StaBALL 6.5 powder 22-250

JMette

New member
Anyone got their hands on the new winchester powder.. it seems to have very good velocities with a 50 grain bullet. being a non temp sensitive ball powder sounds like the cats meow??
 
according to hodgdon load data it will and gives velocites of 4000 for a 50 grain... but im real curiuos how well it works.. seems like itll be pretty awesome though in a ball powder getting good velocities!
 
also, i bet in the 22 creedmoor itll be stupid fast! ive got a brother in law whos seriously looking into an AR10 in the 22 creedmoor. i guess this powder is supposed to give you 30-200 fps over like/kind of the same powders in different calibers.... so we will seee..
 
So I got me some Staball and decided to try it in my 22-250. Mine is a 14 twist and I shoot 50gr Sierra Blitzking. I’m using new Lapua brass and Cci 250 primer. After reading numerous posts on loads and using my years of experience with this rifle (rem 700 26” mounted in a xlr chassis) I decided to cut to the chase and start right at 43.0 gr of powder (filled half way up the neck) and loaded it to 2.350”. This is compressed. I did not shoot for groups. I just strapped my magnetospeed on and stepped out my back door where my range is. My shot recorded 3991 FPS. I went back inside and loaded 2 more and they recorded 3939 and 3963. They had a shiny ejector mark and since the ES was so bad I decided to go down in charge. In the past this rifle shot very well with a different powder (imr 4007 ssc)at 3860. My next load was 42.8 which yielded 3955, 3960, 3985 slight ejector mark again. Next was 42.6 which was 3958, 3903, 3933 slight ejector mark again. I was getting very disappointed in the ES and was going to give up but decided to try 42.4. Bingo.... 42.4 yielded 3860, 3859, 3859 no ejector mark. The powder is right at the bottom of the bullet when loaded. Im going to load some more and remove the magnetospeed and check groups. I know 3 rounds isn’t any where close to enough data but that’s what I’m going with for now in this rifle. I’ll report groups later. By the way, I’ve shot this rifle out to 700 yards accurately in the past.
 
So I’ve been waiting for wind to calm down these last few days and finally went out and tested the 42.4 gr loads today right as the sun was going down. I went to the 100 yard target and fired 5 rounds slowly. The first 3 went into a hole that a cigarette could just squeeze into, the 4th went about 1/4” to the left and the 5 shot split the difference. Very impressive. My old load with imr 4007ssc that shot at the same velocity of 3860 FPS was usually around .5 or .6 group. So the Staball powder seems to be just as good or better and shoots at the same point of impact. I’m going to load up more and go to my big range this Sunday and shoot out to 700 yards and find out how well it does.
 
I've used this powder with my .22-250AI with 69gr TMK's. It performed really well. Good velocity (3450 fps) and excellent accuracy.

I'm trying it in a buddy's Christiansen arms .22-250, 1:14 that will not group at all for him, so I'll see if I can't find something to shoot.

In my experience some of the best rifles shoot the cheapest crap. H380 and 52gr Speer HPs!!
 
The powder performed great. I took it out Sunday and shot five shot groups at 300 yards, 400 yards, 500 yards, 600 yards and 700 yards. Harris bipod in front and sandbag in rear. Nice waterline groups at all ranges. Around 1/2 moa at 300 and 400. 500 and 600 was around 3/4 moa. 700 was around 1 moa. Wind slightly varied between 3-5 mph so I tried to only shoot when I thought the wind was being consistent so I left the chamber open with a round ready to chamber until the right moment so it wouldn’t “cook”. Im sure if the wind cooperated better the groups would be tighter horizontally. My max vertical at 700 was only 2 1/2 inches. All in all, I think it did great. Time will tell if it does good when temperatures change. Have a good day and everyone stay safe!
 
Back
Top