Staball 6.5 for 9.3x62?

[TXTad]

I am hoping to get back to loading for some rifles I've been neglecting for years. These are .22-250 (Remington 700 Sendero), .243 Winchster (Winchster Coyote), 7mm-08 (Weatherby Vanguard), and a 9.3x62 (CZ 550). Of the powders that are available, W760/H414 covers of these very well. However, according to Hodgdon's site, Winchester Staball 6.5 does all of these even better, with the exception of 9.3x62. However, I'm thinking that maybe in the case of 9.3x62 it is omitted because of popularity, rather than unsuitability.

I'm going to call Hodgdon tomorrow, but in the meantime I'm curious what anyone here thinks about Staball 6.5 for Otto Bock's round.

 

[CZ93X62]

Using J-words in 9.3 x 62 my go-to fuels have been WW-760 and IMR-4320. With castings I use 2400 almost exclusively.

I have no experience with the Sta-Ball stuff.

 

[fiver]

i've never even thought about the stuff long enough to look it up on a burn chart.

 

[TXTad]

Using J-words in 9.3 x 62 my go-to fuels have been WW-760 and IMR-4320. With castings I use 2400 almost exclusively.

I have no experience with the Sta-Ball stuff.

What is your cast load? I'm definitely going to work on some of those as well. I'm glad I bought keg of 2400 recently.

 

[CZ93X62]

My long-time go-to load has been 23.0 x 2400 behind a 270 grain flatnose GC for about 1700 FPS. It stayed accurate to 400 meters (1.5-1.6 MOA).

Be certain which gas check shank size your 9.3mm mould maker uses--some use 35, others use 375. You'll want a dished/relieved ejector pin face if using the 375 checks. There was a proprietary 9.3mm check size for a time, I think Sage's Reloading might have info on that.

Euro 9.3mm barrels use two twist rates--the more common rate is 3 turns/meter (about 1 in 13.1"). More recent rifles use a 4 turns per meter pitch, about 1 in 9-3/4" (same as a lot of 7mm barrels). The rationale for the quicker twist is to support the longer 300-330 grain Mastodon Flatteners that some folks seem to crave. 286 grains at 2400 FPS or 250 grains at 2650 FPS seem like enough for anything in North America or Europe to me, and most African species. These are probably over-light for semi-tractors or Hum-Vees, though.

 

[RicinYakima]

9.3X62 is the only caliber less than 375 H&H Magnum that is legal for hunting the big five in Africa.

 

[TXTad]

Well, Midsouth reminded me with an email just a bit ago that free hazmat ends tonight. So I took a chance and ordered two 8# kegs of Staball 6.5 instead of one each of that and W760. Looking over the powders in Hodgdon's data that are best for the 9.3x62, H4350 and W760/H414 are consistently the top for the bullet weights I want to use. These two powders seem to bracket Staball 6.5, so I think that the S6.5 will be great for the 9.3x62. I'll still call Hodgdon tomorrow and see what, if anything, they have to say on the topic. If I turns out I made a mistake, I can still feed just about everything else I have with this.

 

[TXTad]

After some further cogitating on the subject, I called Midsouth today and added some W760 to the order. It'll just be much easier to work with published loads.

I did go ahead and call Hodgdon and they confirmed that the Staball 6.5 is a touch slower than either 760 or H4350. As I suspected, the fact that all of their 9.3 data is CUP indicates they probably don't even have a piezo test barrel for the caliber and are unlikely to work up any new data for it. I think the Staball 6.5 would probably work well in it, but it may or may not be a bit too slow, especially with the lighter bullets. It might be perfect for the 300 gr and heavier ones, but I'm not interested in those.

Hodgdon also confirmed that Accurate 2700 is also the same as H414/W760, which I have seen a few people on the innertubz opining about.

 

[fiver]

i use a lot of 2700,,, heck i could use more... LOL
i prefer it to 414.

just throwin this out there,, but i would probably start with 4350 data for the 6.5 stuff.

 

[TXTad]

i use a lot of 2700,,, heck i could use more... LOL
i prefer it to 414.

Why? If it's the same, it should be the same as 414 / 760, just with variation between lots.

just throwin this out there,, but i would probably start with 4350 data for the 6.5 stuff.

Seems reasonable. OTOH, I'll have enough 760 for at least 800 rounds of 9.3x62. I doubt I'll ever go through it all, since I'll probably end up doing more shooting with that rifle using cast and some other powder.

 

[fiver]

i don't know if they are the same or just in the same family.
i also prefer IMR 4895 over H-4895, heck i even like AA-2495 over the H-95.

why?
guess i've just had better results in the places where i've used them.[shrug]
maybe it's the primers i use?

 

[CWLONGSHOT]

I have had this powder for a few years. I hadent found the right time to use it.
A short time ago I loaded up some in the 30/06 under a 168 SMK. I used STA-ball 6.5.
I didnt see great accuracy and found pressures before I expected but I just hit 2900 fps. Im gonna try again with it.

I dont see why the 9.3 couldnt use STA-ball just fine.

CW