Thursday, March 13, 2014

Reduced Loads

Regular readers to my siite know about my fondness for IMR 4895, which I consider one of the most versatile rifle powders for medium rifle cartridges.  You can scroll down thru this link and see the various uses I've put it to over the years.  When I start piddling with a new cartridge, one of the very first things I do is to find a 4895 recipe.  Like Unique in pistol calibers, IMR 4895 is useful in lots of rifle cartridges,  I one time counted the calibers and came up with over 40 in which the powder is very useful.  For myself, I've found it useful in .223, .243, .30-30, .30-06, and .45-70.  IMR 4895 is also a great cast-bullet powder, with lots of calibers.

Eaton Rapids Joe puts it to the test in reduced loads for the .308 Winchester, and tells us that it's a daisy in that cartridge as well.  I don't know that I've ever used it in the .308, preferring other powders in that caliber, but I have to admit that a 150 grain bullet traveling at 2200 fps is going to leave a mark when it hits something.  The .30-30 Winchester ballistics almost mimic that level of performance, and has proven since 1895 that it is a whiz-bang deer caliber.

A youngster in the field can do a lot worse than a 150 grain bullet going 2200 fps.  Anything within 150 yards is their meat if they put the bullet where it matters.  In this day of ultra-flat, whiz-bang magnums, a whole lot of adults would be surprised at just how much venison they could gather using those same ballistics.

4 comments:

Old NFO said...

Excellent point, and I believe the 30-30 is STILL the king of meat guns... :-)

Skip said...

'95 is good stuff. I use it in .308 often.

Termite said...

When my son was transitioning for the Mini-30 to the .308, I came up with a nice load. a Remington 150gr RNSP on top of 4895, MV about 2300fps.

Rivrdog said...

As far as "those ballistics" go, 30 million users of Kalashnikov's masterpiece can't be wrong, either. With an even smaller bullet at those speeds, the 7.62x39 AK-47 has fought a lot of battles and will fight many more.

Everything old is new again, and the whiz-bang calibers now are the restricted-range subsonic thumpers.

I'll stick with my 44 magnum Marlin carbine for short-range work, and pull out the Winchester M70 in .243 when something needs to be killed between 100 and 500 yards. Sure, I have made meat with .308 too, but as I age, I see no point in shouldering more rifle than needed.