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IMR 4451 and SD’s

Silverjay

Full Member
Full Member
Minuteman
Sep 5, 2014
500
175
Nevada
Anyone have problems getting SD’s down with 4451? While it is not an optimal powder for 147 ELD’s in a 6.5 Creedmoor, I have several pounds and need to use it. Found two nodes in velocity and in both nodes groups under 1/2” were easy to develop. SD’s ranges from 17-25. Brass is Alpha with H2O volumes all within 0.2 grains. Powder all charged to within 0.02 grains on a fx-120. Annealed before sizing every firing. Neck tension tested from 0.001-0.004. Across all these tests SD’s stay in the 17-25 range. Velocity measures with Magneto sporter on fresh batteries. Anyone with similar 4451 experience?
 
4451 is a double base, if you get too high on pressure curve squirrelly things start to happen.

How does ammo do at distance, 300 and / or 600 yds?
Ammo shooting well at distance, you have analysis paralysis and worrying about #s that don’t really mean much.

Velocity w/147s and from what bbl length?
 
I wouldn't worry about it, you only have a few pounds of the stuff your SDs are somewhere in the neighborhood of factory Hornady match ammo and I've found that's plenty good enough to do well in matches. I've gone through 16 lbs of IMR 4451, 41.8 gr., CCI BR2 primer, Hornady case, Hornady 140 ELDM with excellent results but I don't sweat the small stuff and the SD on a 10 shot string with this load is somewhere around 15, which was good enough to win my local match.
 
At distance it shoots poorly. Vertical dispersion is bad. That is how I double checked the Magneto data. May just burn it up inside 500 and use something else for longer distances.
 
Like I said before, I got excellent results with IMR 4451 but I'm running 140 ELDMs not 147s. I'm about to run out of 4451 and would use it again in the future. I ordered it when H4350 was unobtainable but in the mean time I've built up 48 lbs of H4350 which I need to use now;)
 
Maybe not- if you're getting single digit SDs with H4350 then your loading technique must be pretty good. Perhaps IMR 4451 doesn't work well with anything heavier than a 140 gr. bullet.