surplus Hodgdon 4831

it has been a long time since I've seen powder packaged that way

Ah, good 'ol IMR4831. Nice.

Don

When I started reloading in 1963, those bags were .35 cents a pound. I've kept one over the years to remind me of "the good old days", but back then, I was only making $1.25 an hour, too.

Kids these days worry if the seal is broken on the new can of powder they buy at the store, but we used to take our own containers (coffee cans) into the gun shop and they would weigh out the powder and put it in your can and write on a piece of paper what it was.......

Hope this helps.

Fred

4831

I remember reading about the paper bags,but never saw it before.Didn't that come with a recomendation that since there was no data for it to use 4350 data and go from there?This was long before my handloading days and I was just a wide-eyed kid reading my Dad's American Rifleman magazines.This really was the good old days-never to be seen again.:banghead:

Lj1941 said:

I remember reading about the paper bags,but never saw it before.Didn't that come with a recomendation that since there was no data for it to use 4350 data and go from there?This was long before my handloading days and I was just a wide-eyed kid reading my Dads American Riflemans magazines.This really was the good old days-never to be seen again.:banghead:

Click to expand...

I'm fairly sure that H4831 was out before 4350 but I could be wrong.

Many long years ago.... I had to attend a day long class to get a hunters safety card, then I could apply or buy hunting licenses. After the class, one instructor announced he had some 4831 powder for sale, in 10 lb. cans. I went up, knowing myself and my Pop used this powder for reloading. 50 cents a pound ! I bought 2 cans of it, still have about 2/3 of a can left, Pop used his like a kid on the 4th of July, loaded everything he had with it. Good powder !

Ah, good 'ol IMR4831. Nice.

Click to expand...

They are not the same, are they?

I've always wondered what those "sacks" of powder looked like. I wasn't even born when that powder was packaged.

IMR4831 and H4831 are NOT the same.

Quote:
Ah, good 'ol IMR4831. Nice.

They are not the same, are they?

Click to expand...

The powder referred to and shown in the OP is surplus IMR4831 bought and repackaged by Bruce Hodgdon. Hodgdon never made a powder - all their powders were and are manufactured by others. He got his start buying up surplus IMR powders from the gov't and repackaging it for retail sale. IMR4831 is quite a bit faster than today's H4831.

Don

How much you want for a bag? i'd love to have one!

Just kidding, you know one never knows what you will come up with in reloading, How cool is that to get gifted all that great powder during a freaking powder shortage! good for you!

Bull

Seeing powder sold packaged like this are some of my earliest memories of gun shops and this great world of reloading and firearms. As a 8 or 9 year old I would beg to go into and look around gun shops. My father on occasion would accommodate this wish and that was where I caught this passion. Thanks for sharing this photo and story. Best wishes.

i started reloading in 1958 and thru the years must have shot a ton of the old 4831, if you are going to use it,pour a little in your hand and see if it has a reddish rust colored coating on the grains,if so don,t use it. you could not get enough in a 270-3006 to cause pressure problems. i just filled the case up to the neck and seated a bullet and killed many animinals from ground hog to bear and deer in a DCM 03a3 in 3006 and remington 721 in 270. where i bought my 4831 it was .40 cents a pound and i used a old dupont can that they filled out of a 50 lb cardboard barrel with a small funnel and squeewed the can to get more in. eastbank.

The powder referred to and shown in the OP is surplus IMR4831 bought and repackaged by Bruce Hodgdon. Hodgdon never made a powder - all their powders were and are manufactured by others. He got his start buying up surplus IMR powders from the gov't and repackaging it for retail sale. IMR4831 is quite a bit faster than today's H4831.

Don

Click to expand...

Thanks...

steveno said:

IMR4831 and H4831 are NOT the same.

Click to expand...

No they are not. The burn rate list IMR 4831 at 146 and H 4831 at 152 the 4350 is ACC 135 IMR 137 H 140

I have some of that!

used to buy it in folgers coffee cans for 50 cents a lb.

Funny how some of you guys remember buying powder in coffee cans, and now coffee (at least the stuff my wife buys) is sold in bags that look like the powder bags in the picture.

The more things change, the more they remain the same.

Bet the coffee in bags costs way more then the powder in bags did though!

rc

Tastes the same as the powder, though.