Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles IMR 3031 Why Not???

I have done very little rifle handloading in the past 20 years. My favorite loads for the 6mm Rem and 30-06 used IMR 3031.
I have started to reload again but find very very few references that address this powder. What is wrong with 3031 or what is better with other powders???
Thank you!
Bob J

If your rifle likes it, why not?

It is slightly fast for deer weight bullets in both calibers, but if you are getting the accuracy you want and the velocity is satisfactory go for it.

Would be curious to hear what your favorite 6mm/3031 load is.
3031 seems pretty fast for use in a 6mm. 4831, or similar, generally provides better performance, at lower, more predictable, pressures. I was a fan of the 95 gr Partition in my 6mm.

3031 is a favorite of mine under a 200 grain bullet in 35 Whelen.

I use 3031 in my .223 and .308

I load a few cartridges where 3031 would be a fine powder, but I like to load straight from a powder measure and 3031 is like little Lincoln Logs. For my applications I like the shorter cut extruded powders like 4895, 4320, Varget, RL15 and N140.

Thanks MM. I was contempalting using this powder because I can not find any Varget or IMR 4350. Cabelas and Bass Pro both have a pretty good supply of 3031, H380, and V100 (which I don't have a load for). I'll go back to H380.

It works well with light varmint bullets. My uncle used to load 110 varmint bullets for his .30-06 with 3031. I don't know his recipe. He later bought a .223 and didn't have to use his deer rifle for groundhogs.

How about H4350? If you can't get IMR the H version is really good in the same applications.

Nothing is wrong with it, they just make the much better metering Benchmark

One of the down sides of IMR-3031 is it has a history of ringing barrels if you leave too much powder space open it a case so be aware of that, and if you have a lot of space then use a DACRON filler to prevent this scenario.

Another way of handling this situation is use a better powder, 3031 is pretty much outdated anyway IMO, unless you just happen to have a bunch of it.

This is the first that I have heard of IMR's or Dupont's 3031 ringing barrels in normal use!

3031 is a sentimental favorite of mine. I use it extensivly in the 358 Win with 180 gr bullets and 200 gr bullets. Also I used it for decades in my 6mm Remington International for 200 yard target shooting. My rifle is a 40X that was so chambered by Remington with a 1-10 twist barrel. I used that barrel for many years and it wore out from throat erosion even though the load was light. I loaded 30.8 grs of 3031 behind the 75 gr Sierra. That is a low pressure load with considerable space and no filler was used.

The use of that load was very important to me. I wanted to get and did get the high average award many times at both the Blue Trail Range's Big Bore League and at the similar league at the Bell City Rifle Club.

The Douglas barrel on the 40X is in excellent condition as was the worn out Remington barrel. In my experience 3031 does not ring barrels. I currently have it in 8 lb. containers.

The 6mm International cartridges

Yes, now that you mention it, Cabelas did have H4350. Good to know about 3031 though, I may still try it out one day

3031 is a darn fine powder burn rate...

however in today's world it is not on the trendy scale, so no one thinks it is worth anything...

like a lot of older powders, it is more than up to about any job you want it to do..and will do it accurately...

There's that 'trendy' powder statement again, WTF is a 'trendy' powder?

Thank you all for your responses. I looked for my old records but couldn't find much. I recall loading 6mm Rem with 60 to 100 grain Sierra HPBT. The only thing I found was an old box with 85 gr HPBT and 36 gr 3031. That was my favorite and most accurated load.
Currently I have loaded the 30-06 with 180 gr Sierra Spitzers and 42.5 gr of 3031 for my Merkel DR. These produce 1" groups at 50 yds with 2 shots from right and 2 shots from left.
Bob J

rjj771

For many years my go-to 243 varmint load was 37.5gr of 3031 with a Hornady 75gr HP.

WN

3031 shines in cartridges like 45-70,30-30,etc.I use to use it a lot in .308 and .06. My.308 likes 4064 better and now I use 4831 in my .06

The first time I tried using 3031 it was in a 45-70 cartridge. I started with a light load and took the first three cartridges loaded out to try (about 2 weeks ago). First one went POP. Primer detonated but NOT the powder. I cleared the bore and tried again. POP. SAME RESULT! Only primer - no powder ignition. This is from a case about half full of 3031 (no filler). I pulled the last bullet and dumped the charge. I touched a match to it to test whether I had a bad can of powder (just bought new and sealed). The load burned just like I would expect it to. BUt I am not going to rely on a powder that wont ignite with a standard large rifle primer two out of two tries. I have used hundreds of other primers from this lot and not had a single misfire.

If memory serves me right 3031 is on the slow side for the 45-70 and would normally give pretty low pressures even with a pretty full case. I've had light loads of h322 fail to go off in 45-70 because it was too far away from the primer in 4570. I would say there most likely isn't a problem with your powder but perhaps your choice of a really light load. I wouldn't condem it because of what happened in that instance.