Federal Premium 178 SMK

[TAMU20]

Alright I know this topic has been discussed many times, but I went out shooting today with Federal Premium Gold Medal Match 175 SMK, (this is packaged differently than the normal FGMM) and shot the amazing 3 shot group at 100 yd attached below. With this amazing group I wanted to duplicate the load, so I researched and found different posts about what others have found. When I pulled the bullet to investigate, I found that powder weighed in at 39.8 gn. The box advertised 2600 FPS and this was confirmed when I used this velocity to shoot out to 1000 yards; I was using a 24" Remington 700 5R 11.25" twist barrel.

My question for you is, what powder is being used?
To help in this I took a picture of the powder after I pulled the round.

Also, I am assuming this load will work in the Federal brass, but what would the load be for lapua brass?

Thank you in advance for the help

Matt

 

[Niles Coyote]

The large ammunition manufacturers do not use the same powder that is available to us hobbyists. You may find something that is similar but it still will not be the same. A load that is very close to FGMM that I have found is in the area of 43-43.4 grains of Varget with the 175 grain Sierra Matchking. IIRC 43.1 was my load in Lapua brass and about 2 tenths more for Winchester brass. Others have used IMR 4064 and Reloder 15 in their clone loads.

That said, there was a image file of a spec load from DOD that used IMR 4064, however that image seems to be lost due to photofucket's greed. IIRC, the charge weight was in the 42 grain range.

 

[TAMU20]

I saw that about the DOD spec about IMR 4064, but a powder charge weighing 39.8 gn is too low for IMR 4064, so I guess I'm asking if that powder looks like IMR 4895.

 

[300ATT]

I did the same thing a while ago and read somewhere that Federal was using R-15 ... I pulled a bunch of 175 FGMM cartridges and found that they had 43.0 43.1 gr of a powder that looked a lot like R-15. Guess what 43.0gr of R-15 with a federal 210m primer behind a 175 shoots really well and at the same velocity.

As noted it's hard to pin down the exact powder that manufacturers use and they change the formula from time to time. Federal used to use 4064 for their 168gr FGMM. I agree that at 39.8grs you are probably looking at something like IMR 4895. H4895 is a little more yellow in color ... FWIW.

Have fun!

 

[LANCER]

The large ammunition manufacturers do not use the same powder that is available to us hobbyists. You may find something that is similar but it still will not be the same. A load that is very close to FGMM that I have found is in the area of 43-43.4 grains of Varget with the 175 grain Sierra Matchking. IIRC 43.1 was my load in Lapua brass and about 2 tenths more for Winchester brass. Others have used IMR 4064 and Reloder 15 in their clone loads.

That said, there was a image file of a spec load from DOD that used IMR 4064, however that image seems to be lost due to photofucket's greed. IIRC, the charge weight was in the 42 grain range.

I believe the load you are referencing used 41.7 gr of 4064 and 175 SMK seated to 2.805. I've used this in my LMT MWS and while accurate (precise) I lost the brass every firing but my gun is overgassed and I shoot suppressed. I have since gone down to 40.4 of IMR 4064 for that rifle. In my Tikka T3x CTR, I use 43.5 of Varget in a LC-LR case.

 

[918v]

IMR3031

 

[NukeMMC]

IMR3031

I have used 40.3gr of 3031 in a LC Match case quite successfully.