What powder does Hornady use in their Precision Hunter ammo?

[Korhil78]

I wonder how Barbour Creek is guaranteeing half MOA or better with their built rifles using factory hornady ammo then??

I'm guessing they are saying you will have to re-zero your rifle for different lots but it will still shoot half MOA???

Precision Rifles – Barbour Creek Long Range School & Rifles

barbourcreek.com

 

[WoodPecker Hunter]

I had HORNADY 6.5 PRC Precision Hunter ammo 143Eldx varie 175 fps from the same box lot ! Lab Radared ! WTH ?

 

[cajun]

Really ? So Hornady has their own powder producing capabilties ?
interesting then that they Don't produce there own line of powders with there own NAME on it ?

They may be blending bulk powders but no ammo
company is making powder. There are only a handful of powder companies. From someone who worked in chemical manufacturing for almost 40 years. Producing a product with the same exact properties over a large scale is next to impossible. There are to many variables. Every product which is sold as either a raw material or a finished product has a range of allowable variation. This is the industry norm.

 

[2Old2Care]

I recently got two new boxes of PH in 6.5 PRC. I compared the powder in these to two different lots that were a year old. Two different powders were used. One was a stick and the other a "ballish" type powder. I have nothing in my powders that resembles the ballish type of powder.

I was shooting fantastic groups with an older box of PH in a 6.5 PRC, but when I opened another box, the group size was still under one MOA, but twice the size of the older ammo and also impacted slightly differently. So like you, I came home and pulled bullets, because I had 10 boxes of ammo and knew that I needed to segregate them into 'old' and 'new' lots. What I found was the old and very accurate loads were with a ball powder that looks very familiar to Viht N565 and the extruded powder looks like Staball HD. I loaded N565 with the 143 ELD-X and got the same accuracy, but the impact point was 1/2" higher and I haven't chronographed that load yet. I feel like the old loads were Vihtavori, but were likely another version with about the same burn rate as the N565. I've also not loaded the Staball HD and compared it to the 'new' lots of factory ammo, but I plan to, so for now at least I know that the ammo the rifle is sighted in with is with the same type of powder, even if not exactly the same. What a learning experience!

 

[Harry Knutz]

Really ? So Hornady has their own powder producing capabilties ?
interesting then that they Don't produce there own line of powders with there own NAME on it ?

They partner with Hodgdon, They do not produce any powder, They blend Hodgdon powders together to create their own blends. Leverevoltion is one of them they blend, That's why it says "Hornady" on the bottle. Superformance is another powder WITH THEIR NAME ON IT.

 

[tracybartlein]

I haven't read the whole thread so bear with me......It's not just powder guys.... as the saying goes....

Bullets, powder, barrel....these three things more than anything else have to work together.

I won't name the bullet makers...but a couple hold they're bullet diameter tolerances (I'm talking match bullets here not hunting bullets) to say size +.0002" but another maker holds size +.0007" and that's out of the same lot. Now factor in what actually your barrels bore and groove size measure at.... pressure the ammo is being loaded to and how much that bullet obturates when it gets slammed into the rifling.

Not comparing apples to apples but it cracks me up when I hear someone saying "I'm duplicating the load that Federal does for the GMM ammo...or they want to duplicate the load that LC does for the M118LR. I'll guarantee you that the powder they are using for that ammo....is not available to us hand loaders! Say what you want but it isn't available to us.

Again I'm not naming the ammo maker but we bought a pallet of 5k rounds of 308win. from them. In my 18" barrel gun (yes it has a custom 308w chamber not a Saami spec. chamber) I was only down 100fps from what the factory advertises. I called one of the ballistic lab guys there as we talk all the time because we make them test barrels if he could tell me what powder it was because it didn't look like 4064 or Varget etc... I said if you can't tell me it's cool and I get it. The powder charge for the bullet weight I thought was pretty stiff at 46gr. So he said give me the lot number..so I did. He said oh that lot! It was a hybrid powder as they couldn't get 4064 or Varget they're go to powders for 308w. This was back when Obama was in and we had a shortage of stuff going on.

So guys please don't pull a part a live round... look at the powder and guess as to what it is based on looks and or the powder charge etc...and think your going to duplicate it. Or think because of what was posted about GMM ammo or LC ammo that will tell you automatically what powder they are using because I can pretty much guarantee. It's not.

Later, Frank
Bartlein Barrels

 

[Justice1327]

I haven't read the whole thread so bear with me......It's not just powder guys.... as the saying goes....

Bullets, powder, barrel....these three things more than anything else have to work together.

I won't name the bullet makers...but a couple hold they're bullet diameter tolerances (I'm talking match bullets here not hunting bullets) to say size +.0002" but another maker holds size +.0007" and that's out of the same lot. Now factor in what actually your barrels bore and groove size measure at.... pressure the ammo is being loaded to and how much that bullet obturates when it gets slammed into the rifling.

Not comparing apples to apples but it cracks me up when I hear someone saying "I'm duplicating the load that Federal does for the GMM ammo...or they want to duplicate the load that LC does for the M118LR. I'll guarantee you that the powder they are using for that ammo....is not available to us hand loaders! Say what you want but it isn't available to us.

Again I'm not naming the ammo maker but we bought a pallet of 5k rounds of 308win. from them. In my 18" barrel gun (yes it has a custom 308w chamber not a Saami spec. chamber) I was only down 100fps from what the factory advertises. I called one of the ballistic lab guys there as we talk all the time because we make them test barrels if he could tell me what powder it was because it didn't look like 4064 or Varget etc... I said if you can't tell me it's cool and I get it. The powder charge for the bullet weight I thought was pretty stiff at 46gr. So he said give me the lot number..so I did. He said oh that lot! It was a hybrid powder as they couldn't get 4064 or Varget they're go to powders for 308w. This was back when Obama was in and we had a shortage of stuff going on.

So guys please don't pull a part a live round... look at the powder and guess as to what it is based on looks and or the powder charge etc...and think your going to duplicate it. Or think because of what was posted about GMM ammo or LC ammo that will tell you automatically what powder they are using because I can pretty much guarantee. It's not.

Later, Frank
Bartlein Barrels

The military contracts out and specifies their requirements for the ammo. The PWS always lists what powder, bullet and charge weight is used. This is NOT to say if the powder is unavailable they wont substitute a powder that will give the same results w/in the set tolerances. Many of people have duplicated M852 and M118LR ammo.

 

[tracybartlein]

The military contracts out and specifies their requirements for the ammo. The PWS always lists what powder, bullet and charge weight is used. This is NOT to say if the powder is unavailable they wont substitute a powder that will give the same results w/in the set tolerances. Many of people have duplicated M852 and M118LR ammo.

That's the key word right there.

 

[theosmithjr]

I believe Hornady may even blend powders.
At least that's been the rumor for a few years now.

Most Factory Ammo is a BLEND! Easiest & SAFEST way to Duplicate IT IS MATCH the Velocity for the gr bullet! Other than that, you're playing Russian Roulette!

 

[Phillip Cox]

Good to know information.

 

[WoodPecker Hunter]

They partner with Hodgdon, They do not produce any powder, They blend Hodgdon powders together to create their own blends. Leverevoltion is one of them they blend, That's why it says "Hornady" on the bottle. Superformance is another powder WITH THEIR NAME ON IT.

View attachment 467903
View attachment 467904The Brand is HODGON the Model is Hornaday ! proves NOTHING that they ARE blending there own powders ? Where do you get that info that Hornady Blends their own powders ?
Just asking as I cannot find that INFO anywhere ? ALL Here. SAY or ? Thxs

 

[avidelkslayer]

A buddy was told by a Hornady insider that the 7mm PRC Precision Hunter 175 gr. ELD-X was loaded RL 26. In the video, this was confirmed again. I am not sure about the 180 EXD-M or the 160 gr. copper bullet. DD62

It's not RL 26, it's RL 25
I pulled 10 bullets all ranging in powder from 68.8, 68.6 and 68.4,
The advertised fps was 3000
If u look at Hornadys manual it will show that 68.4 is the max load at 3000
The RL 26 is max load of 67.1 @3000

 

[tracybartlein]

Most Factory Ammo is a BLEND!

Ummm... I don't agree.

Yes, there is ammo made to a spec... that might have a certain type of powder (I don't want to use the word blend) that they load with that isn't available to the general public for reloading. That doesn't mean it's a blended powder.

Guys blending/mixing powder or if you want to call it duplex loads... you're putting yourself in dangerous waters.

 

[tracybartlein]

I'll also say this... I know ammo companies are dealing with powder shortages just like the average guy reloading.

So, if a go to powder for 308win with a 155gr bullet for a ammo company was Varget and they can't get it... they might change it to 4064 or Win748 or something else etc...

It's either that.... or they're not loading that ammo. No way around it.

You have two wars going on and in the summer of 2022 a nitrocellulose plant blew up. Only 3 plants in the world make it and one plant is offline still to my knowledge.

Back to the war stuff... did you know the average 105mm Howitzer round uses 28# of NC in the powder charge. Not 28gr but 28 pounds of the stuff.

And places around the world are making cannon ammo in record numbers right now and have been.