@fourfive8 what is your reason for going to Hodgdon instead of IMR? I’ve always used IMR 4350 for no other reason than that’s what my store had.
I do want to try H4350 in my 30-06 and 375 just to see how I like it. 30-06 data is easy but 375 is a little harder to find.
It looks like I could work up to about 75 or 76 grains, behind a 300 lead core. Is that close to what you came up with?
Of course I will start with about 72 grains.
@Wyatt Smith, Yes, your numbers are pretty close to what I worked up with H4350 for the Win 70 375 HH shooting the 300 gr Hornady DGX Bonded and their old style 300 gr Interlock Roundnose.... My log book shows-
* Hornady 300gr RN Interlock, CCI 34 primer, Lee FCD crimp in groove, 75 gr H4350, mean vel. 2520 fps, SD 12 fps, circular cluster .5" group @ 50 yds.
* Hornady 300gr DGX Bonded, CCI 34 primer, Lee FCD crimp in groove, 74 gr H4350, mean vel. 2511 fps, SD 10 fps, circular cluster .3" group @ 50 yds.
and for comparison- one of the hunting loads I would use if taking this rifle
* Swift 300gr A-Frame, CCI 34 primer, Lee FCD crimp in groove, 65.5 gr Varget, mean vel. 2485 fps, SD 5 fps, circular cluster .6" @ 50 yds.
Over the years and after accumulating a
huge number of different types of powder, I decided to simplify around one type. But I had mostly used three- IMR 4198, IMR 4350 and IMR 4064. Since 1968 I've had, tried and accumulated powders of various types from many different companies like IMR, Hodgdon, Accurate, Norma, Vihta-Vuori, Hercules/Alliant and W-W. Now I have nearly completed my second major rifle/handgun/shotgun sell-off including many 1st Generation Colt SAAs and older S&Ws, pre-64 Win 70s, several very accurate custom made target types and bench rifles along with
major numbers of antique Win lever guns, falling blocks and rolling blocks (mostly original Sharps and Remingtons) in widly varying calibers. Sold my bullet swaging tools and press a couple years ago. I still cast for quite a few calibers and types- mostly original muzzleloaders and rifle muskets but only use real black powder in those. In the high power smokeless category- retaining only bolt hunting rifles in 222 Rem, 270 Win, 7x57, 338-06, 375 HH, 416 Rem and 450 Watts along with my last Trapdoor 45-70. It seemed logical to me to go with a
temperature insensitive line from one major supplier that pretty much covered everything I would ever need for those for loading of reliable hunting ammo. The only exception is I still have a pretty good supply of 5744 for mild cast loads in the 45-70. So, I sold and traded off all the non-Hodgdon and built up adequate supplies of the basic Extreme Hodgdon powders including: H4895, H4350, H4831SC, Benchmark and Varget. The number of calibers, types of rifles, handguns, shotguns and powders is too long to list here for the purpose of this thread
Sooo- simplicity is now my philosophy and I can efficiently test and load reliable and accurate hunting ammo for the bolt guns I've kept with most any bullet I choose. The bullet weight and design/purpose being the primary variable I tinker with these days. Just ordered some GS Custom FP solids to work up a serious load for one of my Win 70s in 416 Rem Mag. Shooting and load tweaking activity has kept me busy during this covid nonsense.
