Trying out Staball 6.5 in a 7mm/08 under a 120g NBT. The rifle is a Ruger Hawkeye Compact (16” barrel) so not much data on what to expect.

I’ve chronographed a couple loads today. Starter load was at 2580 went up to 2850 at the max I tried. Finally to my question, the case was pretty sooty at the low speed, the fast was incredibly clean, like it came out of the tumbler clean. Is this some sort of pressure sign I’ve not heard of? Everything else is as I’d expect.

The lower power load case didn't fully expand to fit the chamber, so it got soot on it.

The higher power load case did fully expand to fit the chamber and so it didn't get soot.

Pretty normal.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Flash-LB,

quote:

Originally posted by Flash-LB:
The lower power load case didn't fully expand to fit the chamber, so it got soot on it.

The higher power load case did fully expand to fit the chamber and so it didn't get soot.

Pretty normal.

sounds good. I had never encountered cases that came out so clean.

I recently started using Sta-Ball and found it to be very dirty, "sooty". Not my brass and chamber, but the barrel. It was almost like it was laying in the barrel, the bottom of the barrel was more than twice as dirty to the naked eye.

Next go round I tried some magnum primers (small rifle primer brass). However I screwed up, forgot to check the barrel before I shot some loads with other powders, so I don't know if it helped. I guess this post didn't help you either.

Next trip, maybe I'll remember and shoot the loads in the right order.

quote:

Originally posted by Flash-LB:
The lower power load case didn't fully expand to fit the chamber, so it got soot on it.

The higher power load case did fully expand to fit the chamber and so it didn't get soot.

Pretty normal.

I agree. However, I've also seen soot come from the lube used during sizing. Hornady One Shot, while being awesome in just about every other regard in my opinion, fails here pretty hard core. To the point where I helped another fellow who was chasing his own tail because he kept assuming the powder charge was too low. I figured it ouw because I had a load already made up that normally leaves brass clean enough, but then had to size some already primed brass and it came out nasty when fired.

Just as an update on what I said, I fired 33-ish more rounds yesterday from a clean barrel, with magnum small rifle primers, but this time I remembered to look before switching to loads with another, extruded powder. No different, no cleaner.

I've been shooting like 50 years and reloading since I was a kid, and I don't recall ever seeing anything like what this powder leaves behind. The only thing similar would be black powder fouling, but this stuff just lays on the very bottom of the barrel. I wish there was a way to take a good picture of it, I just don't have the means.

imagine this drain pipe picture as my barrel. Only picture the water twice as wide easily, and 2 1/2 to 3 times deeper, the whole length of the 24" barrel. Sooty powder residue. It's amazing.