H4831 original use?

[Will]

I still have some H4831 I bought surplus back in the 60's and it is still in good shape. I was wondering what military round it was used in. Anyone know?

Will

[Ricochet]

Back in the late '70s I read in an article in The American Rifleman that it was originally made for WWII vintage 20mm ammo. Presumably the Naval sort. (Weren't those Oerlikon guns on the ship decks?) That was originally DuPont IMR 4831 that Hodgdon bought surplus and resold.

Another round it was used in was the first iteration of the .50 Spotter cartridge for the 106mm recoilless rifle's spotting gun. It was replaced in that cartridge by IMR 7383, using a smaller charge weight for the same ballistics.

[Larry Gibson]

It was also used in M23 Cal .50 incendiary to the tune of about 237 gr per cartridge. That cartridge was mostly used in aircraft M2 machine guns.

Larry Gibson

[beagle]

I'm with richochett. It was used in the Orlikons and Hispano Suizo 20mms. Most was disposed of after WWII as they had loads of loaded 20mm until VN came along and it got fired up. The newer 20mm stuff was loaded with ball powder. Never pulled any off the HSs on the A1Es so I can't verify that but the M61 gun stuff had ball powder and lots of it as well.

Incidently, 4759 was used in the earlier 7.62 Nato blanks. The milsurp that Hi-Tech had came from pulled down .30 frangible./beagle

[sundog]

Will, it's guys like you who are keeping the economy depressed. Stock pile tons of powder at a few cents a pound and shoot it for years and years when you could be spending over $20/lb and paying hazmat and sales tax. It's folks like you who are driving our economy into a hole!

My hat's off to you, sir, for having such forethought! Happy shooting. Are you Scottish by any chance?

[870TC]

Guess I'm guilty too!. I had a couple of 50lb wooden crates of 4831, looked like you could drop them out of airplanes:) Well I still have 15 or 16lbs left. I like it for .270, 30-06 and .348win

[TCLouis]

We bought a barrel of that stuff in the late 60s. Came out to a whopping 50 centavos a pound.

I gave the last 2-3 pounds I had away to a friend because he said it was the BEST 270 powder he had ever shot.

It worked the best in my 6.5X257 of anything I have tried also. I guess this year it will be some 140s and IMR 4350.

[dale2242]

I bought a 50# keg of H4831 from a guy that bought it just befor the 1964 gun control act scare. I asked him how much? He asks, $20 to much? Still shooting it. It`s still good---dale

[Pavogrande]

Glad to see that I am not the only one still using "old" powder! --- Rather tired of all todays hand wringers telling me I should feed the lawn with good 4831 and ball-C --

[Doug Bowser]

I used to got to a supplier in PA and buy 4831 surplus powder for $14.00 per 100 pounds. The powder came in a plastic bag. We would fill up a pickup truck and cover it a canvas tarp. At that time you needed a powder permit in NY and could only have 5 pounds. If they caught us, it would have been the end. When we got the powder home, our members in our gun club would bring empty powder cans and buy teh powder for $.20 per pound.

The good olde days to say the least.

[DLCTEX]

Earlier this year I bought 23# of H4831 for $50 from a lady who'd had it stored in her garage for 25 years. I've shot up about 2# so far and it's still good powder. 257 Wby., 7MM Mag., and 300 Win Mag. have large appetites, so it won't get too much older. DALE

[Will]

Sundog:

Scotts/Irish; How'd you guess?

[NoDakJak]

In the early sixties three of us went together and bought a 50 pound keg of H-4831. One guy backed out of the deal and I wound up with more than hlf of it. I am down to my last half pound now and it is still good. I loaded and shot enough rounds of 243 when jump shooting jack rabbits that I shot the barrel out of my 110 Savage in a year and a half. Another favored load for the same use was in the 3006. I would simply fill a large bowl with 4831 and dip the primed case through it until full to the brim and then seat a Sierra 150 grain 30.30 flatnose. There was no way that you could get a max load in the case that way and it was very fast and simple. The load was not particulary accurate from my 1903-A3 but certainly was effective on running jacks. Neil