What about BLC-2?

[Kswhitetails]

Ok folks, for those of you who have used it, what do you think? I found a pound at a garage sale this morning for five bucks, and am interested in what to expect. I found some data on Hornady's site, and have perused the results from a quick Google-fu, but nothing really impressive comes to light.

I haven't heard or read about much of any excitement over BLC2 either.

[rickt300]

I like BLC2, you can get a reasonable amount of it in the Grendel without crunching powder and accuracy is very good in my rifles. Better than CFE223 in both of them. ARComp is a bit bulky but accurate, LVR is a bit dirty for semi's but great for bolt guns and probably gives the best velocity with heavier bullets. I started with BLC2 and would have been better off sticking with it.

[StoneHendge]

I found it to be extremely accurate in 308 but incredibly temperature sensitive with vertical stringing as the chamber heats up.

[VASCAR2]

When I got into the 6.5 Grendel in 2009 BLC2 was commonly used with 120-125 grain bullets. The other common powders when I started shooting the 6.5 Grendel were Accurate 2520, Winchester 748 and TAC. I have used H335 and A2230/Xterminator with lighter bullets with good results. My area experienced some powder shortages and I was buying whatever powder I could find which would work in the 6.5 Grendel.

CFE223 came on the market in my area at decent prices so I've been using it with 120+ grain bullets instead of BLC2. I can get a little higher velocity with CFE223 compared to BLC2. If I could find BLC2 for $5 a pound I'd use it with my blem 120 grain pro hunters for cheap short range hunting and plinking ammo.

[rickt300]

My complaint with CFE was poor accuracy not velocity.

[Kilco]

BLC-2 gave me better accuracy and less velocity than CFE223. It also isn't as dense, so to reach max load for my rifle with BLC-2 I was starting to compress, and I've found whenever I start to compress a ball powder I get COAL variances.

I wasn't impressed with the cleaning after using BLC-2 either.. like LVR it left a "soot" all over everything.

CFE223 left more of a film, and I wasn't crazy over that either.

Many many people have great luck with CFE223, but for me personally in my 5.56, Grendel, and 308 it was very hard to find an accuracy node, and when I did it never seemed to be consistant... Again this is just my experience, not a general consensus, as quite a few people swear by CFE223.

[Brett]

Many many people have great luck with CFE223, but for me personally in my 5.56, Grendel, and 308 it was very hard to find an accuracy node, and when I did it never seemed to be consistant... Again this is just my experience, not a general consensus, as quite a few people swear by CFE223.

I had a similar experience with the CFE so I started working with ARComp and 8208xbr. I have had good results with both, but settled on the 8208.

[Wafavre2]

IMR8208BRX is my go to and very accurate at 28.3 gr with any 123 gr pill @2550 fps from my 20" barrel. BLC2 would be my next choice at 27.8 gr with same 123 gr. pill @2500 fps. When I bump up the charges above those listed the grouping starts opening up and I start to see over pressure signs.

[richj]

Ditto on the 308

I found it to be extremely accurate in 308 but incredibly temperature sensitive with vertical stringing as the chamber heats up.

[Drift]

BLC2 is a great powder in the 120gr bullet range. It was the "go to " powder for years. Accurate as can be (.5 inch groups common) very fast and near impossible to blow your gun up with. If there is one problem with it is it can be a little dirty in an AR. I love it in bolt action Grendels. I found a accuracy node @ max load. So I have a life time supply of it horded away.

[LRRPF52]

There is a lot of reloading data for Grendel with BL-C(2) in the 6.5 Grendel reloading handbooks, as well as Hornady's 8th, 9th, and 10th.

Keep in mind with the Hornady data, they lump in GMX with the cup and core AMAX/ELD-M, and SST in the 120-123gr class, so the maximum charge weights there are constrained by the start pressure of the solid GMX.

If you contrast that with the AA BL-C(2) data in the Handbooks, you'll see that cup and core 120-123gr charge weights are a lot higher than Hornady's for 120-123gr.

BL-C(2) and AA2520 were the common high density ball powders for Grendel before CFE223.

[Kswhitetails]

I read the charts in Vol. 2, and found that under 120 gr the load data seems absent. Considering the burn rate reference that's not surprising. I am finding that CFE has pretty much pushed BLC-2 out. That and 8208. Both of which are making their way to a more prominent spot on my bench. I think I'm going to be putting this one off in favor of the other two, as I already have a lot more of both. I don't really need another (seemingly dated) load development project at the moment. I may re-visit in the future. For $5 bucks it won't hurt to let it sit for the day when more powder shortages make their way to a bench near me...