Anyone tried RL-17 in their 25-06?

M

MOJO67

New member
Looking for some feedback from you 25-06(or anyone else)guys who have tried RL-17. There doesn't seem to be much available data for it. I'm just curious if the claims of added velocity without the added pressure are true? Also, how was the accuracy?

Anyone willing to share the loads they've tried or are using would be much appreciated.
 
I have not used R-17, but have tried R-22 (57gr) with a 100gr. Nosler Bal. Tip. Very accurate. MY fav. is 52gr. of H-4350 and a 87gr. Berger. AMAZINGLY ACCURATE!!
 
I loaded some 87gr Sierra's to 3480fps with excellent accuracy not sure if that's much better speed than other good powders though.
 
I shoot a max load of 57g of R#19 with a Win primer with a 100g speer BT at 3450.

Another load is 56.0g of imr 4350 with a Win primer with an 87g Speer Sp at 3600+.

These loads are safe in my rifle, work up to these loads in your rifle, they are close to max in my rifle. Lot# of powder vary, back off and work up.

I have a Rem 700 Stainless, it does not shoot the 85 or 100g Nosler Ballistic tips worth a darn.
 
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I loaded up three different bullet weights with RL-17, and never got good accuracy. The bullets were heavyweights, 115, 117 and 120 gns.
But, RL-22, 7828 and H-4831SC all shot these same bullets into 1/2", 3 shot groups at 100 yards. I used a Weaver V-16 set at 16x for the tests.
RL-17 may very well work in your rifle howewver. Just gotta try and see how it performs.
 
I've been doing a lot of load testing with my 25/06 this year and I've just about settled on Re17. I'm using 117 Sierra Boat Tails. This powder gave me the best speed with pretty good accuracy while not showing the temp sensitivity that some of the others I tried did. The others I tried include: IMR4350, H4350, RE22, IMR7828SSC, Retumbo, H4831SC, RE25, and IMR4831. The IMR 4831 gave me the absolute best accuracy at the top end but when temps were above around 70 or 75 the bolt got stiff and the primers really flattened so I wouldn't be comfortable shooting that load under hunting conditions. The speed on the RE17 load is averaging 3180 fps so I'm pretty tickled with that.
My loads were all worked up from min to max in 1 gr. increments shooting over a chronograph. Once the max load was found I backed off by a little (1 grain) and pulled anything loaded hotter.
 
Originally Posted By: Catkiller Personaly I prefer H4831SC.

RL-17 is not very temp stable. had over 115 fps difference between 87 degrees and 27 degrees.

H4831SC had 12 fps difference
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I have found that the RL powders are not to consistent from lot number to lot number either. I have gave up on them and stayed with Hodgdon Extreme powders.
 
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I had very good accuracy with H4831SC but velocity was dismal at around 2800 fps. As speed increased, so did the group size until I topped out around 3050? (I'd have to check notes). I am more concerned with the upper range temp stability than the really cold stuff. Our summers are quite warm and if I can't shoot my full power loads when the temps are greater then 75 my range time is cut way back. That being said I do need to do more work on the load in colder Wx to see how it holds up but I'll need to wait a few months to do that.
 
I have a 70's vintage Weatherby Vanguard Deluxe in rare .25-06 which is virtualy new. 24" barrel. I just tried these last Saturday: It was a warm late morning. I did cool and swab bore between the 4 flights of 3 rounds...
I love the 117 SST bullet. I tried 46gr of RL 19; 48gr of same and... 47 and 49gr of IMR 4350...OK ( fair groups )but, I wasn't wild about performance of any of these. I realize these are medium plus loads. My work is for deer/pigs from 70-250yrds. Sorry, no chrono...Any suggestions?? Thanks.
 
I've had good results with IMR 4350, RL-22, and IMR 7828. My main deer load is 117 SST, 50.2 IMR 4350 with a Win. primer. I get 3/4" (5-shot) groups running at 3021 fps out of this load.
 
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