Ever wonder what IMR stands for?

If memory serves it was Military Rifle Powder, then tin was added to deal with metal fouling and it was named Improved Military Powder.
 
I bought surplus 4831 from a local Gunsmith in the Shuswap for $1.00/lb.
He sold it in brown paper bags. [good heavy ones] Alcan LR primers were 50
cents a flat. But then, a box of 30-30 ammo was just over $2.00. Times have
sure changed. Dave.
 
Eagleye said:
I bought surplus 4831 from a local Gunsmith in the Shuswap for $1.00/lb.
He sold it in brown paper bags. [good heavy ones] Alcan LR primers were 50
cents a flat. But then, a box of 30-30 ammo was just over $2.00. Times have
sure changed. Dave.
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Jeepers, how old are you Eagleye, lol! If 30-30 ammo was $2 and change, how much was a box of 22 LR?
 
Eagleye said:
I bought surplus 4831 from a local Gunsmith in the Shuswap for $1.00/lb.
He sold it in brown paper bags. [good heavy ones] Alcan LR primers were 50
cents a flat. But then, a box of 30-30 ammo was just over $2.00. Times have
sure changed. Dave.
Click to expand...

So have wages.

I bought #4831 surplus powder 1500 pounds at at time from Hornady, if I picked it up for 25 cents per pound average. Cost me another 10 cents a pound to bring it up to Canada and it sold in a heartbeat for $2/lb. About half what the local gun shops were selling it for.

I actually made deals with local shops to purchase the whole truck load of powder, so they could use it as a loss leader to bring customers into the shop.

Back in those days, hand loaders were considered to b Alchemists. Some were.

Mind you, gold in Mexico was US$25 per ounce, if you bought it in 12 Troy Ounce ingots, which looked very much like the ingots we pour lead into.

Bring it across the border, into the US and almost double your money, the next morning. They never once asked us to empty our pockets at the border, coming back from Mexico. Getting into Mexico, without hassle, always needed to be lubed with a little Baksheesh.

One other thing I did find out, back in those heady days, much of the surplus available was sold for an extreme minimum, plus the cost of picking it up and taking it away. Hogdon got a lot of their early lots of powder that way.

They picked up some very strange powder, some of the "kernel" I saw were 25 centimeters across and 6cm thick, cast with ridges for stacking. They were made for naval artillery, from what I remember. I have no idea what they did with that stuff. It was all properly stored, in protective packing, under cover from the elements in large, open sided buildings with corrugated metal roofs.

Maybe Ganderite knows what that stuff was used for?

I seem to remember that they had to take it, if they wanted the other powders.
 
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At least some of the time the number names of IMR powders were just the number of the notebook the engineer working on the project happened to be using. Hodgdon has some fun ones; H380 has been mentioned but H1000 came from Hodgdon’s 1000 yard powder to the .300. Retumbo means echo of thunder. Varget is a blend of varmint and target.
 
Why not? said:
I remember buying the old surplus H4831 for a dollar a pound in 50 pound hard cardboard kegs. Still have the keg. :)

Ted
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My dad and my grandpa bought some of that back in the day too, and I've got what's left in a metal can sitting on a shelf as my emergency stash. I guess it was a lifetime supply for my grandpa.
Kristian
 
i remember the powder in a bag also miss the prices. i used to save my old cans to refill. was digging about in my gunroom and found a box of dominion 303 brit 180s marked $3.95 army and navy price tag.
 
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