Not Seeing the Speed - RL26 in 300 WSM

[Flyjunky]

I bought it around the end of 2020. It has a code printed on it of 061820. I'm assuming that's a June 18th, 2020 manufacturing date. I ended up finding it right when I started building my house so took awhile to finally start loading with it.

If I remember correctly ours was from late, like Nov/Dec, of 2019.

I live in a very dry climate, high desert, so moisture wasn’t an issue. I’ve heard others mention slower lots as well so it could have just been a slower than usual lot to lot variation.

I would agree with the poster above with finding max load for your rifle though.

 

[JakeSCH]

I have two different lots of RL26...and they fairly different. I have seen them produce nearly 100 fps difference in my 6.5 PRC with the same load. I have found that RL26 has been sensitive to primers.

 

[ShortMountain91]

Yep sounds like others have seen this before also.

Just curious the thoughts behind continuing to go up in charge weight? I am already close to book max velocity and already using a makeshift extra long drop tube to get the 74.7 charge in the case. Plus I hear RL26 can get squirrely in the higher temps and I live in the south where we hit 100 sometime although I am never hunting in weather that warm. What benefits are y'all thinking I'll see by continuing to go up?

 

[Flyjunky]

Yep sounds like others have seen this before also.

Just curious the thoughts behind continuing to go up in charge weight? I am already close to book max velocity and already using a makeshift extra long drop tube to get the 74.7 charge in the case. Plus I hear RL26 can get squirrely in the higher temps and I live in the south where we hit 100 sometime although I am never hunting in weather that warm. What benefits are y'all thinking I'll see by continuing to go up?

Sorry, I see that you’re already at compressed. If you’re already getting the velocity you want and it’s shooting well than no need to go higher.

 

[Gingerman]

I learned to chrono on cloudy days with diffusers for the most accurate reads.

 

[sndmn11]

Yep sounds like others have seen this before also.

Just curious the thoughts behind continuing to go up in charge weight? I am already close to book max velocity and already using a makeshift extra long drop tube to get the 74.7 charge in the case. Plus I hear RL26 can get squirrely in the higher temps and I live in the south where we hit 100 sometime although I am never hunting in weather that warm. What benefits are y'all thinking I'll see by continuing to go up?

My logic is so that you know how close you are with the load you have developed; not to develop a higher charge weight load.

Right now you do not know if you are .3gr from occasionally locking up the bolt or 2gr, and it speaks to your mention of squirreliness at high temp. I enjoy knowing the limits so I understand where I am. It probably also helps knowing where you sit for when you change powder lots, seating depth, etc.

 

[ShortMountain91]

My logic is so that you know how close you are with the load you have developed; not to develop a higher charge weight load.

Right now you do not know if you are .3gr from occasionally locking up the bolt or 2gr, and it speaks to your mention of squirreliness at high temp. I enjoy knowing the limits so I understand where I am. It probably also helps knowing where you sit for when you change powder lots, seating depth, etc.

Yep I see some benefit to that also just not sure how much. But I'm loading some more up this evening to shoot some groups and I know I won't be able to resist and will probably load a couple more at slightly higher charge to see if 75 or 75.3 shows any signs. More because if I find a good group at something lower, I'll have in the back of my mind "I wonder if it would be better near max". You know how it goes