Saw a thread about H4198 in the Ruger 204 that got me to thinking, so I'll start this thread.
Last year before Christmas I needed some IMR4198 to load up some reduced loads for a young cousin who was getting his first deer rifle, a 243, for Christmas. All I could find was an 8lb jug so now I have a large quantity of it. I have a young nephew and niece coming up so I'll use some of it for reduced loads, but I'd like to have some suggested other uses for it. I reload a lot of cartridges from 204Ruger up though 35Rem and 35Whelen. I don't have anything above or below that range, so no 17s or big bores.
Either 4198 is very good for reduced 308 Winchester loads.
21.5 grains of IMR4198 and anybody's 50 or 55 grain bullet has been a very accurate load in every .223 I've owned* going back some 35 years, that covers at least eight of them and I might be forgetting one or two. It's also very good in a .221 Fireball. I'm sure more modern powders will outpace it for speed and temperature stability and all that but it's still just as accurate as it ever was.
It also works well in the .30-30 for cast bullets or reduced jacketed loads, around 19 grains was my best cast bullet load IIRC.
*except for a Mini-14 from the early 80's, that wouldn't shoot anything worth a damn.
I like using it with 60 & 68 grainers in my ar. Shot REAL well with the 68 BTHP.
I like using it with 60 & 68 grainers in my ar. Shot REAL well with the 68 BTHP.
Great powder in every 222 I've loaded, and has been my long time powder in my 45-70. It's a good cast bullet powder in my 400 Whelen.
4198, H or IMR works great with 300 gr Cutting Edge bullets in my .458 Win Mag.
Use H for really high volume .223 gopher trips as I get about 20% more rounds per pound w/not much vel loss.-Muddy
I've read somewhere that it doesn't do very well in ARs but is fine for bolt 223s. Is that what you guys have found? I only shoot bolt 223s.
Don't know how things stand today but the 5.56mm round was originally developed with a stick powder very much like IMR4198. It was very clean burning and did not gunk up the gas tube, leading to the original reputation that the rifle was extremely reliable and really didn't need cleaning.
Then when the military adopted it, for production ease and who knows what other reason they switched to a much less clean burning ball powder like H335 or Win 748 which gunked up the gas tube and everything else. That was a good part of the reason why the "reliable" M16 turned into an unreliable weapon in the jungles of RVN.
At least that's the way I heard it back then.
45/70, .405 Win, .375win, .22Jet, 7mmTCU, and .30x39 presently...
222 and 7MM X 223 Improved XP 100
I use it in the .222 and .223
Lots of it.
Either 4198 is very good for reduced 308 Winchester loads.
mathman,
I am curious what do you use in reduce loads with either 4198 for 308 Winchester loads? What case/primer/bullet and start/max of 4198? I do not see this in my Hornady/Nosler books but they are at least 10 years old. Thanks.
I use it in my .22 Maximum Lovell, and for some cast bullet loads in .30-30, .30-40, .30-06. It works a treat in the Lovell, but there are better powders for the other three (such as SR-4759, RL-7, Unique, 2400, 4227, etc.).
Don't know how things stand today but the 5.56mm round was originally developed with a stick powder very much like IMR4198. It was very clean burning and did not gunk up the gas tube, leading to the original reputation that the rifle was extremely reliable and really didn't need cleaning.
Then when the military adopted it, for production ease and who knows what other reason they switched to a much less clean burning ball powder like H335 or Win 748 which gunked up the gas tube and everything else. That was a good part of the reason why the "reliable" M16 turned into an unreliable weapon in the jungles of RVN.
At least that's the way I heard it back then.
Then you pretty much heard it right. Plus the fact that you weren't supposed to have to clean it.
Either H or IMR are great cast bullet powders as is 4895.
444,reduced Swift loads and cast in the 338/06AI
As most, I use it in my .222 and .223...
308 and 110 HDY V-MAX shots great in my rifle loaded at the low end...
Well, since I don't shoot any type of big bores, or use cast bullets, I guess I'll be using it for the reduced loads, my 223Rem, and possibly 204Ruger. 8lbs should go a long way mainly being shot out of a 223 and 204!
Made to order with cast loads in the 25-20WCF
I've used IMR 4198 in the 222 Rem, 30-30 Win with 125 gr bullets, 32-20 with 115 gr lead and the 358 Win where it duplicates factory ballistics with a 200 gr Hornandy and provides excellent accuracy in my BLR.
Dan
Forgot, Max Horn. book loads in my #3 45-70, they get your attention!-Muddy
6mm Rem with flatbase 105-grainers and .416 Rigby with 350-grain cast boolits.
I have used it in 223 with 55gr bullets worked good for that. and 45-70
17 Mach IV/17 Fireball and 223 currently. 30/30, 222, 8x57(cast), 308(light bullets)and 45/70 in the past.
I run IMR 4198 in an eighteen inch barreled Rem 600 chambered in 221 Fireball. I use FMJ bullets for a trap line rifle.
Every rifle cartridge I own and load for....
often reduced load, but still accurate....
don't often need a 500 yd load for the distances I shoot at...
very versatile...
try it in a 8mm Mauser.... with 170 or 175 grain bullets, and it can yield some pretty high velocities...yet load it down and its just as accurate...
22.3 grains in a 223 with 40 grainers
36 grains in a 30-06 with 125 grainers
IMR 4198 is the powder of choice used in Remington's Managed Recoil Loads.... or at least the calibers I've dissected a round in and weighed the powder and compared the quoted velocities with reload data published...
Works well in the 17 Rem Mag and 45-70 (w/300s)
I've used a bunch in the 45-70 in the past, along with 200's in the 358 Winchester. Works great in both cases. I'll have to give it a shot in my 222 Rem.
I've loaded it in the .25-20, the .222 Remington, the .223, the .25-284, the .280, the .308, ad the 30-06.
Like Seafire says, make a great, accurate reduced power load(s) for alot of the larger rounds. E
It is ideal for several small and large bores I load for, including 17 Mach 4, 218 Bee, 444 Marlin, 45-70. Also works well in cast and reduced loads in 308 and 30-06. My most accurate cast load to date in 30-06 is a 215gr with 30gr IMR4198, for just over 1900fps. I want to hunt with that this year. It stacks 'em if I get everything loaded straight. Not really a 'reduced' load either.
I've used it in just about everything I load reduced cast bullet loads in, which is everything I own. I mainly use it now for full-snot loads in a .22 Maximum Lovell wildcat.
I've gotta start looking around for some more... I am getting pretty low... down to my last 8 pound container, and only 2 ONE Pounders left...
of course, I shouldn't be complaining about life...
last time I was up in Potland, I stopped into a Sportsman's Warehouse and low and behold on their list of powders in the back room they had an 8 lb container of IMR 4895... And with a military discount, I got out the door for $175! and NO SALES TAX...