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RS52 shortage


redding

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I have been using RS52 for a while now but I am told that none will be available this year.

I am down to my last few grams and was wondering if anyone has moved to an alternative powder

I like the RS52, it gives good velocity with no excessive pressure.

I use a .308 with Barnes TTSX 130 grain bullets with an average velocity of 3030 FPS

Any suggestions for an alternative would be appreciated.

 

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The problem is that most of the European made powders are clearly priotising Nato, so all of us now choose one of the USA made powders, to which they have allmost completely dried up due to extra demand.

And i think we may need to prepare ourselves for large hickes in prices when it does start to reapear on the shelves. (Current demand is just so high)

Keep a look out, some powders apear but WILL go fast, so keep looking.

I know Viht N140 is an option for .308,  i havent tried much else for the .308.

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It is my understanding Alliant RL series of rifle powders are made in Europe and are compliant with latest H&S requirements, Lovex is also made in Europe. I have used RL15 in 308 Win for bullets up to 175 grains. This is priced in one pound containers, Vhit comes in one kilo containers and works out cheaper per cartridge, I now use Vhit N140 for this reason.

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On 5/3/2023 at 11:25 AM, redding said:

I have been using RS52 for a while now but I am told that none will be available this year.

I am down to my last few grams and was wondering if anyone has moved to an alternative powder

I like the RS52, it gives good velocity with no excessive pressure.

I use a .308 with Barnes TTSX 130 grain bullets with an average velocity of 3030 FPS

Any suggestions for an alternative would be appreciated.

 

What is your barrel length and twist rate?  I will cook you up a nice recipe.

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1 hour ago, kwakkerjack said:

What is your barrel length and twist rate?  I will cook you up a nice recipe.

Hi kwakkerjack

Thats a kind offer thanks.

Its a Lowther match grade barrel and it measures 560mm or 22" from the closed bolt face to the muzzle

The twist rate is 1 - 10

Advice on here & other places is Vit N135 seems to be the go to powder as i cant get RS52 any more.

Regards

Roger

 

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Take this with a pinch of salt.... NOT ADVICE, research custom loads carefully and build up from published manufacturer data.

 

RS 52 shows inconsistent burn rate and seems to be slightly too slow burning for your barrel length as 15% of the powder will be wasted.  Chamber pressure 45000psi.  Speed shows about 2860ft/s

image.thumb.png.3db418e018b1fad1bde878917c3febd2.png

 

About 40 grains of Vihtavuori N135 seems to be a good balance.  All powder burnt and much lower chamber pressure 41000psi, speed shows 2700ft/s

image.thumb.png.31bc6ca5e5374a1ae45a153e373b2f00.png

 

Caution, the prior mentioned N140 powder (by other members) seems to perform similarly to RS 52 in these tests.  Up to about 45gr, but this will be at a much higher chamber pressure.

 

Thinking outside of the box... Alliant Reloder 7 could be used for a downloaded round. 31-33gr would give a low pressure 2400-2500ft/s, that represents a good saving of powder if that is preferred.

image.thumb.png.c5ba6bb7ffc626672e7ffa224dd5d37d.png

 

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23 hours ago, kwakkerjack said:

Caution, the prior mentioned N140 powder (by other members) seems to perform similarly to RS 52 in these tests.  Up to about 45gr, but this will be at a much higher chamber pressure.

Thats a Broad statement.  Of coarse 45gr of N140 is going to be high pressure,  who stated 45gr??

Thats like saying be carefull N135 will be over pressure!  well it will be if you put to much in.

Your using a computor,  Sh*t data input = Sh*t data output.

 

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1 hour ago, English Rifleman said:

Thats a Broad statement.  Of coarse 45gr of N140 is going to be high pressure,  who stated 45gr??

Thats like saying be carefull N135 will be over pressure!  well it will be if you put to much in.

Your using a computor,  Sh*t data input = Sh*t data output.

 

 

I stated that; I said the N140 will be similar to RS52 but at higher pressures.

 

If you want to discuss data input, then your computer could help you with improving that too, it has a spell-checker.

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If this is what this forums' coming to, I've had enough.  You are a total pr1ck

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  • 4 weeks later...

Thanks for all the replies, managed to get 2 part tubs from other members on here, and I hear that some supply is soon to be coming through, thanks for the heads up No i Deer

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4 hours ago, redding said:

Thanks for all the replies, managed to get 2 part tubs from other members on here, and I hear that some supply is soon to be coming through, thanks for the heads up No i Deer

Mix them together and make one lot..

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  • 2 months later...

I seem to remember buying RS52 in a nice 10kg plastic barrel.......favourite powder for 308, 6BR, and 223.

Pete

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20 minutes ago, Re-Pete said:

I seem to remember buying RS52 in a nice 10kg plastic barrel.......favourite powder for 308, 6BR, and 223.

Pete

Interesting observation, I’ve just ordered 10kg of N140 as it does very nicely in 308, 6BR and 224V.

Looks like Rs52 and N140 are both very versatile powders within small /  medium capacity cases. I am surprised at the versatility really. I cannot speak for Rs52 ( no experience and in no way suggest equivalence) but powders that can go from 20g to +40g  and give excellent performance seem to be the ‘thinking blokes choice’.

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3 hours ago, ds1 said:

Looks like Rs52 and N140 are both very versatile powders within small /  medium capacity cases.

 

Yes, N140 and RS52 are fairly versatile (in common with nearly all tubular powders in that burn rate category), but it is more an issue of the three cartridges' case capacity to bore ratios, which are much closer than you might imagine.

The usual way to measure / categorise the ratio is to use capacity as measured in grains water weight and available either by measuring yourself using a fired and unsized case with the spent primer still in situ, or an approximate value as supplied by QuickLOAD or GRT, and dividing it by the area of the bore in square inches. This is the primary determinant of the optimal powder for that cartridge, a secondary one being bullet weight.   

 

308 ratio value is c. 750 (56gn water capacity divided by 0.075 sq in. bore area)

6BR runs at around 820

I can't be bothered looking up 22 Valkyrie's case capacity, but the slightly smaller 223 Rem runs at around 780 with my brass and rifle chamber, so is likely a tad over 800.

 

These lie, in the nature of this metric, very close, so need similar powder characteristics, hence RS52 and N140 work very well in all of them. As examples of quite different cartridges, .30BR runs at 527 and 30-30WCF at 587, so use faster burners to suit a low ratio; 7mm Rem Mag and 7mmWSM are both at 1,300 and need much slower burning magnum rifle powders to optimise performance. That 1300 figure is traditionally also taken as the dividing line for a cartridge being a true over bore-capacity design. Anything much higher reduces efficiency in terms of return on each grain weight of powder employed as well as going from being a 'barrel-burner' to being a serious barrel-burner.

It is not cartridge size per se that dictates powder needs. An easy way to see that is to look at a cartridge family based on a single case but necked up/down to different bore sizes and look at the powders advised in a reloading manual, and which produce the highest MVs. The most adapted design in current use is the 308 Win, since adopted in 6mm, 6.5mm, 7mm, .33 and .35 bores/bullets factory versions, and a few more wildcats too, but all 'same size' cartridges. 243 Win uses 'slower' powders than 308 Win which in turn uses 'slower' powders than .33 Federal for a typical bullet weight in each calibre.  

 

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On 5/3/2023 at 11:25 AM, redding said:

I have been using RS52 for a while now but I am told that none will be available this year.

I am down to my last few grams and was wondering if anyone has moved to an alternative powder

I like the RS52, it gives good velocity with no excessive pressure.

I use a .308 with Barnes TTSX 130 grain bullets with an average velocity of 3030 FPS

Any suggestions for an alternative would be appreciated.

 

N135 should suit your 130 grain bullets. Very happy with this powder in my 308 for 155 hornady eldms and the old amax design s . Accuracy international AT 26” barrel likes 42.5 -43 grain area , for 2800 fps . 
N150 for the 175 and 185 Berger bullets both seem to prefer 44.5 grain s . 
cheers

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