Charlie98
Member
I don't shoot gobs of rifle, but I do shoot some. I'm a big fan of IMR rifle powders, they have always treated me well, are almost always available, and for reasonable cost (outside of Cabelas... but I digress.) I began to load 6.5CM for a friend of mine, and reached for a can of IMR4350... that just wasn't there, the shelves at the time were stripped bare of any flavor 4350, so I picked up a can of IMR4451, one of the new Enduron line of IMR powders. It certainly produced accurate and reasonable handloads, so I don't think I'm missing anything there.
Old vs New...
So, I'm looking at the IMR lineup, for many of their older powders there is a new Enduron powder right next to it within the same relative burn range. I understand the new technology of the E powders... supposedly more temp stable, has a copper fouling reducer, and (maybe) more economical. Who here has made the switch to the new IMR powders, and left the old IMR version behind? The fastest E powder, 4166, would be a relative replacement to IMR4064 (and maybe 4320) which I don't use just a whole lot of, and is the slowest rifle powder I use, but I'm wondering if they continue to introduce the E powders for the faster standard rifle powders like IMRs 4895 and 3031 if it might be better in the long run to just switch to it and begin the process of rebuilding data for them.
As far as pistol powders, I've always been an Alliant guy, and just the world's biggest fan of Unique... but I wonder, as Alliant introduces new powders... and everyone is saying BE-86 is the 'new Unique' although I've not found it to be that... that they would begin to phase out the older powders in lieu of the newer ones. I wonder the same thing about rifle powders, and particularly IMR powders. I don't wake up at night in a cold sweat thinking about no more IMR3031, but it does have me thinking about it over my morning coffee...
Old vs New...
So, I'm looking at the IMR lineup, for many of their older powders there is a new Enduron powder right next to it within the same relative burn range. I understand the new technology of the E powders... supposedly more temp stable, has a copper fouling reducer, and (maybe) more economical. Who here has made the switch to the new IMR powders, and left the old IMR version behind? The fastest E powder, 4166, would be a relative replacement to IMR4064 (and maybe 4320) which I don't use just a whole lot of, and is the slowest rifle powder I use, but I'm wondering if they continue to introduce the E powders for the faster standard rifle powders like IMRs 4895 and 3031 if it might be better in the long run to just switch to it and begin the process of rebuilding data for them.
As far as pistol powders, I've always been an Alliant guy, and just the world's biggest fan of Unique... but I wonder, as Alliant introduces new powders... and everyone is saying BE-86 is the 'new Unique' although I've not found it to be that... that they would begin to phase out the older powders in lieu of the newer ones. I wonder the same thing about rifle powders, and particularly IMR powders. I don't wake up at night in a cold sweat thinking about no more IMR3031, but it does have me thinking about it over my morning coffee...