Thread: Reloader 16 vs Reloader 17

Originally Posted by Bobba

I've played with both of these a bit in 284, 22 barrel.

RL17 and 162 eldm I had good velocity 2840 with 53.5g but had quite variable accuracy and odd pressure spikes. As chainsaw said 54 was up there popping primers.

RL16 and 162 eldm I'm at 2830 with 55.5g, this is my current load and pretty happy with it. RL16 is a bulky powder so it's a full case with a little bit of crunch.

Very interesting - I’ve been using RE16 in the Tikka 284 with 20inch and 53gr gives 2800fps with 162s. I wasn’t expecting such a velocity jump with RE17 based on same g’s.

The NZ Hunter 284 Bushpig article from years ago certainly had some “Hot” loads but with pressure monitoring and science so loading long seems to help. I tried to post the page, but am having trouble loading it on here.

@chainsaw I’ve started a ladder with the 162ssts with 53.5 and 53.8 and no pressure so far, so may work from there with appropriate caution.