looking for advice - 1 powder for 308/223/45-70

U

upnorththodd

New member
Rating - 100%
36   0   0
I know this is a tall order. Over the past month I have been paring down my collection of firearms and loading equipment. From here on out my wife and I will be using a rem 700 tactical 308 win 20 “ heavy barrel, savage model 99C series A 308 win 22” barrel, marlin 95 45-70 22” magnaported barrel, and a savage model 25 223 24” moderately heavy barrel. The goal is to find 1 powder for all of them. I have looked at alot of reloading data, and as I am sure you all know there is alot of overlap.

I would like the Remington tactical to be useful at the range to 500 yards (less for hunting ), the savage to 300 yards (for hunting), and the 223 to 400yards ish (targets only). The 45-70 is only used for bison at no more than 150 yards, and honestly the kill zone is the size of a serving platter so I am looking for velocity/penetration and moderate accuracy at 100 yards. I plan on using 165g hornady interbond or GMX for both of the 308s and hornady 60g v-max for the 223. Traditionally I have used 400g speers for the 45-70, but I think I will be changing this as well???

We live in the Yukon so as far as temperature variance goes.....We have 9 months of winter and 3 months of bad tobogganing. I have been considering IMR4895, varget (hard to get), and win748. I have lots of W748 and IMR4895, but as I said Varget is hard to get reliably.

I am looking for any advice and experience from you long time realoders. Thanks in advance for all of your help.
 
I love your description of the weather! I was going to say Varget may be best suited to the 3 calibers. Maybe bite the bullet aand order in a couple 8lb kegs. Should last you a while if its mostly for hunting
 
Any one powder will not be ideal for all.
Efficient powders for the 308, like Varget, 4320, 4895, etc, will be OK for heavy loading of your 45-70 also, but I think you should have something faster for the 223, but I can't recite off loads for the 223 with the various weight bullets.
 
As far as the 308 and 223 Varget all the way..I use them both..308 20" tactical and 223 26" Varmint with 55 grain Hornady (my wife gets MOA at 100 with the 223) both with execellent results...the 45-70 I'm not sure, never shot one..but varget seems to be a universal powder that seems to get great results. I know some will say not good enough for 223 but I know several guys that shoot with it, and they are very happy as well.
 
I did this same thing several years ago. Down graded firearms and simplified to one powder. I use the WC735 surplus powder from Higginson's. I bought 21lbs twice now and it gives us adequate performance in everything we shoot.
 
H4831 said:
Any one powder will not be ideal for all.
Efficient powders for the 308, like Varget, 4320, 4895, etc, will be OK for heavy loading of your 45-70 also, but I think you should have something faster for the 223, but I can't recite off loads for the 223 with the various weight bullets.
Click to expand...

23 gr Varget, 69 gr BTHP, 2.215" = sub moa in my Rem 700 SPS Tactical.

45-70 - Hornady 350 gr RN, 60 gr Varget, 2.655" = 1970 fps out of an 1885 Browning. NOTE: This is a top load suited only for rifles with strong actions!
 
As H4831 mentions, there is no one powder that will be ideal for everything you want.

There are powders out there that will work well, in definite ranges, for the three cartridges you mention.

IMR3031 used to be an old standby for all of the and worked well within the limits of its burn rate.

BLC2 works in all of them as well. Again within the limits of its burn rate.

Varget will work just a well as the other two.

As you include 45-70 in the mix, my personal preference would be IMR3031 over magnum primers, both for lead and jacketed projectiles.

IMHO, IMR3031 would be the best overall powder for those cases, if I had to limit myself to one type of powder.

IMR3031 will not give you outstanding performance in every case but it will be acceptable in all of them, within the parameters you listed.

I would suggest that you now do some homework of your own and look into some loading manuals for the best performance loads, especially matching bullet weights to go along with those specs to get the maximum performance from any single powder.
 
Thanks bearhunter. I have been looking at the manuals and online at several options within the projectile range I would like. There are alot of you out there that have more experience than me. You are helping me narrow the field considerably. I have about 1/2 pound of 3031 left from my previous 45-70 loads. I think I will give this a try along with the 4895. I can't get any varget up here currently, and shipping is very expensive. However when I can get my hands on some I will try this as well.
 
As it happens I load and shoot those calibers. I have used 4895, 3031, BLC2 and 748 for all three and found that all worked well.

Of the two you have on hand, the 748 measures perfectly from a thrower, so is nice to work with. The 4895 in my rifles was cleaner and a bit more accurate.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom