Winchester
Winchester StaBALL 6.5
Aimed at mid-capacity precision and hunting cartridges, particularly the 6mm and 6.5mm competition rounds. Winchester emphasises precise metering and low velocity and pressure standard deviations as the basis for match accuracy.
The pitch is a ball powder with the temperature stability and accuracy of an extruded match powder, aimed squarely at H4350 and the 6.5 Creedmoor crowd, with a copper-fouling reducer on top. Reality is more mixed than the marketing: careful side-by-side testing tends to show no meaningful difference either way, and plenty of shooters report their particular rifle simply preferring the extruded powder. What it does reliably deliver is metering and availability, since it is usually on the shelf and usually cheaper. It is not a drop-in stand-in for H4350 and needs its own load development from scratch.
- 6.5 Creedmoor precision
- 6mm Creedmoor
- 6GT
- .270 Winchester hunting loads
Who has Winchester StaBALL 6.5 today
Checked October 10In stock at 2 stores — lowest in hand $54.68/lb (8 lb at Graf & Sons)
| Store | Size | Shelf | In hand /lb | Stock |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Graf & Sons$23.50 hazmat per package | 8 lb | $399.99 | $54.68 | In stock ↗ |
| Hodgdon (direct)Terms not published | 8 lb | $417.99 | $56.18 est. | In stock ↗ |
| Graf & Sons$23.50 hazmat per package | 1 lb | $58.99 | $96.44 | In stock ↗ |
| Bruno Shooters Supply$26.95 hazmat + $19.95 ship | 8 lb | $362.99 | $51.24 | Out |
| Hodgdon (direct)Terms not published | 1 lb | $58.99 | $90.43 est. | Out |
| Bruno Shooters Supply$26.95 hazmat + $19.95 ship | 1 lb | $48.99 | $95.89 | Out |
“In hand” is the shelf price plus that store’s hazmat fee and shipping, spread over one container. Stock is checked once a day — confirm on the store’s page before ordering. Compare all powders →
Official Winchester load data →
Specifications
| Manufacturer | Winchester |
|---|---|
| Product family | Winchester |
| Status | Currently produced |
| Application | rifle |
| Grain form | spherical |
| Lee VMD (bulk density) | 0.0656 cc per grain · 0.99 g/cc |
| Composition | double-base |
| Temperature stable | Yes — claimed by the manufacturer |
| Burn-rate position | 157 of 198 (fastest = 1) — what this means |
| Typical cartridges | 6mm Creedmoor, 6GT, 6.5 Creedmoor, 7mm-08 Remington, 270 Winchester |
Grain shape
Spherical and degressive: the round kernels meter far more consistently than an extruded stick, which is the honest advantage here, and a heavy deterrent treatment on the sphere is what pushes the burn rate out to H4350 territory. Degressive geometry still leaves less margin at the top than a neutral-burning tube.
Why geometry decides burn rate more than chemistry does: Shape Is the Product.
Part of the StaBALL family, marketed as temperature-insensitive double-base BALL POWDER that stays stable in extreme heat and cold. All StaBALL powders are REACH-compliant and carry copper fouling reducer additives that Winchester says extend the interval between bore cleanings. Made in the USA. Winchester marketed it as the first temperature-insensitive BALL POWDER. Hodgdon flags it as both temperature stable and extra clean burning.
Burn rate
Medium-slow rifle speed, slower than Winchester 760 and faster than IMR 4831.
Chart agreement: consistent across the three charts that list it Ranked by: Hodgdon, Vihtavuori, Wolfe/LoadData.
Powders charted near it — neighbours on the chart are not substitutes, and adjacency tells you nothing about what charge either one takes:
- Shooters World SW4350 (position 154)
- Norma 204 (position 155)
- Hodgdon Hybrid 100V (position 156)
- Hodgdon Superformance (position 158)
- Alliant Reloder 19 (position 159)
- IMR 4831 (position 160)
What reloaders say about it
Unverified community anecdote. The following is a summary of what handloaders report in public forums. It is not manufacturer information, it has not been tested, it may be wrong, and it contains no load data by design. Treat it as colour, not guidance.
StaBALL 6.5 is discussed as a ball powder marketed to compete with temperature-stable extruded powders in 6.5 Creedmoor. Reports are mixed-to-favorable: in careful side-by-side range testing against H4350 one poster found no meaningful difference once results were averaged, while others report their rifles simply preferring the extruded alternative.
- ball powder that meters well
- marketed as temperature stable; users treat that claim with some caution
- side-by-side testing often shows no clear advantage or disadvantage versus H4350
- some rifles reported to prefer H4350
Availability: Generally reported as easier to find than H4350 and often cheaper, which is a large part of why people try it.
Reported cautions:
- Users caution it is not a drop-in stand-in for H4350 — several report needing full independent load development and some report their rifle preferring the powder they were trying to replace.
Consensus level: commonly mentioned. Drawn from thread 1, thread 2, thread 3.
Sources
The specifications above come from Winchester's own published documentation, linked below. The two “RCM's read” sections are ours, not theirs — our assessment of what this powder is like to load, drawn from its published characteristics and from what handloaders consistently report. No manufacturer endorses them and no source below backs them. If you think we have one wrong, tell us — we would rather fix it.