Lovex powders - opinions

[MichalS]

I'm starting with reloading and while looking at powder availability I noticed the most common locally is a Czech made Lovex. It's also a lot cheaper than major American brands  Do You have any experiences with it? 

TIA,

Michal 

[drum]

What calibers would you be reloading ?

[MichalS]

.223 and .308. I also consider RS powders as they are quite easy to get.

[drum]

I use so70 in a 243,and so60 in 223 with good results.Also Do 73.4 in 223.Trying it is the only way to find out if it suits your needs .I have no hesitation in saying give it a try ,its good powder at a sensible price.

Drum

[Laurie]

SO62 is an excellent choice for 308 with 150-190gn bullets. It used to be branded Accurate-4064 as it closely matches the performance and loads of IMR-4064. (Use Explosia's data though, not IMR's.)

It will also work in 223, but is really better suited to mid-weight bullets there. (You don't say what weight you intend to use and that has a very large impact on powder choice.)

The three 'ball' type powders DO-73.4/5/6 from fast to slow burning are well suited to the 223, the choice of grade dependant again on bullet weight. They usually give high MVs and in the right combination excellent precision. IME, they are 'dirty' though and leave  a very hard burned on fouling on case-necks and shoulders that unless cleaned off immediately, immediately as in within minutes,  after shooting (spray WD40 or Ballistol onto paper tissue or towelling and wipe the fouling off) is the devil to remove.

SO60 (extruded /tubular) is a good choice for 223 in all but very heavy bullets, and although I've never tried it, rather faster burning extruded SO53 should be an excellent choice with lighter (40-55gn) bullets in the cartridge. It was designed by Explosia as a single-based extruded type for the 7.62X39mm and is an alternative to DO63 ball type.

[Lukas_K]

Laurie, try running the "dirty" Lovex numbers with S&B primers sometime. Two things will almost certainly happen - the burned fouling in the necks will be reduced considerably, and the velocity will go up a little. Haven´t found why yet, but it proved true the same in 223, 6Br, 308 and Swede, all of them across several loads in different barrels. Makes the reloader´s life a lot easier

[Laurie]

Interesting that (re S&B primers). Yes, they're excellent caps. More though, the more I play around with primers myself and the more that I read of other people's experiences, the more convinced I become that matching the primer to cartridge / powder / load can be very important, sometimes the difference between a mediocre performance and a really good result. Unfortunately, there is no easy way or set of ground rules as to what will or won't work best. Some makes / models seem to have a wider tolerance than others - Rem 7 1/2BR, Magtech 7 1/2, maybe Murom SR223 in SR models, and CCI-BR2, Fed 210M, S&B, and Murom KVB-7 (or 7M magnum) in LR. I include the  KVB-7M as in my old (PMC branded) lot at any rate, it is almost as 'mild' as the standard KVB-7 and in some cartridges gives slightly smaller ES / SDs with no change in group size.