Winchester 748! Is it sensitive?

J

Jay Cummings

New member
I have always avoided ball powders like the plague due to temp sensativity. I have been curious about W748 lately and wonder how temp sensative it is. Have you guys noticed alot of pressure spikes or dips with this powder?
 
I've used a good deal of it in 223 and never had problems with it.

I don't run on the ragged edge to start with. I can always seem to find a middle of the road load that has both decent velocity and accuracy and in doing so... I've never had issues with pressure in the summer time. I've never felt a coyote or a paper target can tell the difference in velocity anyways so I don't push it.
 
Originally Posted By: Jay CummingsI have always avoided ball powders like the plague due to temp sensativity. I have been curious about W748 lately and wonder how temp sensative it is. Have you guys noticed alot of pressure spikes or dips with this powder?

You didn't say what cartridge you were using??? That would help a lot.

No cartridge or powder makes "pressure spikes", but some do increase pressure with changes in temperature more than others.

If you are loading the 223 with mid weight bullets, it is impossable to get too much powder in it.

It IS temperature sensitive.


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Jay, the only time I've ever experienced a problem with any of the ball powders (W-748, X-Terminator, & TAC) that I use has been when we go for a PD shoot on a really hot and sunny day and that was before we started storing our ammo in a cheap styrofoam cooler, rather than letting it get in the sun for any length of time...Now, we make sure there is some shade for the cooler...Nothing serious, just some tight bolt movement...But then, I don't load on the hot side either..
 
all gun power is temp sensitive heat of cold will effect the speed of the bullet i have shot at temps from 100+ to -30 over a chrony and temp does effect the flight of the bullet some times as much as 400 fps which in my 243 equales a drop of 3 in at 100 yds. i have tried more than 25 powders they all were temp sensitive bill
 

I am running a max. charge of W748 in a 308 Win. load.
It was developed for a Savage Striker(bolt action pistol with
a 14" barrel), but also shoots sub-MOA groups in a Browning
BAR LW Stalker. The load was developed around 30 degrees,
for whitetail hunting. I have done zero checks at around
60 degrees, down to -10 degrees, and have not seen any
significant signs of pressure, or large changes in group
size. Maybe a .5 MOA increase. The BAR would probably fail
to extract, if excessive pressure expanded the case a lot.
So 30 or 40 degrees beyond the load development temps, in my
firearms, suggest a tolerable degree in temperature
sensitivity.

I had a pretty alarming experience with H380, in a 22-250
Varmint rifle, about +40 degrees over the load development
temp, on a near max. load...As in tapping the bolt open with a
neoprene hammer. I won't load H380 any more, but I am pretty
comfortable with W748's temperature sensitivity.

Squeeze
 
Originally Posted By: 19grizz69

"... i have tried more than 25 powders they all were temp sensitive bill"



Saying that all powders are tempeature sensitive is like saying all food with make you gain weight.
Some foods (like Big Mac's) will put on weight much faster than others (like lettuce).

Double based powders (all ball powders and some stick powders) are very temperature sensitive, and single based stick powders like Varget, H-322, BenchMark, H-4895, are very temperature insensitive.


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I should of said it is for my AR 223. I have done alot of seaching on the 223 as this my first experience with this cartridge. I just noticed that W748 comes up alot as a good powder for the 69-77gr bullets and thought I might try it but didn't want to run into issues with loads being too hot in the summer months.
 
I had have problems with h380 when shooting on hot days, and I have had problems with reloader 22 in my 257 wby, switched to the imr in the 257 and varget in the 22 250 and havent had problems
 
My solution to temperature sensitivity? Do load development during the summer. If it works at 117 degrees F, chances are it'll work at 20 degrees. Verify, of course.
 


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