Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles LeverRevolution: Is it really that good?

With 35.5 gr of LVR and a 160 FTX in my JM 336 (20" barrel) Marlin, I get 2370 fps. That load cuts holes @ 100 yards. That's the top end and I don't want to try that load in 90 degree weather.

I have a Marlin 336 and Win94, both 30-30, and shoot 170 grains, for the most part.

3 years ago I tried about 4 popular powders thru both rifles, to see if Lever was really that good.

Lever was 150 fps greater than the other powders without any negative pressure signs, or drop in accuracy.

Lever is now all I buy for the two 30-30's.

Merry Christmas!

LVR is great in the 30-30 either with 160 gr Hornady flex tip and also Nosler 170 gr round nose. My 30-30 is a Stevens 325 bolt action from the '40's.

I've been playing a bit with the .260 Remington with 120-grain bullets of a couple of different flavors. One thing I have learned is that QuickLOAD can lead you to shaky ground pretty quickly...I ran into higher velocities (and presumably higher pressures as well) much sooner than QL predicted. I have not found a sweet spot and don't think there will be one, which is unfortunate because I have a ton of it and no place to use it since my 6mm ARs went down the road.

It might be nice if Hodgdon and Alliant both made more data available for some of their powders.


Scotty, have you tried it with lighter bullets in .223/5.56? QL suggests that lighter bullets won't allow a pressure buildup quickly enough to get a good, complete burn even with CFE223...but I've used QL enough to know that sometimes it just doesn't predict real results at times.

Nope, just 75 and 77’s so far in 5.56.

I might give LVR a try in my girlfriends AR with the 77's. It is way more finicky than any of my AR's, but it's a different critter, with its 16" barrel. I don't really want to pull out the good stuff, so LVR may be a great way to go.

I've found the same regarding charge weights vs velocities with GRT with numerous cartridges, but the opposite. GRT predicts higher velocities with corresponding higher pressures than what I'm seeing velocity wise at a given charge weight. I can only assume/trust that they're pressures for a given velocity are accurate, so that's what I go off of.

In other words just as a hypothetical, 35 gr's they are saying is overpressure at a predicted velocity of X. I'm at 35 gr's but am at the velocity/pressure prediction for 33 grains which is well within the velocity/pressure safety parameters.

If I'm understanding you, that's pretty much what I've done. I just figure that the powder charge is a mere suggestion, but the velocity tells me roughly what the pressure is. I DO crosscheck with other references when possible just to make sure the numbers are plausible.

Just a quick question, in this instance did you use the default case capacity or measure yours?

Yeah, same as far as using velocity to determine pressure, just that you are getting the opposite results on Quickload. You're running into pressure/velocity quicker than Quickload predicts at a given charge weight, and I'm running behind predicted velocity/pressure at a given charge weight with GRT. Not always, but often.



Both. On things like 30-06 that I'm really familiar with, I just used the set case capacity to compare to what I already know with that cartridge. On things like 348 Winchester, it's actual case capacity. Not way off, but seems to often run slightly ahead on predicted velocity compared to what I actually get on a given charge weight.

And sometimes it's spot on depending what I'm working with.

Maybe my lot of LVR is faster burning than typical. I've checked on GRT and IIRC its solutions were not much different from the QL output.

I might just start over on LVR. I have a lot of it and would like to use it.

I use it in my 6.5 Grendel’s and 6 ARC. It along with A2520 have been my main go to powders for ARC and Grendel.