Powder info needed please

[bnz41]

Anyone using are has used Hodgdon BL-C2 powder in 7.62/.308 ammo, any info would be very welcome. It's cheaper than my normal powder H4895 which I'm using at the moment, but will need to re stock soon.
Thanks

[Steve E]

I have used BLC (2) in the past but found that N140 is far superior when using bullets up to 180gr.
These days I only use TR140 for all my loads. It's cheaper than both N140 and BLC (2).
It's also the powder of choice of the GB Palma Team.

[StanDeasy]

OK, for those of us who are not in the GB Palma Team:

I for one am quite happy with BL-C2 and have used it in .308 with 155gr and 168gr bullets.

The loads listed in the Hodgdon Manual are a bot hot IMO, probably due to use of Winchester brass which is much lighter than Lap or RWS. Use a starting load of at least 10% less than the Hodgdon load. Also, with any ball powder, DO NOT use "reduced" loads.

If using a powder thrower, visually check that all loads thrown are full loads. In the course of throwing 1000s of ball powder loads I have found a very small incidence of loads that were 8-10 grains under the expected weight. Whether the use of these loads would have incurred the risk of a flash-over detonation, I don't know and wouldn't care to find out.

[Maggot]

If I were you I would at least look at TR/N140, or IMRH4895

H4895 along with a lot of other Hogdon powders are getting harder to find.

The last I heard there was some sort of safety issue with the toxicity of the retardent coating and its being licensed in Europe.

Now I dont know how accurate that is, but I trust the chap that told me. I any event, with the ammount I shoot getting dribs and drabs when its available does'nt work.

[Mr_Logic]

I can't even get IMR-4895 now. Good luck getting H4895 - if you find some, let me know if there's any left - I will pretty much go to the ends of the Earth for some.

BLC-2 works OK, but i've never found it particularly good with anything I've tried. But, now you mention it, I need to load up some for Sunday and Nosler's manual says BLC works nicely with the 168gr, so I might have to load a few - not tried it with 168gr.

Given it's H4895 I'm assuming it's 155gr bullets, so I'm with Maggot on this one - N140 will do you nicely and can be obtained. I've never found it the best, but it's not diabolical and it goes bang.

[bnz41]

Thanks for the info so far.
I can get TR140 from HPS tomorrow for my 155gr SMK's still using up N140 at the moment, I use H4895 for all my milspec rifles so was looking for a replacement powder for these reloads as I did not want to use an expensive powder on short distance plinking rounds.

[phaedra1106]

Good luck getting H4895 - if you find some, let me know if there's any left - I will pretty much go to the ends of the Earth for some.

Meaty has 13Lb of it up for grabs in the "For Sale" section if that's any use to you?

http://www.full-bore.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=17878

[Mr_Logic]

Yep, almost certainly - PM already sent on that one :)

[Jenks]

Anyone used REL 15 in 308win loads when I used 308win as my calibre for stalking I used it with good result using 130 & 150grn bullets before that I used REL 12 but they stopped producing it. I have been using Alliant powders for years My 6.5x55se loves REL22.


Jenks