I'm down to my last couple pounds of both H- and IMR-4895, and the stuff is earmarked solely for use in the Garand. Varget and 4064 has supplanted it in most of the centerfire hunting rifles I load for anymore.
In order to tame a vicious little German Mauser .30-06 (6 1/2 pounds all up, with a dainty narrow stock) I downloaded with H-4895 to 40 grains (165 Sierra bullets) and achieved Nirvana. Then out of curiosity I did the same trick with 40 grains 4064 which is a skinch under published starting loads, with equal accuracy (quite good sub-MOA) and similar namby-pamby velocity. Those 30-30-ish loads killed quite nicely in our Eastern hardwoods over the last 30 years I've campaigned the rifle, as quite a number of deer give mute testimony to. (Why mute testimony? Well, deer are dead and can't talk anyway.) An afternoon shooting a .30-06 with these loads leaves you fresh as a daisy.
Lesson learned long ago: you don't have to unleash full potential sturm und drang with each pull of the trigger of a mighty rifle just because you're supposed to.
Similar situation with my 308Win . It's a light little thing built on a Jap, and the stock on it knocks the holy hell out of my face. I'll never change it though, just for nostalgia's sake because the old man built it before I was ever born.
35.5gr H4895 with a 165 Speer is basically a 30-30 load, 2200-ish fps, and really tames the nasty little beast down. It's still not a rifle I shoot for pleasure particularly often, but it's a lot more fun shooting those than full bore loads. The bit of H4895 I have left is pretty much exclusively for that rifle.
