Hornady 108 ELD-M

[popgun]

These are my results getting started with reloads for my 6 ARC.
My gun. AR Areo upper, lower and BCG. Vltor A5 buffer system with an A5 H1 buffer. LaRue 2 stage trigger with light spring. 22" barrel with +1 gas system made by Compass Lake Engineering from a Criterion 7.5 twist blank.
I started a little high on the charges but wanted to be in the 2700+-25 fps range.
Powder was Leverevolution and bullets seated .030 off the lands (CBTO 1.679 COAL 2.254) on the 108 ELD-Ms
Measurements were with the Hornady head space comparator #350 and bullet comparator #324
Temp. was around 90 and humidity was Florida ?

First 5 shots were with Hornady factory Black 105gr to get a baseline and warm the barrel and check function of chrono.
Charge      Avg        ES       SD      Group size
Black       2780        17       5          1.1
108 reloads
28.8        2673        42       15         .81
29.0        2693        40       19        1.3 but I pulled 1 shot .81 without that      
29.2        2710        51       21        1.53
29.4        2732        25       9          .98        

I loaded a few (10) rounds of 109gr berger LRHT mostly to function test
29.0        2675        59       25        1.84    .051 off the lands
29.2        2687        44       16        1.50    .045 off the lands

Primers looked great and only very slight ejector marks in all but the lightest load.
I measured and took apart a factory 105 Black when I got home but haven't checked jam/jump length yet. I weighed the powder that "appears" to be lever and got a weight of 29.9

That's all folks

[popgun]

What! No comments, suggestions, critiques, insults even?
OK I'll entertain myself.
Next experiment. I took apart a factory 108 match round. 30.3 grains of powder that looks like Lever but not sure.

1 I'll load a round or two with the factory powder to the same weight as one of my next test charges. See how the velocity compares.
2 Load .1 above and .1 below my lowest previous test that had the best group and see if the SD ES is better along with a decent group.
3 Load .1 or .2 grains above the highest charge from last tests and see if velocity levels off a bit with a better SD ES.
4 I'll use factory 108 Match for sighters next time.

[Jurive]

I pulled a 108 eldm and it was load to 30.9 looked to be cfe223 or leveReveloution. But seems a bit much for either of those. Must be some  proprietary blend

[popgun]

I was thinking that also but I don't have any cfe to compare with and my understanding is cfe has a slightly different color to it than lever. Case fill is also identical with the lever at the same weight. It will be interesting to see the velocity of the one I loaded to 29.5.

[popgun]

Went out today and here's my results.
Avg. ES SD Group
Factory 108 ELD-M 2703 18 8 1.35
lever .030 jump
28.7 2619 39 16 .55
28.9 ? ? ? 1.47
29.5 2730 16 6 1.22
.020 jump
29.5 2719 23 8 1.05
.010 jump
29.5 2735 47 20 1.32

Loaded 1 round with factory powder at 29.5 .030 jump and velocity was 2679 51fps lower than same charge of lever. My guess is factory powder is not lever.

[trianglevelvet]

Manufacturers use non canister grade powder to make their ammo.
Reason is that its cheaper since  doesn't need to be tuned for lot to lot consistency.

They get a large shipment (probably 1000lbs or maybe a ton) of one lot of powder and their ballistician takes samples and tests them to see what the power/ burn rate is and then makes a production recipe for that lot of powder.

When that powder gets used up they use a new lot of powder with a recipe for that lot.

Powders for home reloaders are made to be much more consistent, so that that will reasonably match published load data.
Even then there is still a little variation Between lots.
This is one reason people will often buy 8lb jugs or several 1lb'ers with the same lot number.

[Denver208]

Found some pretty good results in my rifle with 108 grain eldm’s and 28.8 grains of CFE-223.  

Rifle
Aero precision upper/lower, S-One slim handgaurd 
Standard A2 rifle buffer and spring 
Odin Works 21” barrel w/Odin Works 6.5 Grendel BCG, Odin Works adjustable gas block, rifle length plus 2”
Rise Armament Rave 140 single stage 3.5 lb
Silencerco ASR Muzzle brake and Silencerco Omega 300

108 GR ELDM, Hornady 1-fire, CCI #450, CFE-223 - 28.8 grains, 0.090” jump

Avg-2594
ES-7
SD-3.2
MOA-0.396

[popgun]

Nice! I'm getting there.

[Lemonaid]

That is an excellent results, congratulations on a great load and great shooting!
CFE 223 has a reputation with some for being undependable in temperature changes, please share another range session with that same load for a repeat performance.

[Old Marine]

I pulled a 108 eldm and it was load to 30.9 looked to be cfe223 or leveReveloution. But seems a bit much for either of those. Must be some  proprietary blend

Hornady does have a unique blend for their 6arc ammo. After studying the arc powder under 10x magnification and comparing it to CFE233 and Superformance I see very similar powders. They all use balls in at least 4 sizes with the larger ones lightly flattened and in different quantity for each of the sizes. I am guessing the different size balls are of different burn rates and Hornady can blend them to the need of a particular cartridge. The arc powder blend appears to be closest to Superformance and I really cannot tell any difference between the two. I am beating the factory loads in accuracy with W 748 and CFE 223 but cannot match the velocity. I really want to try the Alliant Power Pro 2000MR as the listed loads from Handloaders magazine show it gets more accurate at the higher charges.

[grayfox]

I don't have all my 6Arc stuff in front of me, but I think I have achieved or slightly beaten factory using Lever, this is a lot like CFE 223 but not with the CFE part. Gets 100-150-200 or better fps per load. works best at higher load densities like the CFE.

[Old Marine]

I don't have all my 6Arc stuff in front of me, but I think I have achieved or slightly beaten factory using Lever, this is a lot like CFE 223 but not with the CFE part.  Gets 100-150-200 or better fps per load.  works best at higher load densities like the CFE.

Beaten factory velocity? My brother found a lb. of Lever for me so whenever I can get to Phx. I can start loading it. 

[grayfox]

There is a thread on here with 95 gr (SST I think) by trashy and me, both of us had results faster than the Hdy data.
My recent shoot with 108 factory Eldm's, 22" uintah bolt action upper, was 2675 SD 12.4.

Midway and a few others are getting lever in every few days or so, bolo for it...

Update, to be fair I don't have any loose 108 bullets, just the 105's and 103's. But both of those I can get into low 2700's with lever. I've gone up to 2763 with the 103 and Lever but that's starting to get hard on the brass, so I backed the 103 down to 2721, lever 29.3 gr (obviously my barrel, current load batch of powder).
In my 20" gas gun barrel, 2690 for the 103 and lever. After looking more closely at my notes, those are the ones I have data for. So one could extrapolate that down to ~factory for the 108 MV. But the 103 factory runs ~2635-2650- in those barrels as I recall.