SmallCaliberCentral

.....and thanks for the recipe Mike, if I had a similar name it would 1098SNate...my other love.

he he had a 996 once but sold it becouse i wanted to see 40 nice bike.good luck

I think Trent explained it very clearly. There is nothing wrong with choosing a powder based on an outside source (friends recomendation, online source, dissassembling factory ammo, etc.) , then verifying it with a load manual and working up a load . nddeluca- Let us know how the load developement goes. Hodgdon shows a max charge of 25.1 gr of H322 with the 40 V-Max. Hopefully you find your sweet spot somewhere below that

Bill K wrote:Trent, there could be a world of difference, from looking like H322 and actually being H322. Just not worth the risk of not knowing positively. However that is your choice. As for me, I want to know without a doubt, will follow the mauals and not take a chance of ruining a weapon or my health and welfare. Like I said "To each his own". Bill K Ps. Many years ago I was told if you assume something, you had to remember the saying re. it.. It could make a butt of U or me..

Bill, I think we are on two different wave lengths here. He isn't mixing powder or choosing a powder that is not in the list of recommended powders. He is just trying to figure out which of the "approved" powders it might be. Like I said, if he guesses that it is H322 and then creates loads as per the manual using H322 then how is it possible that he is "at risk"? He isn't going outside of any boundaries what so ever. He is merely trying to identify which of the approved powders HSM is using. If this were risky then ALL OF US would be at risk every time we randomly picked an approved/recommended powder from the manuals.

At first, I thought Trent's approach was way off base and dangerous. But, in re-reading what he said, I see his point Provided that the "guessed" powder is in the load table for that cartridge, as he stated. And start your load from the bottom and work up.

Here is a pic of 2 pairs of similar looking powders, all of which are in the data books for the .204 Ruger.



Varget & H4895
Benchmark and IMR8208XBR

The powder I took out of the loaded cartridge also looks very similar to your two right side powders, thanks for posting the pics, very helpful. I might have jumped to the conclusion too quickly that the powder might be H322. I wish powder manufacturers offered smaller bottles, 7000 grains will make 250 rounds of 204. I want to purchase the top 10 powders recommended for 204 but only 1/8Lb each. Does anybody offer a "variety pack" of powders in smaller sizes?

Hodgdon used to, but I don't know if they still do.

With so many variables determining accuracy, it may be more economical to choose 2 of the more often used powders and work from there.

If you look at the burn rates of 8208 and H4895, they are very close. However, the 8208 seems to push the bullets faster for similar charge weights. 8208 occupies less case volume than H4895 for the same weight because of the shorter grains. That has an effect on pressure and accuracy so they can't be expected to perform identically and they haven't in my experience. Both are good powders for the .204, however. You just have to tweak your loads differently for each.

I finally got my loads worked up, H322 looked physically the same (size, color, shape) as the powder HSM uses in the load I am trying to duplicate but after investigating I don't think it is. The HSM load avg. weight (I took apart and weighed 3 rounds) was 26.7gr of powder and that exceeds the maximum load in the Sierra book for H322 with a 40gr. bullet. I did manage to shoot some pretty good groups with the two powders I bought but nothing to match the HSM round. Two most accurate loads results below, I tried 5 different weights of each powder, 3 shot group each. Its my first ever attempt at reloading so I had a steep learning curve but I think it turned out pretty well. I measured each powder charge to within +/- .05gr on an analytical balance

Rifle: Savage LRPV 1:12 twist, 26" Brl
Brass: Hornady
Bullet: 40Gr Berger HPBT
Powder: H322 @ 23.5gr
COAL: 2.25
Primer: Fed 205
.174" 3 shot group

Brass: Hornady
Bullet: 40Gr Berger HPBT
Powder: Varget @ 27.0gr
COAL: 2.25
Primer: Fed 205
.182" 3 shot group