Dirty Powders

[mwilkins]

Primarily have been using 8208 for both Grendel and 223 loads. Last night I broke down my 223 and could not believe how dirty it was after about 100 rounds through the tube with the 8208. Will be breaking down the Grendel this evening for a good cleaning but expect to see the same results. It has about 100 rounds of 8208 through it now as well.

My results with the 8208 have been great thus far so I haven't ventured off to try other powders and more load development.

What may be an alternative to the 8208 that may produce similar results but be a little cleaner to run?

Thanks,

[NugginFutz]

Hmm. With what other powders have you loaded these calibers? I find 8208XBR relatively clean - certainly cleaner than Varget or 4064.

I load my 6.5/.264 and my 22-250 with 8208 XBR, and find them to be fairly average, in terms of deposits. Compared to RL15, it's very clean.

[Bwild97]

I'm finding that VhitaVuori - N133 and Norma 202 to be very clean powders, that offer good velocity as well!

VV-N133 is bit faster burning than 8208 and Norma 202 is on the slower side of 8208.

[LRRPF52]

8208 has been clean for me. If you are seeing a lot of fouling in the fire control housing, you have gas system leakage.

Where is the majority of the fouling?

[tackdriver]

If you think 8208 is dirty I would skip trying LVR. It shoots good but pretty dirty

[Joseph5]

The factory in Belgium that 2520 was made in was partially destroyed in an explosion last year so I think it will be a while before you see it again. I would love to try it also but I haven't seen any anywhere for close to two years now. I have only loaded CFE 223 so far but I can't complain about it's performance speed or accuracy wise. I thought my rifle was really dirty after about 400 rounds but I am hoping it just looked that way because of being FDE. I have an other AR in 5.56 that I haven't cleaned for close to 1000 rounds and I am hoping I just haven't realized how dirty it is because it is black. I have some AR Comp, Lever, H335, and 8208 also that I haven't tried yet.

[mwilkins]

Been away for a while guys. To get caught up. The first hand loads that went down the tube were done by a friend of mine and don't remember what powder it was that he used. The number of rounds given to me from him were limited. This was before I got into reloading. As for different powders being used, it has been 8208. I worked with several different projectiles but settled on 123 Scenars pretty quickly with 27.5 gr of powder. Results thus far have been very acceptable and have had no need to work with different powders. The barrel shots very well and I don't want to wear it out on load development. As for my "dirty" areas, it is the bolt and associated areas. The round count was up around 100 before the cleaning. This is probably the longest it has gone before a cleaning. Both the 223 and Grendel were in the same condition. Not too overly concerned as cleaning is just part of good up keep. Was really more curious than anything else. On a good note, we made another trip out for hogs this weekend and one got Grendelized. Now is the frig waiting on the smoker next weekend.

[Savage Shooter]

On a good note, we made another trip out for hogs this weekend and one got Grendelized. Now is the frig waiting on the smoker next weekend.

What was your hog load? DRT results? I have a hunt coming up in May with my sons and haven't worked up a load yet and have limited time to work one up, since I am also working on a 5.56 load and 30-06 load (will probably use Hornady GMAX bullets for those, to emulate Hornady's "Full Boar" loads). I have been vacillating between 100 gr. Barnes TTSX and Hornady 120gr. GMX bullets for the Grendel.

[mwilkins]

123 gr scenars
27.5 gr of 8208 - no signs of pressure
Lapua brass
Wolf Magnum primers
Seated to mag length
24" barrel
averaging 2550 fps

Hog flopped for about 5 seconds and was done.

[Savage Shooter]

Thanks - never thought of the Scenar as a hunting bullet, let alone for hogs, but if you can put it where you want it because of their penchant for accuracy, I guess that's Step 1. Elsewhere on the site, I found this feedback: "I have used the 123gr scenars in the past to hunt wild hogs, but only because i had no other choice as it was the only round i had at the time. IMHO, the bullet isn't really designed w/ hunting in mind but rather for target use. having said that, the bullet will kill game if your shot placement is good. the hogs i have shot were not huge, probably about 100lbs, and were almost always broadside shots. the bullets always passed thru and were not recovered. internal damage was nothing to brag about, no explsions or such to internal organs."

Since I have TTSXs, GMXs and no experience hog hunting, and my shots are likely to be under 100 yards, I'll probably stick with one of those.