[JesseL]

I've been digging through my late grandfather's stuff and found a couple factory sealed 1 lb cans of Hercules powder. One is 2400 which of course I'm familiar with, the other is "HiVel No.2". Anybody ever heard of this stuff? Google didn't turn up anything and I'm curious about it.

Edit:
Whoops, misspelled my google search. "HiVel No.2" turns up 3 results.

[steveno]

I used HiVel # 2 when I first started reloading in the 303 British. It hasn't been made for a real long time. sealed and with the cans in that condition there is probably some collector value in both cans. 2400 is still made but I wouldn't open the can

[loadedround]

Jesse: I too started loading 30-06's with HiVel #2 back in the mid 1960's and liked that powder. Just as Steveno stated it has been discontinued for quite some time. It had a reputation of being very hard on rifle barrels so that might be the reason for its demise. I have been to gun auctions where empty cans sold for five to ten dollars each. The full ones are very collectable, if you want to sell them, try Gunbroker:). There will be a haz mat fee to ship however.

[Bad Flynch]

Back in the days when the .30-'06 was the premier target cartridge, HV#2 was the powder of choice. However, it met its demise when several things happened. You can take your pick as to the actual reason or reasons, but several stories have been perpetrated on us over the years.

1-HiVel#2 developed premium accuracy with corrosive (perchlorate) primers and did not perform well with the (then) new non-corrosive (styphnate) primers. Perchlorate primers disappeared, leaving only styphnate primers and HV#2 diappeared, too. Sure enuff, there is a temporal associaton here.

2-HiVel#2 was a very erosive powder towards barrels and the advent of newer, less erosive powders, spelled its doom. Sure enuff, there is some truth to that statement, too. Not long after WWII, surplus IMR/H4895, a single-base, less-erosive, accurate powder became available and the inital surplus offerings were, relatively, cheap. Cheap was good after WWII.

3-HiVel#2 did not perform well in the (then) new .308 Win/7.62mm round and it was clearly a better target cartridge than the venerable -'06. The .308 went on to become a legendary target cartridge and the -'06 was relegated to the status of a superior hunting cartridge. Much truth to this one, too.

You can take your pick as to the actual cause, but my opinion is that all three things ganged up on poor old Hi-Vel to spell its doom; it was just its time to go.

[JesseL]

Very cool, thanks for all the info. I did some more digging and also found a few opened cans including some Herco and Bullseye. I 'm not sure whether to auction these old cans or make a display of them. They're very neat looking compared to the modern plastic jugs.

[Art Eatman]

The Hercules HiVel line was a single-base nitrocellulose powder, and burns hotter than the double-base IMR. That's probably the cause for the bad reputation for burning the leade in such cartridges as the .220 Swift. The use of DuPont IMR pretty much dramatically reduced the problem, but as always, old truths continue as myths.

Art

[Jim Watson]

Other way 'round, Art.

IMR powders are single base, Hi-Vel double. It is the nitroglycerine content that is usually blamed for powder gas erosion.

Single base - DuPont, double base - Hercules was the split when the trustbusters got hold of DuPont for monopolizing the powder and dynamite business. There has been some overlap in later years, but not a whole lot.