When I first began to reload for the 270 Winchester, I used JOC's famous 60.0 of H4831 and a 130 grain bullet. After putting the powder in the first case, and seeing how full it was, and realizing that the bullet would be seating on top of it, I became concerned. Called a neighbor who did quite a lot of reloading and he said not to use that much powder, because I'd blow me and the rifle both up. He used 4064 in everything he reloaded for, and I remember looking up the load he have me to try, and it was below the listed starting load for a 270.
Anyway, I finished loading my 270 rounds as I'd started, loaded the rifle up, put the rifle on one side of a tree with me behind it, and pulled the trigger. I probably killed close to 50 whitetails with that load, and never a sign of pressure. The neighbor also killed a pile of deer with his rifle and 4064 load, so it worked for him as well.
I don't mean to be surly. What does this load H 4831 have to do with 4320 *** other than the discrepancy between loading data.
Again not to be nitpicking but JOC's load was NOT with ***
H 4831*** he was using SURPLUS 4831. That powder was LEFT OVER from WWII. I shot POUNDS of surplus 4831 AT 62 grains. YES you can get it in a 270 case.
Later Hodgdon's began PRODUCING H 4831 and it went thru some (at least 2-3) manufacturing changes.
Seriously I'm only trying to prevent or clear up any confusion.
No offense at all.
Jerry
Yet another 'Fire post not entirely germane to the discussion:
I got my introduction to handloading back in the mid-60's as a budding rifle loony, working part-time in the LGS doing grunt labor at the loading press in the back room. The owner had a tidy little business going doing "custom loading" for the local hunters. They would bring him their empty brass (mostly .30-06) and he (I) would reload them for a couple bucks per box. The drill: resize/deprime, re-prime, dip the primed case into a 25 pound keg of Surplus 4831, strike off the excess with a butter knife, and crunch a 150 grain bullet down on top of it. Never a complaint, and those loads had the local reputation of being real killer-dillers- business was brisk. He assured me that it was impossible to get too much of that powder in a .30-06 case so as to cause problems. Obviously I have no clue as to how much pressure was generated, but evidently it wasn't horrific.
We (he) sold a sh*t ton of that Surplus 4831 for $1/pound that we (I) packaged in paper sacks. That stuff fed my own loading efforts for years. I discovered that nearly a case full made a good load in .30-40, 7x57, and even .30-30*. Imagine my delight when I found a few pounds of the stuff squirreled away in my Dad's estate, leftovers from when he and I bought many a pound of that $1 a pound powder. I still have some, used mainly for occasional "nostalgia" loading, and when I get a chance I'll scoop a case full and weigh it just to see what the hell we were doing back then.
Note: DO NOT try this trick at home kids, at least not with current H-4831 or IMR-4831! Might be ok, but without pressure testing means I'm clueless.
*I still sometimes load H-4831 in .30-30, with a 210 grain cast bullet. Works a treat. (And no, I don't just scoop it in!)
