Post by bluedot on Aug 30, 2018 12:52:25 GMT -5
Well, after talking to my gunsmith about the temp sensitivity of the WC-872 powder, I went and bought a pound of RL-33 for the 7mm Allen Magnum. Kirby said in addition to being VERY hard to ignite, he said the WC-872 powder was found to be pretty temp sensitive too, and he recommended RL-33 powder and that I switch from Federal Gold Medal Match 215M primers to the regular 215M primers as they were hotter than the Match Primers.
I should have checked my e-mail on my laptop while I was on the trip. My phone somehow stopped getting e-mail forwarded to it. I didn't see Kirby's reply until I returned and Brownells had both RL-33 and the Fed 215M primers while I was there.
I called and a gunshop an hour away has RL-33 powder, and they just sold their last box of Federal 215M primers. No problem, right, I;ll just get them on-line. Yeah right. Cabela;s has them, but I ain't paying almost $50/box of 1,000. Midway is out of stock, Brownells/Sinclair is out of stock, Natchez is out of stock. Finally found them at Graf's & Sons and while they are more expensive than buying locally due to the HazMat and other shipping price, they are still cheaper than Cabela's, even before sales tas, so I bit the bullet and ordered 2,000.
I can't wait around, I'm not waiting until the last minute to work up a load - I learned my lesson about that earlier this year. Weather will bite me in the butt and I'll be scrambling.
I asked about RL-50 powder, and while it isn't too slow there ARE bridging problems with the large kernels so that's why it's not recommended for the 7mm A.M.
The saga continues it seems. Using WC-872, FPS at 60°F temps and 7,591' elevation was 200 fps slower than 80°F and 785' elevation. I'll just have to get a load developed here with RL-33 and see if I can get it running 3200+ fps with the 200g Wildcat bullet, then shoot it again at altitude in October to generate a drop table.