River Valley Ordnance

[Joshua M.]

I have a gallon jug of some old surplus powder for 30-06, produced by River Valley, and was wandering if anyone else has used it. I was trying to figure out a good load for 265gr FTX in the 444 Marlin.

 

[Laphroaig]

Military surplus powder came in a couple of varieties for the -06. You're going to have to identify it before you can determine if it is suitable for the 444 and safely work up a load. Any numbers on the jug? Is it ball or extruded grains?

Laphroaig

 

[Joshua M.]

It's ball powder

 

[Elkins45]

Does it say something like "Powder for M2 Ball Loads" or something like that? I have shot up a couple of jugs of that stuff in 270 and 30/06 and it is fantastic stuff. I wish I had bought a bunch more of it when it was still available.

If its the same stuff I have it's probably too slow to perform well in 444. What I have is essentially H4831 or something very close.

 

[RPRNY]

Elkins is pointing you in the right direction. Powder that would be good in the 30-06 case may well be too slow for a straight wall case like the 444, byt may work with heavy for caliber bullets.

More importantly, for safety' s sake, identifying the powder and published loads for it is the first task.

 

[Elkins45]

This is the data that came with mine.

 

[jaguarxk120]

Does one of the labels show type and lot number of the powder you have?

 

[Joshua M.]

Thanks guys...tried some and a compressed 60gr load only spits a 265gr FTX 1800 fps....now if I could just come up with some 4198 reasonable. I found some for $25.99/lb, but the $44 shipping hurts. Anybody have an outlet for powder, I'll trade primers for powder.

 

[Havok7416]

What part of Ohio? I used to live in the NE part and I will soon live in the SW part. I was usually able to find what I needed at local gun shows. It's been a few years though so I'm not sure if that still holds true.

 

[rg1]

The powder charge tables in the pic does closely resemble IMR 4831 load levels.

 

[jaguarxk120]

If it's the same lot of powder I have, it is WC-852 slow. There were different lots of WC-852 and the one most encountered is the slow lot. The jug is marked WC-852 lot no. 47287.

 

[Elkins45]

What part of Ohio? I used to live in the NE part and I will soon live in the SW part. I was usually able to find what I needed at local gun shows. It's been a few years though so I'm not sure if that still holds true.

I heard on the Cincinnati radio station this morning that the Bill Goodman gun and knife show is in Dayton this weekend. If you're close enough you might be able to pick up some powder there...but Ohio is a big state.

The info on that taped on charge table is only info that came with this particular jug of powder, so I don't have a name or lot number.

 

[jaguarxk120]

Thanks for the info.