Alright THFers, you may recall that I posted a while back about putting a 22 CM together and I finally got it together and ready to shoot.

Now my dilemma is what powder to start playing with. Right now, I am loading 75 grain ELD-M, Hornady 6MM CM brass necked down and CCI 200 primers (because I have a metric ton of them).

My powder choices at the moment are as follows:

Superformance, StaBall 6.5, RL-16, RL-17, H4350 and H4831sc. (Super temp stability isn't a huge concern for me. I don't shoot much in the summer and hunting season is mild in the hill country, plus I don't shoot much past 3-400 yards)

Rifle is 18" with a suppressor. I have noticed that Hodgdon only lists slower powders for this cartridge, but I have seen plenty of mid burning powders used from reputable sources such as Primal Rights and Peterson.

Which powder do you think I should start with and why?

Do not have that version but do have a 22-243 so very close to it. For max velocity look to RL-26 of those I would go to H4831 I believe is the slowest burning one on your list. It will need a slow burning powder for that one.

DStroud will come along I hope and answer for you also as he has and shoots the 22 Creedmoor

Of those choices I would say start with Staball 6.5 but actually all would work fine.
It’s being used quite regularly by folks that like to load on progressive machines.
Lots of folks using H4350 but be very careful as a lot of the people who post their charges are no doubt running well in excess of 70,000 PSI so on the Hodgdon powders use their data from online.
Of course it’s pretty common knowledge that Reloder 26 gets the most velocity but it’s hard to find these days.
Right now I am playing with Reloder 23 using a prototype bullet that probably won’t get produced but they do hammer deer and coyotes.

Never played with that cartridge but I've played with QuickLOAD a bit. Here's what it has to say (max pressure tomed down a bit from the list 65 kpsi).

Maybe this will help a little.

I have a 20” barrel with less than 50 rounds on it and I’m running 80.5’s. First I tried H4831sc…I figured I had some I’d try that wasn’t earmarked for a barrel. Big es/sd numbers that might be able to be improved but it was 2980…42.8 dropped three in a ragged hole but was just starting to get flattened primers and some ejector marks.

I’m running srp alpha brass.

I hope Riverrider’s numbers are off and I’m going to try h4350 next in hopes of picking up some speed…we’ll see.

I'm using H4350 with my 75gr ELD-M bullets. 43.2 gr in necked down Starline 6mm CM SRP brass with CCI 450's out of a 20" barrel. I avg. 3489 fps with this load.
On a good day it shoots like this-


On an average day it opens up a little-

The numbers could certainly be off. I pushed the buttons as good as I could, but!

Sometimes QL just isn't in the ballpark, but there could be legit reasons. Still. I'm not as wowed with it as I was ten years ago.

in a ragged hole


love that ragged hole

reminds me of DRT

Are you seeing or feeling any pressure with this load. I currently have more H4350 than anything and wouldn't mind using some of it.

No pressure signs out of my gun with this load. Everything looks and works great, been shooting this load for a few years.

I looked Hodgdon doesn’t even show H4350 in any of their data so for them they didn’t consider it as one of the better choices guessing due to velocities versus pressure.

Also an example of what I mentioned above about being wary of info online my 22 Creedmoor that I first started with in 2012 that load of 43.2 would have blown primers because at 42.0gr with same bullet I got heavy sticky bolt and with24 inch barrel speed was 3350.
That was Hornady 6.5 brass necked down with LR primers as no one was making SR primed stuff back then.
SR primers can cover up excessive pressures and I know that because my standard load I used to completely shoot the barrel out of that rifle with SR primed was pressure tested and it was 73,000PSI+ so big time hot….. maybe that’s why my barrel went at less than a 1000 rounds. I was pretty embarrassed really when they told me honestly.
And I am sure Txhillbilly will attest to the fact he has had no issues at all BUT that doesn’t change the fact that that load is way over max acceptable SAAMI limits.
Heck running a 24 inch barrel with Reloder 26 at 73,000 PSI I only got 3480fps so just be careful going by data online with any wildcat cartridges.
Off soapbox.

Oh and see Txhillbilly said exactly what I said he would. I have been there and have the tee shirt

DStroud,

I am afraid of doing just what you mentioned. I am keeping the Peterson load data in mind and that’s why I asked if he was seeing pressure at his load and velocity.

Peterson has a max of 38.7 gr of H4350 at 61,500 psi making 3,414 fps in their rifle. I have heard that Peterson brass makes pressure sooner than other brands due to its thickness and lowered capacity.

I found it odd that Hodgdon didn’t find any of the popular Creedmoor powders useful in the .22 version. Maybe I am missing the relationship between bore and case size vs pressure. They sure seem to be the only load data that does not mention 4350, staball 6.5 or the likes.

I have plenty of RL-16 and H4350 and Staball 6.5. Maybe I’m going to have to actually play around and figure some things out here. I’ll be very happy with 3,300ish fps and decent groups if I can safely get there.

What twist is your barrel?

The X’d holes were the 300 Hamr sight in.

What would you call that group? Looks like the quintessential ragged [censored] hole to me


I’ll come back and let you know how close the numbers are, RiverRider. The charges on QL have always been close but the speed has always seemed conservative to me. I don’t own it but few friends have run numbers for me before.

Anymore I pretty much just look at what velocity it predicts for a given pressure. I don't expect charge weight and velocity to match up...too many variables have to be filled in to get precision, and IMO those variables just can't be figured out.

Yep, Hornady Large primer brass will pop primer's fairly quick anywhere near max loads. Same holds true with Alpha or Peterson brass. I have never been able to come close to the same powder charges or velocities in those brands with any of my 6.5 CM's or my 22 CM, but my Lapua and Starline brass work great with the loads that I've worked up since building my first 6.5 CM back in 2009.
I've been reloading around 45 years, so I'm not new at this. I load for every gun I own, and load to where each gun / barrel shoots best and doesn't show any signs of being over pressure to me.
Reloading manual's and SAAMI specs also don't take in consideration of custom reamer's that can have extra free bore over a standard spec'd factory style reamer. If you seat the bullet's out farther than a standard COAL, then you have room for more powder in the case without gaining too much pressure. That's why I said my load shoot's just fine out of my barrel, yours may be different, and have pressure issues.

RHutch, My barrel is a 1-7 twist.

When I loaded for the 22creed I loaded H4350 in Hornady brass with a cci primer, pretty well pegged out on pressure around 41 grains but 40.6 shot exceptionally well around 33-3400 fps with a 80.5 berger.

Didn’t play with it much but its a wicked caliber not needing hardly any elevation between 100-300 yards.

I really wanna built a 22 Creed.
I know its gonna eat barrels like candy too.
But gotta be fun..

Expect 700 accurate shots of moderate heat cycles.. but its wicked no elevation needed

I ran my first barrel up to the point of a big drop off in velocity even after chasing lands and upping powder charge and then came flyers so I replaced it after 900 +or - rounds.
But think about how many predators/ deer/ pigs that was because that’s all it was used for once I got a load. That did burn the first couple hundred rounds as there was zero load data back then as it was first one made I know in Texas maybe second or third in country at the time. I played with a bunch of powders trying get above 3450fps from a 24 inch barrel and still have brass that would hold up. Again there was only Hornady at first then I started using Lapua 22-250 brass just load it and shoot to fire form. Necks were short but much stronger stuff and with Reloder 26 I was getting the performance I had hoped for.

Looks to me like we need to ladder test several powders at 500 yards.

Bullets on paper and a Lab Radar tracking.