300 black load

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  • gmcman355

    Plinker
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    Jul 22, 2011
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    Does any body have any experience with the hornady 135 grain ftx bullet with the cfe black powder from hodgdon. Im using the cfe black for my subsonic loads but as the powder and bullet both appear newr the the hornady 10th edition reloading manual or any of the rest I have was just wondering how hard you guys are pushing these. According to hodgdons site they are running 20 to 22.5c loads with a 135 grain bullet from a different manufacturer. When comparing other loads on their site to my manuals hodgdon seems to push a little harder and i dont want to go too far.
     

    BiscuitsandGravy

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    We run 99% Lil-Gun so I'm not much help. I do see the big difference in pressures from Lil-gun to CFE Black. We may have to try a jug.

    Also, we mostly run 125g pills over 18.5gr LilGun. The press is setup for these right now. Looking at the pressure difference, it appears that CFE (might be less abusive) on our 300. We sometimes run it a little hot and it has quite a punch out of a 10.5".

    Sorry, I'm not much help. I would say- always start at the bottom and work your way up watching for over pressure signs, but you know that.

    FWIW- According to the Hodgdon flyer, CFE Blk burn rate is #69 vs. LilGun at #63 faster. This may be indicating the difference in pressure.

    Update- thanks for this thread OP, I'm going to pick some up tomorrow... I'm interested in trying it out now.

    :ingo:
     
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    gmcman355

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    Jul 22, 2011
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    I've not had this caliber for long but am quickly falling in love with it given its ability to shoot both supers and effective subs. Sub 5.56 always left a lot to be desired in my applications. This has been an experiment to try and find a dual purpose load for both coyote and whitetail. The 110 vmax and 125 sst both would do well for the yotes id imagine but was worried they might break up a little too easy on larger game. Maybe im overthinking it but this seemed to be a beefier built bullet without sacrificing all the velocity and going to a 150 grain bullet. I did start at 16 grains which would cycle the gun far enough to grab another round but not reset the hammer. 17 18 and 19 grains all seemed to at least run ok. 19 did start to show a little flow in the primer but nothing concerning. Going much above this appears to start getting me into a compressed load which ive never ran before and have heard can begin to create pressure rise quickly. trying to err on the side of caution while still trying to push a projectile as hard as you safely can becomes a struggle
     

    BiscuitsandGravy

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    I've not had this caliber for long but am quickly falling in love with it given its ability to shoot both supers and effective subs. Sub 5.56 always left a lot to be desired in my applications. This has been an experiment to try and find a dual purpose load for both coyote and whitetail. The 110 vmax and 125 sst both would do well for the yotes id imagine but was worried they might break up a little too easy on larger game. Maybe im overthinking it but this seemed to be a beefier built bullet without sacrificing all the velocity and going to a 150 grain bullet. I did start at 16 grains which would cycle the gun far enough to grab another round but not reset the hammer. 17 18 and 19 grains all seemed to at least run ok. 19 did start to show a little flow in the primer but nothing concerning. Going much above this appears to start getting me into a compressed load which ive never ran before and have heard can begin to create pressure rise quickly. trying to err on the side of caution while still trying to push a projectile as hard as you safely can becomes a struggle

    On some of our 'hotter' loads we start to see primer flow as well. But you are right, we fell in love with it due to its versatility. Take a look at Barnes Tac-TX 110 gr Black tips. These are solid copper. My son got his 8 pt last year with 1 shot. DRT. It was designed for 300BO. Also check out americanreloading.com, we usually buy 125 Hornady pulls. Sign up for email coupons and wait until they have a sale on .30 cal projectiles. Another fun one for subs is 220gr solid copper. I'll have to look to see where we found them because they were pulls too. We spoke with the seller and he said he found them at a .gov sale when they were buying 5.56 cases to convert.

    :popcorn:

    Where you all finding your CFE BLK?

    Going to stop and try Downhams- Logansport today on our way thru.
    Update 14:30: Downhams was a no stock on CFE-Black. Did have CFE-223.
     
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    gmcman355

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    Jul 22, 2011
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    I didnt realize the barnes were copper solids. That would definitely solve the problem of coming apart to easy. Ill have to look into them. On a side note have you ever tried small pistol primers in 300 black. I've got a couple thousand small pistol primers that i got when i bought a pile of components from a guy. Nothing I have takes small pistol. Thought about trying to use them in the subsonic loads but didnt know if that would cause problems or not. Havent been reloading for very long and by no means do i know all the results of mixing components.
     

    BiscuitsandGravy

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    Yes, stupidly by accident. I misread a box of S&B primers when we picked up a 'pile of components' from a guy. I had never used S&B's before and accidentally went thru a brick and didn't notice it. It was only on 300 BO. YMMV. We like S&B's but are sure to properly read it now. They feed really well in our Horn AP. I've read discussions about primer cup thickness visa vi small pistol vs. small rifle. I'll let others comment about this...
     

    BiscuitsandGravy

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    Finally found some CFE-BLK. Boy is it find grain and meters great. Already have some 115 and 125's loaded that I needed to finish off. Going out as soon as the rain slows up this week. Looking forward to seeing how they compare to LG.

    :ingo:
     

    bwframe

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    Interested to see your loading's and results. I got in an 8# jug of CFE BLK from Brownells, going on the idea that it is well liked and better on pressures than the rest. Don't know how soon I'll get to load some.

    I have a fair amount of investment in this caliber for a rifle and pistol. More reloading and gun parts on the way. :rolleyes:
     
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    BiscuitsandGravy

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    Interested to see your loading's and results. I got in an 8# jug of CFE BLK from Brownells, going on the idea that it is well liked and better on pressures than the rest. Don't know how soon I'll get to load some.

    I have a fair amount of investment in this caliber for a rifle and pistol. More reloading and gun parts on the way. :rolleyes:

    Ran out and tested about 30 rounds tonight. 125gr Hornady OTFB. 19gr, 19.1, 19.2, 19.3, 20.0 with S&B primers. 2.100" coal. We have 8", 6", 4" and 3" dingers at 100 yds. All worked as if I was running our standard recipe of 18.5 gr LilG. No crono data yet. It was just a 'lets see how they run' test as it was getting dark and a little windy. 16", carbine gas, cycled fine, held last shot open. They did seem to be less punishing on the equipment if you know what I mean. Some of the 125's with 20gr sure seemed like a compressed load. It had to be snug.

    Edit: The primers seemed ok. No flatening.

    I'll try to get some groups on paper with data this weekend. But so far, it looks like CFE Bk works. Need to try some 208 and 220 subs too.

    :ingo:
     
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    gmcman355

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    Jul 22, 2011
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    I got covered up at work and the rain has made everything take twice as long so making it in to work up some more loads hasnt happened. Just for reference what are you gonna be running these out of and where did you settle on powder wise? I did not try running any of my previous loads through my 7.5 pistol. Not sure how it will handle full power hot loads but that wasnt what it is for any way. The 16 inch seemed to be bringing the groups in at 19 so id like to see where 20 grains puts me. Still need to grab a chrono and see how fast those 135 are




    ETA: Sorry after i clicked reply realized there was a second page that would have answered all my questions
     
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    gmcman355

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    Jul 22, 2011
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    Have you thought about trying the eld-x bullet for a sub load. I cant remember if the x is 220 or 225 but its around there. I am gonna try them and the OTM and see if either expands at all. The eld-x bullets are on the pricey side but if they open up they may be worth it
     

    BiscuitsandGravy

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    We also have a 10.5" w/ pistol gas. A funny story, last summer we were trying some 220gr solid coppers. One round actually got stuck about 2-3 inches from the end of the barrel on the 16". We tapped it on out with a brass rod. We'll never do that again. A perfect 220gr solid with lands and grooves. :)

    If the weather cooperates this weekend we'll try some 208 Hornadys (I forgot what they are) and 220 solids.

    Along with laddering up to an optimal for the 16" with 125s.

    :ingo:
     

    1stLast&Always

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    Aug 14, 2016
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    I highly recommend 125 gr. Speer TNT with IMR 4227. This powder is great for subs or supers, accurate too. So far I've loaded up to 16.9 grains. I run a 10.5" pistol build. FWIW, the BO doesn't need a 16" barrel. It was designed to accomplish its main tasks in a 9". All the powder is burned and there's not much velocity gain after that anyway. The AAC Honeybadger was developed to be stuck under dashboards by operators in foreign countries. They needed a "30 cal solution to the AR platform", a close quarters knock down tool. Don't worry, that setup will drop a deer too, just fine. The BO shines up close, how many deer are we taking in the woods over 50 yards anyway?
     

    gmcman355

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    Jul 22, 2011
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    I loaded some at 20 and 21 grains under the 135 ftx. Neither showed bad signs of pressure just a little primer flow. 21 did seem to be compressed. I did load one at 22.5 that hodgdon shows as a max load but the effort it took to get the bullet seated to the proper depth did not make me feel comfortable enough to shoot it. it left a heavy ring in the bullet jacket.
     

    edwea

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    Jan 25, 2015
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    What powder are you loading 21-22 grains of? I load 18 grains of h110 under 125 gn bullets and that seems full. Some of my gmx rounds I load with 18.8 grains but that's max. Not sure I could squeeze 3-4 more grains in there.
     

    gmcman355

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    Jul 22, 2011
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    Im loading cfe black. There doesnt seem to be much load info in any of the books as this is a fairly new powder and bullet. Hodgdons website shows starting load at around 20 grains and max compressed load of 22.5 under a 135 grain sierra. Im loading hornady 135 ftx. The 20 to 22 seemed high which is why i started as low as 16 and have been working up. To get 22.5 grains in and the bullet to prop c.o.a.l required a fair amount of force and resulted in a deformed jacket. Ive pretty well settled for a load between 20 and 21 grains depending on where accuracy comes out the best at. This is in a 16 in barreled AR that is hopefully going to serve as a dual purpose coyote/whitetail gun with a max range of about 200 yards on deer. Would likely stretch the yardage out on coyotes if the opportunity presents.
     
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