The Hodgdon 2023 Annual Manual dropped today, and there are some great additions that will make this a must have manual. First, it has a feature article on reloading the 7mm PRC and they have load data for it with the new Winchester StaBALL HD powder that I wrote about last week. They have it pushing a Barnes 168gr LRX at 2811 out of a 24″ Mossberg Patriot Predator, but with only 1.8 MOA for accuracy. All of the loads out of that rifle were close to 2 MOA…so some work to do there.
Next, they have an article featuring the Winchester StaBALL HD powder. The author, Steve Gash, tested six rifles with it, and all appear to have done really well with the accuracy. He tested a 243 Winchester, 25-06 Remington, 6.5 PRC, 270 WSM, 6.8 Western, and a 7mm Remington Magnum. I’m a fan of the .277 calibers, and I have a Kimber Montana in 270 WSM and a Nosler M21 in 27 Nosler that I’m looking forward to trying this with. StaBALL HD has also been included in the burn rate chart and sits right above Hodgdon RETUMBO and right below IMR 8133.
Then there is the StaBALL Match article by Joseph Von Benedikt. This medium fast burning powder got test driven on a 223 Remington, 7mm-08 Remington, and a 45-70 Government. The accuracy didn’t turn out too well, but it does not appear to have been extensively tested, and Joseph said that he did this using some early load data from Hodgdon’s ballistician, Justin Schrader. StaBALL Match has also been included in the burn rate chart and sits right above Winchester 748 and right below Hodgdon BL-C(2). I am really excited to try this in the 308 Winchester and 7mm-08 Remington, among others…
Another thing that I found noteworthy was the inclusion of the IMR Enduron powders in this edition. I had emailed Hodgdon the other day to see if they would weigh in on the rumors that the Enduron line was being discontinued. They responded that “The Enduron series powder are out of production for an unknown amount of time as that line is being used for other purposes. They are not officially discontinued and we would like to see them return as soon as plant capacity allows.” They had also posted a response to a comment on Facebook not long ago that echoed this message. I find the inclusion of it in this manual a good sign for the eventual return of the Enduron line once they get caught up on some other production, or their suppliers rather.
Reading further into the actual load data, there is plenty of data on the new StaBALL powders. It’s in there for the 30-06, the 308 Winchester, and many others. I was pleasantly surprised to see that the 27 Nosler made it into this manual, and it has the loads for StaBALL HD in there. It is topping the velocity chart with the Barnes 129gr LRX at a smoking 3,445 fps. That’s 49fps over the next fastest, US 869. On the low end of the load data, it is still going 3,114, but it is doing that at 3,600 PSI less pressure than the US 869. In fact, it is the lowest pressure load listed. This is great for conserving that brass, which I’m currently getting from necking up 26 Nosler cases. It also has the load data for the Nosler Long Range Accubond 165gr, which is rumored to have been produced for the 27 Nosler. Here we see the StaBALL HD maxing out at 3,061 fps. In this case, the US 869 is beating that out with 3,154, however the StaBALL HD is coming in at about 600 PSI less pressure.
A few final observations…it looks like they are really leaning towards the newer style cartridges with the heavy for caliber and high B.C. bullets. The 300 WSM did not get any updated load data for the new StaBALL powders, the 270 WSM had been taken out in the 2021 Manual, and there are only a handful of loads for the 300 Winchester Magnum using StaBALL HD using heavier bullets. Then with StaBALL Match, even though there is load data for the medium size cartridges, its not competing on velocity with others, including StaBALL 6.5, so I’ll be curious to see where that ends up finding its place in the mix, and what others are ending up seeing with their loads.