yukon254;
Top of the morning to you sir, I hope the day's looking to be a bit less windy up there than it is currently here and that all else is as it should be with you folks.
While I have no particular experience with the new D4895, I'll say this about using "different powders".
During the last big buying panic in the '90's - why it was I can't recall just now, but we couldn't find much for powder or primers, a couple buddies and I went in together and ordered 2 batches of 30lbs of various powders from Higginson in Ontario.\\
We ended up getting some made in Scotland Nobel, some US surplus ball that is very much like WW760 and WW748 in burn rate and some that was said to be the equivalent of VVN160.
The N160 equivalent was fantastic in a bunch of rifles from 6.5x55 up into the .300 Mags, but something was off in the mix on it in that it only lasted a few years and then began to cake up on me, so I ended up tossing just over half of an 8lb caddy out.
Anyways, that was the only bad experience and honestly the only time I've seen that in 40 years of hand loading adventures.
One caveat I'd suggest would be that if you don't have a chronograph, it's tougher to know what's really and truly happening with new powders. That said, as a matter of course now I try to purchase at least a couple pounds of any new powder I'm trying and then will chronograph loads out of each new can if they're not the same lot number. I'd recommend starting low, working up to a reasonable velocity for an equivalent burning speed and seeing what the cases look like as well as if the accuracy is acceptable.
Please note that I've run into pretty significant velocity differences - and the accompanying pressure differences with WW748 and IMR4831 recently, so each new can gets a speed check/work up now. I didn't and ended up completely baking a half dozen Lapua cases for my 6.5x55 and my goodness that hurts my little thrifty heart!
If you have access to a chronograph - they're $150 or so at Budget Shooters in Surrey - I just got a Pro Chrono from Henry and absolutely love it - then I'd say go for it.
Hope that made some sense and was useful. Good luck whichever way you decide and all the best to you folks as we head into shorter days and winter.
Dwayne
