Issue with CFE223

[Great White North]

Last week I worked up a load that my rifle liked with CFE223 and Sierra 32gr's. The best group was was with 29.6 gr of powder. I didn't measure but all three shots were touching. The range for this powder and the 32gr bullets is 29 to 30.9 grains. The load that the my rifle likes was relatively low. As the loads went up that I tested accuracy got worse. As the test loads approached the high end I got a couple of keyholes. One at the max load and another one right near. The accuracy totally fell off when I hit 30gr's of powder and just got worse from there.
I know that there is no problem with the crown on my rifle, so thats not the cause. I don't normally use the crony when testing loads for accuracy. So I didn't have it at the time. So I went home and loaded up some test rounds of the 32gr's with Benchmark powder. 27.6gr of Benchmark made a nice little 1 hole group. Thats right near the max load rating with Benchmark powder. No signs of keyholing and the accuracy was good through out the range of powder loads. The only difference is the bullets I used came from a different box.
I measured the speed of CFE223 with the 29.6gr's that my rifle grouped well with. It averaged right at 3700fps. It still sends the gopher parts flying. It does not even come close to the speed that I can achieve with Benchmark. Its a strange issue.
I guess I can relegate the CFE223 to loading a different caliber.

[Rick in Oregon]

Good lesson and learning experience. Some rifles just refuse to shoot a particular type of powder no matter what bullet is stuffed into the case.....been there myself on occasion.

CFE223 must be creating a certain node that your rifle just will not tolerate. Just be glad that you've got another go-to powder on hand that you know works, and works well.

[Vartarg]

Interesting report....thanks for sharing....

Although powders such as CFE223 and IMR8208 have come along recently, I'm still finding outstanding results with Reloader 10X....

Just a thought,

George

[Tokimini]

I have had problems with the 32 gr BKs keyholing at below max loads using R10X. I can shoot a string of sub half inch 5 shot groups then all of a sudden one will keyhole on me, and it's only the 32s. My barrel is a Shilen 9 twist. I wish I could figure out why because the 32s are all I can get at the moment. The 40 gr bullets shoot great with R10X.

[Great White North]

I am defiantly going to try out R10X in the future for some of the 40 grain bullets that I have. I talked to my gunsmith about the problem with the 32 grain Sierra's. He had a few explanations of what could have caused it. When I searched the net I found a lot of posts where people were having problems with the 32gr Sierra's near max loads. I figure I'm not going to worry about it because I found a load that worked with the Benchmark powder. Now I have to work up a load for my 40gr Bergers.

[Bill K]

Be interesting what you find with the 40 grainers, as a lot of people can not get them to stabilize, but do well with the 39 Grain. Bill K

[Tokimini]

Here is a thread I started last fall on 32 gr BKs keyholing when I had the factory barrel on the rifle. I had forgotten but I was using CFE223 then also, 29.5 grains.

http://www.204ruger.com/forum/viewtopic ... =keyholing

[Great White North]

Bill: My rifle seems to do okay with the heaver bullets. The 39gr are excellent, the factory 40 I tried worked well. The 40gr Bergers are shorter than the 39's so I hoping they will do well. Even the factory loaded 45's seem to work well. In the hunting section there is a picture of a gopher I hit at 160 yards with one. So far the 35gr Bergers seem to be the best and make a nice little one hole group that I am happy with.

Curtis

[Great White North]

Here is a thread I started last fall on 32 gr BKs keyholing when I had the factory barrel on the rifle. I had forgotten but I was using CFE223 then also, 29.5 grains.

http://www.204ruger.com/forum/viewtopic ... =keyholing

Interesting thread Tokimini. I see someone replied that bullets only get more stable the faster they spin, and if they spin too fast they simply disintegrate. I have read that solid lead bullets can keyhole when driven too fast. Apparently they can get pushed through the rifling without spinning. I wonder if the jacket of the Sierra can let go of the core without coming off?

Your picture looks familiar :



Well what ever the reason I'm not going to loose sleep over it as the 32's shoot well in my rifle with Benchmark powder.

[Jim White]

I've had good results with:

H4895, Reloader 15, Benchmark, Reloader 10x and 8208XBR thus far. Varget was good too. Varget and Reloader-15 are used by a many highpower rifle shooters and it seems to always be in short supply, especially in 5 or 8 lb jugs.

[Darkker]

does not even come close to the speed that I can achieve with Benchmark.

Interesting, both of my 8# kegs of CFE produce higher velocities than "expected" per charge. Nothing has been able to match CFE speeds in my Predator

[Great White North]

Is that a .17 Predator? I'm sure that the velocities would be fine at the higher end. The problem was the accuracy fell off and the couple of keyholes with the 32gr Sierra's as the powder charge went up. I'm going to try it with some other bullet weights.

UPDATE

I loaded a few different loads with the CFE223 and the Berger 40gr. Looks like after some more testing that it will work very well with those.

[Darkker]

Ruger Predator, 204

[jo191145]

You'll probably not believe this but,,,,,,, your barrel just told you it doesnt appreciate large amounts of carbon fouling. Some barrels require higher amounts of carbon, some don't. CFE is nothing more than good ol w-748 with even more anti copper fouling additive added. Carbon prohibits copper fouling. Both w-748 and CFE are on the higher end of the carbon spectrum. BM is on the low end of the scale (clean burning) while 10x is on the high end (burns sooty) IMO.
Both copper and carbon fouling in excess can cause bullets to keyhole in a 204 . Not logical perhaps but I've seen it enough on both ends of the spectrum to know its true.
Always pay attention to what your bore tells you;)

[Great White North]

I would believe it. It just seems strange that the the CFE223 hasn't given me trouble with the heaver bullets.