High Vel #2

[richhodg66]

Dropped by my favorite gun store today, it's this big, unorganized place full of the most eclectic collection of old guns, old reloading stuff and fishing and boating gear and I love it. The old man must be well up in his 80s, but is still sharp and he's probably been in business there since the 50s maybe longer.

Anyway, I went in there in hopes of some new old stock SR4756, no luck, but as I'm looking, there's two of the old paper bags like they used to sell powder in up on the top shelf, likely not touched for decades marked Hi Vel #2.

I have some old manuals that have data for this stuff. I've half a mind to go back and make an offer on a bag of it to try it out. Anybody ever used it?

[Bent Ramrod]

Whenever I’m down to the last couple ounces of my stash of Hi-Vel #2, I find another full can at a gun show somewhere. It’s like a radioactive half-life, or those oil leaks from sunken ships that keep diminishing but still go on forever. Obviously a very popular powder way back when, and reloaders must have kept their stocks of it up, since it still trickles out of cabinets and shelves onto gun show tables.

I use it in my .25-35 loads for water-jug exploding in my FBW single-shot rifle. 26 gr seems to give good accuracy with all jacketed bullet weights to 120 gr, and does particularly well with the Remington 87 gr .25-20 bullet.

I think it was Fred Ness who recommended this loading for the .30-30 in one of his Practical Dope books, noting it was not for regular use in lever action repeaters. I would cut it back considerably for even one-time use with the 87 gr bullet in a .25-35 lever gun myself, as 27 gr is too much even in the FBW rifle.

Sharpe’s book, IIRC, has a lot of loads for Hi-Vel #2 in various calibers. I’d go to that reference if I was starting to use it myself.

[MostlyLeverGuns]

First powder I owned in 1964/65?. Loaded for Marlin 336 in 30-30. It was discontinued about then and I changed to 3031. It was used in mild mid-range? match ammo by the military, The 172 gr Match bullet in the 30-06. I did miss it at the time, I believe Rldr 11 of the first Rldr series was its replacement (before Alliant). It was used like H4895, across a large range of cartridges.