Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Savage Collectors 190gr bullets

You sure use a lot of funny words I never hoid of.

I always liked the term "Pet Load." I think just finding what works the best for you in your gun is the fun in it all. And the only funny word I have for this morning is bananas.

Looks like Gnoahhh moonlights for Barnes. Just heard back from them this am. Said they were working on "official" load development to post on their web site. Recommended to use the data from(1)-A 170 gr jacketed reduced by 2.5 grs and work up--OR-- (2)-Find a 190 gr jacketed recipe in a loading manual and start at their starting load and work up.

No moonlighting here. Just being a student of The Gun for a half-century.

Don't bull poopy me......barnsey boy!

Just to further clarify, Barnes was recommending starting at 2.5 grains below the starting load of 170 grain jacketed bullet.

And if you're a real nut, here's some loads recommended by Phil Sharpe in his "Complete Guide to Handloading", copyright 1941:

All with 190 jacketed bullet-

HiVel#2, 30.1 grains, 2080fps, 41,000psi
HiVel#3, 27.4 grains, 2150fps, 41,000psi
Hercules 300, 33.4 grains, 2070fps, 38,000psi
DuPont 17 1/2, 32.6 grains, 1982fps, no pressure listed
Lightning, 25.8 grains,1990fps, no pressure listed
Sharpshooter, 17.6 grains, 1695fps, 33,000psi
DuPont SR-80, 14.0 grains, 1250fps, no pressure listed (actually that stuff is comparable to SR-4759, but that's moot because 4759 was discontinued 3-4 years ago)

These are max loads, so start low and work up. And if you actually mess with any of these old powders, bravo to you!

I looked that up last night myself. But pray tell of a source for either of the HiVel powders or Hercules 300. The others I had at least read of in my 40+ years of reading and handloading.

Which Lyman edition is the illustrated page from? Prior to the 44th edition. I have from 44th to the present.

Speaking of Hercules Powder and a bit of irony, it was made out here in a town called, of all things, Hercules. The town sits along the northeast shore of San Francisco Bay and, as I understand it, there are still the remains of powder bunkers in the hills above the bay shore.

There is no source. That stuff was discontinued 60 years ago, give or take.

Squeeler,

I can't read the picture of the load data on the 190 gr jacketed bullet or the 170&180 jacketed bullet table. Can you try to get a better picture, or just type the data in for us? It looks like there is data on 3031, 4895, and 4064, all of which are of course available and are proven performers. Thanks!

That older data always seems pretty hot. Those loads exceed what the current Hodgdon web site lists for 30-30 170 grain jacketed bullets. When lacking data for the 303 Savage, I've looked at the 30-30 for comparison.

Just loaded 3 cartridges each of 190 grain Hawk with 29,30 and 31 grains of IMR3031. Once spring gets here I will run them over the chrony (20" 1899H .303 savage) I will report back with the results.

Darryl

Just a FWIW, this old data seems pretty hot. Hodgdon's current load data lists the max load for a 30-30 with a 170 grain jacketed bullet as 29.2 grains of IMR 3031. I'd think a current load for 30-30 with a 190 grain jacketed bullet would be 2-3 grains below that 29.2 grain max load. Granted, a 30-30 is not a 303 Savage, but the case capacity is very similar and many of us have used 30-30 data as starting point for 303 Savage loads.

I have researched this topic pretty thoroughly. It seems the biggest concern with older data is if the powder composition has changed over the 40 to 60 years since the data was published. Having talked to people who know powder it seems IMR 3031 is the least likely to have any change. Having said that I feel starting at 29 grains will be enough margin of safety. From there any attempts to shoot the other loads will be based on observations of the 29 grain load results. The loads are from a trusted source I might add.

Darryl

Everybody's a prize fighter till they get punched in the face.

Well I will test the loads tomorrow. If I survive the "punch in the face" I will report back.

Darryl