Alliant RL 17

K

Kano

Guest
Hi fellas,
read an interesting artical in 6mmbr.com about RL17. And I quote.......

" RL17 has a unique burn-rate controlling chemical that penetrates all the way through the kernels. Other common extruded powders have only a surface coating. Reloader 17's unique penetrating burn-rate regulator smooths out the pressure curve, allowing RL17 to maintain high energy for a longer period of time. "

How well does it work for .243 winchester? Seems to work well with the .308 winchester.
 
I have used it for 3 years. The burn rate is the same as H4350 but will add 100fps. Great for 7-08rem- 140berger- 44.9gr, 260 rem 40.9grs with 140berger, 6mm Rem with 95berger over 42.0 grains is outstanding. Very accurate but has a narrow sweet spot. Research load in .2 of a grain increments or you will miss it. Unless you are using the heaviest bullets it is too slow for .308.
Rich
 
Max load for 243win according to Alliant web site is 40.8 grains for 100 gr bullet. You should start at least 3 grains under that moving up 1/2gr at a time looking for pressure signs, If no pressure at 40.0 move up .2 grns at a time. In all my rifles it seems to like the upper end of the window.
243 Winchester, Speer 100 gr BTSP ,Reloder 17, Fed 210
Winchester case COL 2.625 24 Fed 210 Reloder 17 40.8grs, 3,044fps
 
I've formed a different opinion.

I FINALLY got through five pounds of the stuff...... I bought into the hype because a bunch of World Class Shooters were convinced it "gave an extra 100-150fps"

Within a pound I knew I'd been suckered

again

I believe it to be fine powder, roughly equal to 4350 but NO BETTER...... my testing shows ZERO increase in velocity.

It closely approximates 4350.

That's all,


al
 
Max load for 243win according to Alliant web site is 40.8 grains for 100 gr bullet. You should start at least 3 grains under that moving up 1/2gr at a time looking for pressure signs, If no pressure at 40.0 move up .2 grns at a time. In all my rifles it seems to like the upper end of the window.
243 Winchester, Speer 100 gr BTSP ,Reloder 17, Fed 210
Winchester case COL 2.625 24 Fed 210 Reloder 17 40.8grs, 3,044fps



You are the second person who said keep going beyond max charges, but the other guy didn't mention in what increments.
 
In a 6.5 X 47, I did find more velocity than with 4350. I was unable to tune it however. At its best, one target would be
.200 and the next .750---- Varget and RE-15 grouped quite consistantly. Even the 4350 was better on tgt.
 
I've used Re17 in my 6MM Remington with 65 grain Hornady VMax bullets with great success and gained over 100 FPS over IMR4350 which was my old load. I also used it in my 7MM WSM with a considerable jump in velocity but didn't get the accuracy I wanted, but didn't do much testing with my 7MM WSM. As mentioned above there is a smaller window as far as tuning goes but it is a great powder which I have found to give the velocity increases as advertised.
Just my opinion, I could be wrong.
Dave T
 
I started using RL-17 for my K31 as it is supposed to be the powder the military ammo is loaded with. Works well in that gun.

So, I thought I would try it in my 243 Bench Rest gun. I originally started with H4350 in the 243 but changed to H1000 for extended barrel life. And, I shoot 107 SMKs at 2930 fps.which is just a full case of H1000. So I tried RL-17. Never really found a sweet spot and couldn't match the consistency of my H1000 loads. So, RL-17 is now used for the K31 and H1000 for the 243.

Its all a moot point as at 2200 rounds in the 243, a new barrel is in the garage waiting for a shiney new 6BRX reamer!
 
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