 3 years and I just don't remember well enough).

I loaded up some 375 H&H with RL 15 from a new can, and got pressure signs (and less velocity!)with loads that seemed to be fine last time I tried 'em out. Wish I had taken better notes the first time so I could be sure.

Cheers,
Canuck

Canuck...it's never to late to start keeping good records. Everyone who reloads should have a "shooter's logbook" to record data on every load made and every load fired.

Bill,

I know it. Actually I have a couple of "log books" and a couple of spreadsheets on the go already. Started out as fairly rudimentary notes and has gotten more detailed over time.

I have never been happy with the format or the specific categories of info I have recorded, though. And some information just never got recorded because I didn't measure it or didn't think it would be important.

So with certain things, like degree of flattening of primers, etc, I never made notes, assuming my photographic memory would last forever. Sadly, it didn't. I look at some cases now and wonder how many times they've been fired, whereas a few years ago I could remember what flavor of gum I was chewing when I fired that case, 3 loadings before.

At least I am getting better at keeping records! Just wish I could figure out a format that would make me totally happy!

Cheers,
Canuck