16ga.com ~ View topic - Extra-lite powder

Member Joined: 02 Sep 2010 Posts: 829 Location: SW Ohio

I have switched my 3/4 oz 12 ga loads to Extra-lite powder. Burns cleaner and still cycles my Extrema 2. Wanting to keep the number of powders to a minimum I decided to try developing a 16ga 3/4oz load using Extra-lite. In 12 ga 3/4oz loads, 14.5 gr of powder generates from 6100-6900 psi. So I decided to try 14.5 gr, I have almost enough room to double the pressure. Made of some loads and sent them to Tom Armbrust.
Well it did more than that in the RGL hull.
RGL hull
Win 209
14.5 gr of Extra-lite-hand weighed,
DR16
3/4oz of 7.5 shot.-hand weighed
Ave#s were 1321 fps and an ave pressure of 14840. one load hit 15400, all were 14000 or above.

That's not going to work!!! Shocked

Second load much closer.
Cheddite new hull
Win 209 primer
14.5 gr of Extra-lite hand weighed
DR16
3/4oz of 7.5 shot hand weighed

1- 1285fps 10800
2 1299 12000
3 1302 11600
4 1300 11300
5 1302 12000

AVE 1297 11540
EV 17 1200

Still a little hot for my desires, I do not want a load that is right near the edge of safety in case of an occasional heavy powder drop. Plus I do not want that much velocity. So I am going to try again using a smaller drop, might go down to 13.5 - 14 gr. Since the same load that produced pretty lw pressure in 12 ga produced a big increase in 16, I suspect that it would be pretty sensitive to powder changes. Only 1 way to find out though.

I will update when I get new info.

Nate

Joined: 12 Sep 2010 Posts: 1973 Location: Maine

Just throwing in some opinions here.

It seems to me that this powder is really sensitive to minor variations in weight loaded in the shell and, as with many other things, a little dab will do.

So, my take on the situation would be that if you're going to use it, it might be prudent to limit oneself to hand measuring each charge, at least in the 16. Not very speedy, but this stuff seems too sensitive to minor variations - a little static hanging it up or an extra heavy drop could yield wild results - to allow going in any other direction. Timewise, it might work for hunting loads, where taking the time to load a box will not be out of line, but not target loads where one has to load lots of shells.

Just my opinions....

Member Joined: 02 Sep 2010 Posts: 829 Location: SW Ohio

Dave I agree, that is why I may test some loads with 13.5 gr and 14 see if the pressure has a better safety range. As I mentioned in my first post I DO NOT want a load that is that close to unsafe pressures. It may not work at all, but I am going to try one more time. Just out of curiosity, if for no other reason.

Otherwise I can stick with Green Dot for my 3/4 oz loads, I just would like to get a velocity around 1200 for better patterns. Just no need for a 1350 fps load. My goal is to get all my loads including hunting loads to be 1200-1250. Although in the big picture 100-150 fps difference in loads is probably not significant for lead changes. But it does give me an excuse when I need one!!! Very Happy

Joined: 13 Feb 2010 Posts: 280 Location: Utah

It sounds like Extra Lite is pretty fast for 16 gauge, though you look to have plenty of room to decrease your powder charge and lower your pressure into the safe range and get your velocity down near 1200FPS. Maybe 13.5 grains?

I had an order placed for American Select and Cheddite primers. I have lots of SG16 wads, though, and will be ordering Green Dot instead.

My experience tells me faster burning 12 ga target load powders like Red Dot, Extra lite, etc, will produce acceptable average pressures in 16 ga 3/4 and 7/8 ounce loads as long as the charge weights are held to under 14.5 grains. I've successfully used 14 grains of both Red Dot and 700X for 3/4 ounce loads in the RGL hull w/ a R16 wad w/ 28 ga nitro card filler wads. Average pressures were near max but acceptable. Even so, the loads were a bit snappy and patterns left a lot to be desired if my target breaks were any indication.

For light 16 ga target loads,I think these fast burning 12 ga powders remain far less forgiving than slightly slower burning powders like Green Dot. I'll stick with what works well for me here. Green Dot has repeatedly proven it's usefulness to me for 3/4 and 7/8 ounce loads for well over a decade. Why mess with success.

Member Joined: 02 Sep 2010 Posts: 829 Location: SW Ohio

16GG no doubt Greendot makes a nice light load. I was just experimenting.
Last night at 5 stand I was shooting my Marlin 90 with choke tubes skeet and IC, shooting my Green dot loads for both Cheddite and RGL
(different powder charge.) Targets were vaporizing when I did it right.

I do not think that Extra-lite will be suitable for any load in the RGL and I doubt if you can get a usable 7/8oz load. But it should burn a lot cleaner in my 12 semi Beretta for those 3/4 oz loads than Intl Clays does. And get a more reasonable speed.