Powder consistancy over the years

[J Miller]

Here is a couple questions that came up as I read John DeFresnos thread about stick powders.

Background first; Waaaaaayyyyyyyyyyy back in the dawn of my shooting - reloading life ( late 1960s ) I owned a British No 4 Mk 1. Although surplus ammo was dirt cheep back then and I burned through a lot of it, I wanted to try reloading. So I bought one of the original Lee Loaders and loaded a ton of ammo on it.

One load I used was a charge of 4831 ( I don't remember if it was IMR or H, but probably IMR ) under a Hornady 174 gr RN SP bullet. This load was very accurate in my rifle and I'd like to duplicate it to try in my current rifle.

Questions:
A: Is the current batches of 4831 powder the same as or similar to those I would have used back in the 60s and 70s?

B: Does anyone here have a 60s, or early 70s vintage Lee Loader in 303 Brit that could copy the load data for me?
( I still have all my dippers so it would be easy to duplicate the loads. )

Thanks, Joe

[earlmck]

You'd have been burning the "H" brand -- some of their early days WWII surplus powder which established the Hodgdon business. I still have a small batch of it left of which my only use these days is 200 grain Speer bullets in my '06 elk load. For which I have a lifetime supply of the powder. It gives the same ballistics today it did when I first produced the load back in the mid 70's.

For some reason I also have some newer 4831SC from Hodgdon and the ballistics in upper end loads are real similar to the old stuff but the newer meters better. I haven't tried the new stuff in the "case full of too-slow powder" applications like we did the old, but I wouldn't hesitate if the occasion arose. I recall that the "case-full too slow" load was my most accurate load in the Improved Zipper, though it was several hundred feet/second from equaling the expected top velocities of the round. I should try a few of those with the new stuff just for grins.

I remember we also used that 4831 for virtually everything because we were getting it for 50 cents a pound, which was quite good even in the early 60's. We did heat it up at bit with some faster powder loaded down next to the primer for some applications as I recall...

[GunnyMack]

Back in '91 I bought an 8# jug of surplus WC846, had good luck with it in most everything I tried it in. Then about a year ago I opened it to use and it had a 'smell'. I poured some out and it had little red clumps in it. It had gone bad! So I started checking a few other old powders I had in stock. 3031 went south as well, not much in the can so no big deal but the wc846 still had about 5 lbs in the jug... Still need to burn that up!

[J Miller]

Do they still make the old style long kernel 4831?

Joe

[guntar]

I have been using IMR-4831 since 1969 in my 300 Win., since 1978 in my 25-06, and since 1985 in both the 270 Win. and 280 Rem. The ballistics have remained unchanged in all that time. I have chronographed my loads since the early 80's and the differences have been within the velocity spreads of those loads. What variations I have seen have been due to changes in my favored bullets rather than the powder. I would worry more about changes in the bullet composition and bearing surface than I would about the powder.

[earlmck]

Do they still make the old style long kernel 4831?

Joe

Yes, they sell H4831 which is (so far as I know) the same good old powder we have used forever. And then they sell the H4831SC (short cut) which is (so far as I know) virtually identical in characteristics but the shorter sticks meter better. Life is good for us reloaders!

[J Miller]

I found a gun range not too far from me, getting the itch to burn some powder.

Got to thinking about that old load I used to use and want to try it again.

Thanks for the info guys. No to find an ancient Lee Loader.

Joe