I first heard about Hornady Superformance ammunition and powders over a year ago, when pulling targets at a rifle match. “Word in the pits” was that significantly higher velocities were possible without increased pressures. Naturally, I was interested, if only to have slightly better long-range performance – the main attraction was to try something new and supposedly better. However, I’ve been pretty busy, and wasn’t able to try them out until recently.
Even then, Hornady hasn’t made it easy. There is a decent selection of Superformance ammunition, but official load data for the Superformance rifle powder is very slim. It’ll supposedly work for .22-250, .243, and .300 WSM, but the other calibers they list might as well be .299 Macedonian Hoplite or .17-50 Weatherby BMG Accelerator – the powder as currently marketed doesn’t have a broad appeal. To be fair, Hornady says that the “magic” behind Superformance only works in a few calibers.
I thought I’d try Superformance powder in my .260 Rem-chambered Remington 700 VLS. It has a 26″ barrel, which tends to help me achieve higher velocity numbers when loading with Varget. However, since there was no load data for Superformance in the .260, or any other 6.5, I wanted to be careful.
As for projectiles, I normally use Hornady SSTs – 129gr, for this caliber. In this case, I bought the relatively new Barnes Match Burners, which are lead-core HPBT projectiles from the normally-lead-free Barnes bullet company. At around $27/100, they’re significantly cheaper than Sierra MatchKings ($36/100 or so) or Berger VLDs ($42/100).
These Match Burners are 140gr, which are pretty darn long when it comes to the 6.5/.264 diameter, and have a G1 BC of .586. This would roughly correspond to a G7 BC of around .300, but I don’t know for sure. I’m planning to do more shooting with them – especially since they’re cheaper and my reloading dollars go farther. Their general appearance is more confidence-inspiring than SMKs, even if the uneven meplat on practically every SMK doesn’t affect accuracy. However, for my initial tests, I wasn’t concerned with accuracy, precision, trajectory, or anything but the most basic question every handloader asks when trying a new load.
That question is, of course, “Will this load cause hot, sharp chunks of steel to enter my face at extremely high velocities?” Since there was no load data to work off of, I used Hodgdon’s data for 4831, because 4831 is close to Superformance in terms of burn rate, reduced it, and started from there. Since the load for a 140 was 44gr of 4831, I started with 42gr. I also loaded three each at 43, 44, and 45 grains of powder.
Although only three shots would limit my ability to determine how consistent the powder was with each load, it would give me a ballpark figure – and if I saw problem signs with the lighter loads, such as the hardened steel of my 700’s receiver causing facial disfigurement and/or death, I wouldn’t have to pull down 30 or 40 useless and dangerous handloads.
As it turned out, though, my rifle did not blow up. Nor did I see any of the classic high pressure signs, so I might try pushing it a bit farther. However, I’m not seeing amazing performance so far – the 42gr load averaged 2585fps, the 43gr 2612, the 44gr 2669, and the 45gr 2743. For what it’s worth, Hodgdon says 44gr of 4831 behind a 140gr Nosler Partition is good for 2715fps – no minimum load is listed.
My normal 129gr loads with Varget are in the 35gr range and I see mid to high 2600s with the 129gr SSTs – nothing to write home about, but it’s still a pretty flat-shooting and low-recoiling load. Speaking of that, while Hornady says recoil isn’t any greater with Superformance, basic physics says that a projectile of the same weight fired in the same rifle but traveling at a higher speed will have more recoil than that which is traveling at a lower speed. It might have been because I knew I was shooting progressively hotter loads, but I thought I noticed greater recoil with the 45gr load than, for example, the 42gr load.
STANDARD DISCLAIMER: Please be smart when reloading, and don’t kill yourself or endanger your ability to attract a suitable mate – then again, if you’re really dumb and prone to doing things like blowing up your own rifle because you loaded 50 grains of pistol powder in a rifle, maybe you’d be doing the world a favor by not reproducing.
Because of the relatively slow burn rate, you need a long barrel to take advantage of a powder with a burn rate like H4381SC in .260 Rem.
For the heavy 130-140gr bullets, H4350 is the way to go. Out of my 28″ barreled Savage, I could drive a 130gr VLD to 3000fps with 45.4gr of H4350. A fellow F-class shooter needs 48.5gr of H4831SC to get the same velocity from the same bullet (though granted he moly’s his bullets so that is too hot for naked bullets, so figure a grain or so less).
When I still shot 140grs (Berger 140gr HPBT-LRs, not VLDs) I got ~2800fps with around 42-43gr of H4350. Another powder to look into is RL-17, though my experience is that it’s hard to tune compared to H4350, and likes a LOT of jump, even with VLDs which generally like to be seated well into the lands.
Note that these are my loads for F-class competition, which tend to be on the hot side, and shot out of long (28-32″) barrels. I have since replaced my .260 barrel with one chambered in 6.5×47 Lapua, and chopped the .260 barrel to 24″ and set it aside for a hunting gun. I don’t know what kind of velocity I’d get with those same loads and the shortened barrel.
For 123gr bullets and lighter I would stay with Varget.
Most of what I shoot are 129s – just seem to have luck with this rifle and those projos – but I recently bought some Nosler 125s and 130s (partition and accubond) for various purposes, and will give them a shot. Of course, I still need to see how good these Match Burners are.
I have been looking for 204 data using superformance powder. Could you sent me data imformation on reloading.
I am interested in 129 gr. SST loads from start to max. I am shooting a Savage F-Class with 1-8.5 heavy 30″ Bartlein BBL. I can get no help from anyone. Would like to hear from someone who has ACTuALLY have tried it. Everyone tries to steer me to H-4350 or H-4831 which i am very aware of. Can someone help?
Try RL 19 , 129 sst
Been shooting the .260 since 94–A-Max 140 gr//load 37.2 Gr. Of Varget //26″ Lothar-Walther barrel on Fp10-Savage frame.we started at 34 grs. And worked up in 1/2 gr increments and stopped @ 37.2//this gets 2680 to 2715. We-are yet to see any pressure sign. Shoot out to 800 with great results–love the .260 caliber
Have you revisited the Superformance powder in a blog post, yet?