Superformance Powder Any Good?

OhHeyThereBen

OhHeyThereBen

Active member
Joined
Dec 19, 2017
Messages
879
Location
West Central WI
Hey guys. Anyone have any experience with Superformance powders? Looking at the velocities for the '06 and 6.5 Schmedium T-Shirt with heavy bullets and it seems to be magical, but I never hear anyone talking about it on here. I think it's what Hornady loads in their Superformance line, but can you really get the velocities they claim without over pressuring?
 
You will hear me rave about it. I have a Remington 700 in 30:06 and have done all the experimentation via a friend who hand loads. We have tried all kinds of bullets, loads, primers, you name it. Needless to say I have ZERO reason to hand load ammo or have my buddy do it for me I should say. The performance and accuracy out to 300 yards (I have not tested out further) using the Superformance SST in 150 and 165 grn. is as good if not better than many of the loads and bullets we put together (velocity and accuracy). I can't tell you about terminal bullet performance given X bullet vs Y bullet but I can tell you that the 165 SST in 30:06 puts a serious hurt on an Elk at 260yrds. Todays factory ammo (I should say Hornady) given my experience is Very good. I am not knocking hand loading at all. I get the tinker factor and the hobby. It's a great hobby but for my 30:06 at least I can't see going through the hassle. Now if I had a rifle I target shoot every other week and ran hundreds of rounds through It I would consider hand loads purely out of saving money.
 
Glad to hear that. I should have probably specified that I was more wondering about the powder itself instead of the Hornady ammo.
 
I bought an 8 pound jug of it. Still have about 6.5 pounds. My 22-250 likes it, but my 30-06 was blowing primers easily with 165's & 180's.

The pressure spike you get with that powder is pretty severe. I'd be careful working up loads with it.
 
Ben Lamb said:
I bought an 8 pound jug of it. Still have about 6.5 pounds. My 22-250 likes it, but my 30-06 was blowing primers easily with 165's & 180's.

The pressure spike you get with that powder is pretty severe. I'd be careful working up loads with it.
Click to expand...

Thanks Ben. Did you get decent velocities before you hit pressure signs?
 
I've tried it in my 30-06 with different bullets but just cant seem to get any kind of acceptable accuracy out of it. I'll stick to Varget
 
I have used it in 30-06, 243, 6mm rem, 300 SAUM and 338 Win. My take is it is a a good powder but doesn't do anything other powders do in the ones I reload. I have had no issues like pressure spikes and have burned about 4#s.
 
I thought I read it actually wasn't the same as the "proprietary powder" Hornady uses in their Superformance factory ammo.
 
Brian in Montana said:
I thought I read it actually wasn't the same as the "proprietary powder" Hornady uses in their Superformance factory ammo.
Click to expand...

What I read on the internet (take it for what its worth) is that the Superformance is blended individually for each load. The canister version is close, but not the same. So matching factory ammo velocities won't be possible in most cases.

A call to Hornady would probably answer most questions, if someone was so inclined.
 
I’ve read elsewhere that Hornady will not provide load data (for good reason)

I too have experienced peculiar pressure signs with Superformance. And there isn’t much in the way of load data. It sits in a nice burn rate band on the charts. But beware. It should not be treated as just any mid slow powder. Perhaps because it’s a ball powder.

I got great great velocities out of it but accuracy was so so. And pressure was intermittent came much earlier than expected in load development.
 
270 is what I was developing a load for. I experienced pressure much earlier than I expected. Scared me away from it. Now I just stick to the book data. Can get some real good velocities tho.
 
I get tack driver groups out of my 6.5 with it. Good accuracy in my .242 as well. That said, there are much easier powders available to work with.
 
I use the Superformance powder in my .243, with a Barnes 80gr TTSX. I'm getting 3150fps, with great accuracy as well. As for the 270, the only load I've seen for the 270 Win, using the Superformance powder is from Barnes, using their 129gr LRX bullet, they list a starting load of 52.5 grains, ( @ 2850fps), to a max load of 58.3 grains, (@ 3193fps), the max load they also list as a compressed load as well. Hope this helps. As for myself, I've been using H4350 powder with great results in my 270, 30-06, & 338WM.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

O
30-06 with n550 powder max charge.
Replies
6
Views
1K
ImBillT
ImBillT
jphares44
Pressure sign/load development question
2 3 4
Replies
74
Views
6K
Don Fischer
D
Durango Mike
Hammer loads for 280AI
2
Replies
25
Views
5K
WesternRookie
W
Hockaday2017
Over Annealed Cases?
Replies
7
Views
948
ImBillT
ImBillT
Brian in Montana
RL23 - first time using it
2
Replies
20
Views
5K
std7mag
S
Caribou Gear

Latest posts

Forum statistics

Threads
111,041
Messages
1,944,750
Members
34,985
Latest member
tinhunter

Share this page

Back
Top