Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles LeverEvolution powder works!

Got out today to work some up with Barnes TSX 150s. Got 2400 FPS out of 36.0 grains and well under an inch at 113 yards. Had room to push a little more, but with a 30-30 it didn't make sense with accuracy already more than good. I like it!.

Have you loaded the tsx before the powder? I played with them a while back in my buddies marlin and they shot really really good with quite a few powders. Can't remember the velocity but we dug some out of the sand at 100 yds and you should have seen the nice mushrooms! Didn't weigh them but probaby 95% wt retention. He's shot probaby 5 deer with never a recovery.

Yeah, well sort of. The 30-30 x and TSX are much closer to each other than other Barnes bullets. I couldn't get that velocity out of any other powder. FWIW the jug list a load with 35.5 grains powder. I worked up to 35 and got itty-bitty groups at 2386 with very little variation. I stopped even though it felt like there was a lot of room left. I checked Hodgdon's site and they list 38.5 as max.

With a hole in the end that big it would be difficult for them not to expand!

Out of a lot of deer, we have only one that didn't make two holes, that was with an '06 and corner to corner on a nice buck.

Nice! Thanks Miles for the report. Glad to see you're getting great accuracy.

Miles, I worked up some loads using the Sierra Flatnose 170 grain with LeverEvolution with good results. Very Good Propellant that does what is listed on the Hodgdon website.

That being said Hodgdon warned me that LE is caliber and bullet specific and was adament about it. Nice to see that you tried it with other than the recommended bullets.

Here are some of my testing results. ***UPDATE**** With the temp "soaring" to 43 degrees today I tested the rounds I loaded with 36.3 grains of LeverEvolution with Sierra 170 FN for the 30-30 Topper w/22" barrel. Case and primer were WW and WLR.

My first shot was 2320 fps, second shot was 2296 and third shot was 2308. This averaged 2308 fps velocity. Accuracy was the same as the original test groups. I would suspect the pressure curve was hit right around the 36.3 grain mark during Hodgdon's testing and my F1 Chrony reached the same conclusion velocity wise. I gained over 100 fps with a 3/10's increase in propellant. The Topper shows no signs of stress and pressure indicators were still in the neutral range. This may or may not be an accurate assessment of over pressure, but short of test equipment one never really knows. Outside of case shows no web expansion ring problems. I'll test the spent cases with the paper clip on the inside tonight.

The other theory might be that the temperature plays a role with this propellant. Could possibly be that loads worked up in cold weather shooting trials might be "hot" when fired in fair weather. I'll chronograph some velocities again with the temps in the 20 degree range. Further shooting with this propellant to follow. So far I'm impressed.

FWIW---I realize they say its very "case" and bullet specific. I have quickload and the powder isn't in the library. When people post their results and I play "what if" on QL it appears that superformance is a direct match to RE17. I realize its not physically the same but the performance sure "mirrors" it.
With that 170 bullet and 36.3 grains quickload predicts a speed of 2322 fps at 48,400psi.
Not sure we're nailing it perfectly on the head but just a little something to think about. If I were working with a 30-30 I would be comfortable using this as "one" of my guidlines.

Whoa there Kraky! Back up a little son. 48,000 will likely give your lever gun indigestion!

You should be more in the 36,000 range.

Thats what the calc is saying. Looks like cip for 30-30 is about 46k. Saami is 42k.
I'm not a lever loading expert...although I load a fair amount of 45-70. Would you know if 48k was a problem? What would be the first sign.....hard withdrawel of the case?

I kind of thought that was the point of his post...

Well, I'd say its a worst case scenario. These special powders are a bit of a breed of their own. When re17 came out there were guys touting huge gains in velocity without pressure problems. Then there were others saying...well....maybe I can pick up 3% more speed before pressure shows up.
RE17 does seem to be somewhat case responsive too.
If the 170 load matches hodgdons speed in data what does hodgdons data say the pressure is?

Well....its rainy and I'm bored. Had time for more research. I checked hodgdons site and see for the 30-30 what they list for pressure with the leverevolution powder comes out much less than my quickload prediction.
BUT when I went to a Marlin owners chatroom there was a guy that only got 5 reloadings using the loads and his brass cracked above the base. He wasn't sure if it was the powder or the brass.
THEN for fun I ran my re17 idea with quickload against hodgdons leverevolultion data for the 308marlin express. Funny thing is they match hodgdons pressure very closely. And one of the guys at the marlin chatroom said he got sticky extractions using the hodgdon data with the 308mx.
All I can say is....maybe it's magic in the 30-30 but not the 308mx but that has me scratching my head.
I really have to wonder if we're not seeing a mix of advertising hype....maybe a tiny bit of pressure magic.....but in reality 30-30 data that is really maxed out much like some of the wsm reloadings out there.

kraky, When you posted "superformance" did you mean LeverEvolution? They are different propellants.

YUP I did....sorry for the confusion. I meant the lever powder.

All I can say for sure is that I got 2386 with almost no variation out of 35 grains of LeverEvolution and groups just over half an inch. I learned long ago to stop when I got what I wanted out of a load. The load felt very mild. I had tthe distinct impression I could go a decent amount further.

The jug listed a 35.5 load. That's all I had with me. The Hodgdon site lists 38.5 as as max. I started at 33 and about 2200 FPS. If it remains even close to linear, 38.5 should produce 2600 pretty easily.

Well, somehow they may have come up with the perfect 30-30 powder. If you look at their website that start load of around 35 grains is producing for you what the max loads of other powders are supposed to produce.
Being that someone contacted them and they said it was caliber and bullet specific I shouldn't have raised the flag. I certainly wouldn't think you'd get in ANY TROUBLE with those starter loads if that's what they publish.
Sorry for warming up the talk.
Wow---1/2" levergun groups with a bullet that holds max wt...it should be a lethal combo on any midsized game.

Well, yeah, but they have a ballistic coefficient just better than a rock. They open well at low velocity with that whopping big hole in the end. They start out at nice velocity and they go through deer like nobody's business. I tend to be pretty conservative when it comes to killing things. I don't use a 30-30 beyond 100 yards and probably never will since I pull the scope off after working up the loads. I thinks was I going to shoot one out at 150 or so with this load I'd put it through the shoulders and anchor it right there

Don't know if you ever saw them but Cabella's had a line of scopes with ballistic plexes supposedly matched to the hornady ftx line. I don't think they sold well and they had em on sale for a decent price. I was tempted to buy one and see if it would calibrate out for my 308 but never did.
I guess the key for longer than 125yds would be lots of practice and a range finder....but then you'd be better picking up your 30-06 with a 250 yd zero.
Sometimes it's just fun to play with guns from the old days.

According to this even the flatnosed barnes could be point blank to 200 yds with about 2.5" +/- on it's way!!

Gun is zeroed-in at 170 yds,
by sighting-in at level firing
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Range Velo Time of Energy Path Deflection Total Sight correction Target
city flight to at crosswind drop for setting new lead
LOS of 1.0 Mph zero range 33 fps
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
�Yards fps s ft.lbs. in. in. MOA in. Clicks MOA yds �
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 0 2335 0.0000 1816 -1.6 0.0 ----- 0.0 ------ ----- 0.00
| 25 2258 0.0328 1698 0.0 0.0 0.05 0.2 -0.2 -0.05 0.36
| 50 2183 0.0667 1587 +1.2 0.0 0.09 0.8 -6.6 -2.29 0.73
| 75 2109 0.1018 1481 +1.9 0.1 0.12 1.9 -7.1 -2.45 1.11
M 100 2036 0.1378 1381 +2.2 0.2 0.16 3.5 -6.0 -2.07 1.51
| 125 1965 0.1747 1286 +1.9 0.3 0.19 5.6 -4.3 -1.47 1.91
| 150 1895 0.2133 1195 +1.1 0.4 0.23 8.2 -2.1 -0.71 2.33
X 170 1840 0.2455 1128 0.0 0.5 0.27 10.8 0.0 0.00 2.69
| 175 1827 0.2538 1111 -0.3 0.5 0.28 11.5 +0.5 +0.19 2.78
P 190 1787 0.2790 1063 -1.5 0.6 0.31 13.8 +2.3 +0.78 3.05
| 200 1761 0.2961 1033 -2.5 0.7 0.33 15.4 +3.5 +1.19 3.24
| 225 1697 0.3400 959 -5.4 0.9 0.38 20.1 +6.6 +2.27 3.72
| 250 1635 0.3855 890 -9.0 1.1 0.44 25.6 +10.0 +3.43 4.22
| 275 1574 0.4323 825 -13.4 1.4 0.49 31.8 +13.5 +4.64 4.73
| 300 1515 0.4804 764 -18.6 1.7 0.54 38.8 +17.2 +5.91 5.25
| 325 1459 0.5303 708 -24.7 2.0 0.59 46.7 +21.1 +7.24 5.80
| 350 1405 0.5827 657 -31.9 2.4 0.65 55.8 +25.3 +8.70 6.37
| 375 1354 0.6374 611 -40.3 2.8 0.70 66.0 +29.9 +10.27 6.97
| 400 1307 0.6939 569 -49.9 3.2 0.76 77.4 +34.7 +11.91 7.59
| 425 1261 0.7521 529 -60.7 3.7 0.82 90.0 +39.7 +13.64 8.23
| 450 1219 0.8126 495 -72.9 4.2 0.88 104.0 +45.0 +15.47 8.89
| 475 1180 0.8752 464 -86.7 4.7 0.95 119.6 +50.7 +17.43 9.57
| 500 1145 0.9397 437 -102.0 5.3 1.01 136.7 +56.7 +19.48 10.28
| 525 1114 1.0061 413 -119.0 5.9 1.07 155.6 +63.0 +21.64 11.00
| 550 1085 1.0743 392 -137.8 6.5 1.13 176.2 +69.6 +23.92 11.75
| 575 1060 1.1443 374 -158.4 7.2 1.20 198.6 +76.5 +26.30 12.51
| 600 1036 1.2159 358 -180.9 7.9 1.26 222.9 +83.7 +28.78 13.30
| 625 1015 1.2890 343 -205.3 8.6 1.32 249.2 +91.3 +31.37 14.10
| 650 996 1.3636 330 -231.8 9.4 1.38 277.5 +99.1 +34.06 14.91
| 675 978 1.4393 318 -260.2 10.2 1.44 307.7 +107.1 +36.81 15.74
| 700 961 1.5168 308 -291.0 11.0 1.50 340.3 +115.4 +39.69 16.59
| 725 945 1.5958 298 -323.9 11.8 1.56 375.1 +124.1 +42.66 17.45
| 750 930 1.6760 288 -359.1 12.7 1.61 412.1 +133.0 +45.72 18.33
| 775 916 1.7572 279 -396.5 13.5 1.67 451.3 +142.1 +48.85 19.22
| 800 902 1.8394 271 -436.1 14.4 1.72 492.6 +151.4 +52.05 20.12
| 825 889 1.9231 263 -478.2 15.3 1.78 536.6 +161.0 +55.35 21.03
| 850 877 2.0078 256 -522.8 16.3 1.83 583.0 +170.8 +58.72 21.96
| 875 865 2.0940 249 -570.0 17.2 1.88 632.0 +180.9 +62.19 22.90
| 900 853 2.1815 242 -619.9 18.2 1.93 683.7 +191.3 +65.76 23.86
| 925 842 2.2702 236 -672.5 19.2 1.99 738.2 +201.9 +69.42 24.83
| 950 831 2.3601 230 -727.9 20.3 2.04 795.3 +212.8 +73.15 25.81
| 975 820 2.4509 224 -785.9 21.3 2.09 855.2 +223.8 +76.96 26.80
| 1000 810 2.5427 218 -846.7 22.4 2.14 917.8 +235.1 +80.83 27.81
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
M = Peak vs. L.O.S, X = Set Zero, P = Max. Point Blank Range
Elevation above Angle of Site (0.0 deg.) = 0.1157 deg.