10-02-2012, 07:03 PM
bwaites Wrote:Hornady's powder is most likely a variant on their Superperformance powders. Some time ago, perhaps during development, someone brought up that it was a St. Marks powder, and Hornady never disputed that, which also fits the Superperformance envelope. 2520 is not as temp stable as the Hornady loads seem to be, so that's a non starter for me.
Interesting that it looks like CFE, because I have seen no copper fouling from the factory loads, and I've noted almost no copper fouling after I shoot it behind my handloads, regardless of what powder I use. That could be my barrel, but it is intriguing.
Does it smell like CFE, which has a very distinctive pepper smell?
Drifter beat me to the temp. sensitivity issue.
I didn't notice any smell when I pulled the bullets from the factory loads, so I don't know what to make of that. I don't have any of the Hodgdon Superformance powder, but I do have some of the Superformance 6.5 Creedmoor loads, I could dissasemble and compare to the Grendel factory powder.
I don't undersatnd why they are secritive about the Grendel powder when they print right on the box what the 6.5 Creedmoor load is, for example the 120 A-Max load is 39.0 grains of Varet with a Federal 210M primer and COL of 2.715". They even stated this information was made public so that handloaders could duplicate this load. It is highly refined and shoots all shots touching at 100 yards out of my McMillan 2k.
We are a smart bunch and will crack the code. If need be I'll call Steve Hornady myself and ask him point blank. He and I shared a huting camp in British Columbia so I think it would be hard for him to say no.
