I load for several 30-378's and have always used Retumbo. A friend of mine has had issues with the powder turning to dust after riding through the mountains on horseback and 4 wheelers. His gun shows no signs of pressure when he shoots fresh ammo, but on a recent elk hunt he could barely get the bolt open after the shot. This is likely due to the powder changing in burn rate due to increased surface area. What concerns me is that he said it only takes one weekend of hunting. He sent me a loaded round with this issue and I pulled it apart and the powder was definitely "crumbled". The load was 180 AB with 110grs of Retumbo and is slightly compressed. If anyone has another non temperature sensitive favorite powder that works for them please help me out. Also, maybe JB could help me out since he has worked with so many powders? T.S.
This is odd that this issue shows up today, JB and I were just talking about it yesterday. The whole powder "break down" issue was discussed here on the Campfire before on whether or not, powder actually breaks down when you vibrate the loaded cases after reloading. I have always vibrated loaded cases to clean them to look new. I haven't witnessed any changes in the way ammunition worked as a result. I always figured from the time ammo was manufactured, shipped and then sold, it would have been vibrated more than what I was doing in my vibrator on the bench. JB could address that issue more from a professional standpoint, but it seems pretty unlikely.
The breakdown theory doesn't seem to affect World War II ammo and other surplus ammunition that has been around for decades, exposed to all sorts of handling and temperature changes, with no signs of pressure problems attributed to powder crumbling. It can also be argued that your friend did have hard bolt lifting, so there is something that caused that. Temperature when the rounds are fired will cause erratic pressures, and that could be the reason. In that case H-1000 Extreme could be the powder you would want for the 30-378 as it is more stable in various temperatures.
As far as accuracy goes, I couldn't beat IMR 7828 in my 30-378, but as I used it for hunting, and that could be in some real cold temperatures, I used H-1000 Extreme, Nosler 200 grain Accubonds and had good results. I did, however, sell the 30-378, as it was "too much gun" and went back to a 300 Weatherby and get 3200 FPS with a 180 grain bullet and it kills just fine...