I had put together a load for my .350 Remington and 250 gr. Nosler Partition using Accurate 2520 powder. It was giving me very good, consistent loads that were printing in the 1" range from my Remington 673. That was with the older can with the black label bearing a Western Powders address.

The last can of 2520 that I bought came with a brownish label, and the Western Powders address was changed for an Accurate Powders address. The appearance of the powder had also changed, with the former consistent off-round ball powder now replaced with a ball powder interspersed with small flakes.

I e-mailed Accurate to ask whether there were any performance changes that I could expect with the new powder, and whether the loading data used with the Western Powder A2520 could be used with the new production. I was assured that the loading data did not change with the new production. However, when I actually shot some loads with the new powder, I found that the accuracy was nowhere near as good, bullets were printing a couple inches higher and I was starting to get signs of higher pressures.

I'm curious what experiences that others have had with the old "black label" 2520 versus the new production powder.

Thanks.

As stated in every loading manual, Any time you change a component ( including lot numbers) you need to back down and work back up.

Did you do this?

The story of our lives. Just about the time you find something that really works well they go and change it. New. Improved. Horseshit.

Perhaps I'm being too hard on the powder distributors since they just sell what is being manufactured and that is largely driven by the military market. At any rate, regardless of what the sellers say, any powder which is of a different lot, particularly from a different manufacturer, should be treated as an entirely differnt powder and your load reworked from wherever you started the last time.

I always try to buy enough of one lot of any powder that I find is to my liking to load all of the ammunition for a particular application that I anticipate *ever* needing. How many rounds of .350 Remington will you ever shoot? Well, that's how much powder you should buy when you once again find whatever powder works well in your rifle.

Thanks. Your comments reflect my thoughts.

Yes, I worked up from lighter loads, but I just didn't like what I found as I worked back toward the load I had with the older powder--more pressure and less accuracy. And nowhere along the line was there a load that acted better.

Looks like it's time to start from scratch.

If you're going to try a different powder, look at Alliant's Power Pro 2000-MR with the 225 grain and heavier bullets. It is a little slower than A2520 and gives wonderful velocities and accuracy in my 35 Whelen AI, with a virtually identical case capacity to your magnum.