I swung by Cabela's on the way home from the airport yesterday and picked up some Superformance. Hornady has it loaded in .223 and thought I'd give it a try to see what sort of velocity improvement I could get for my long-range 75gr A-Max load. Hodgdon hasn't released any load data for the .223 yet but they do have some for the .22-250. There is also no data in our database, so I derived the following recipe. Thought I'd share it to see if others might have comments or suggests (or warnings).

I used Varget and H4895 as a reference. The .22-250 Suprform data is:

70 GR. SPR SP _ 37.0 gr _ 50,500 PSI

This is the low-end for the .22-250 but is equivalent pressure to the .223 loads.

The Varget and H4895 loads, respectively, are:

70 GR. SPR SP _ 26.0C _ 48,400 CUP (.223)
70 GR. SPR SP _ 32.0 gr_ 50,300 CUP (.22-250)

70 GR. SPR SP _ 25.0 gr_ 50,500 CUP (.223)
70 GR. SPR SP _ 31.5 gr_ 50,700 CUP (.22-250)

For equivalent pressure, the .223 is 6 to 6.5 grains less powder than the .22-250. In this manner, I would derive that my max Superformance load for a 70 gr bullet would be 30.5/31.0 grains. Hodgdon list similar powder loads for the 75gr JLK VLD which is what I've been using for my 75gr A-Max.

Superformance seems to have significantly more powder weight in their loads compared to other powders. I think I'll go see how much a case holds as a comparison.

a .223 case (Remington) holds the following amount of powder flush to the top:

28.1gr Varget
31.5gr Superformance

My 75 A-Max load is 24.1gr of Varget and 25.0 gives you a compressed load.

I think I'll have to stew a bit more on this before I pour any Superformance into my .223 cases.

Hey Slim, that powder is made by St Marks in Florida, I also can't find any data with this powder for the .223. I wonder if you shoot Hodgdon's an e-mail and ask them?

Personally, I'd call Hodgdon (913-362-9455) before I tried any derived load. If they are already loading ammo with it there must be some safe, reliable load info available.

Pumpkinslinger wrote:

Personally, I'd call Hodgdon (913-362-9455) before I tried any derived load. If they are already loading ammo with it there must be some safe, reliable load info available.

+1 I would get some Info from Hodgdons...

looks like they take Friday's off.

slimjim wrote:

looks like they take Friday's off.

Maybe Friday the 13th had something to do with it.

OV1, thanks for reminding us of this bewitching date. No, I checked their website. They work a 4-day week.

Hornady has Superformance loads in
.223 Rem 75 gr. BTHP (24" BBL) 2930 fps
5.56 NATO 75 gr. BTHP (20" BBL) 2910 fps

However, found in web searches that there are more than 30 variations of powder blends for Superformance factory ammo. The one Hodgdon is selling is or may not be the same as Hornady is using for its .223 Superformance ammo.

There are also warnings "do not try this with anything but what is listed".

I sent an email to Hodgdon and will wait for their response. A web search found a response from last winter that will probably look like the one I will get.

____________________________________

Here’s the deal. Hornady uses many, many blends to load all of the cartridges in their Superformance line. We are introducing one of those blends. It has very limited application. It will not work in a 6.8 Remington. The only cartridges with Superformance powder data are:

22-250
243 Winchester
6mm Remington
243 WSSM
25 WSSM
300 WSM
300 Ruger Compact Magnum

There will not be any further cartridges used with this powder. At some point, if this powder is successful, we may bring out other blends but that is unknown at this time.

Mike Daly
Customer Satisfaction Manager
The Hodgdon Family of Fine Propellants

Yes, This is a blended powder made to Hornady/Hodgdons specs. I would wait until you get in touch with either one as they were both into the devopling the powder.

Good advice from all Slim. I wouldn't be loading this powder in anything other than what they recommend it for until such time as they publish data for other calibres.

It's a pain when the ammo manufacturers use blended powders to achieve a certain standard...makes it particularly hard on us handloaders who try to achieve the same velocities as factory ammo, only with better accuracy. Unfortunately, unless you are setup with all of the necessary equipment to blend and test powders it becomes a past-time fraught with significant danger, and certainly not worth the risk. Even putting together duplex or triplex loads can be very dangerous. Sooo....at the end of the day, the safest option is to let those who have the facilities to do it safely take the risks and wait for them to publish the results.

Cheers, Vince

As much as I would like to say load up 23.0 grains and work up a safe load... unless you have a pressure transducer on your chamber - a blended powder can give surprising results.

To me, the "blend" is not obvious looking at the powder granules.

If they "blended" the finished grains it would settle outand you would end up with two powders in the same container. They blend the ingredients and then make the granules.
I know you knew that - I just had to say it.