Hornady LeverEvolution Powder

woodlotowner

woodlotowner

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I have an 8 lb jug of this powder for use in the 30-30 and 35 Rem, but there must be loads developed for the 45-70 and 450 Marlin somewhere. Any ideas?

Edit; Fixed it. LEVEREVOLUTION not Superformance. How to look like a newbie in one easy step. List the wrong powder in a thread while trying to appear clever as a reloader of 20 years. :)
 
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There probably aren't. I have found it to act like a "quick" H4831, i.e. between H4350 and H4831, but if you're a "I only use published loads" kind of guy, I suspect you'll be out of luck.

That said, I can assure you that it will be too slow, even with full cases and the heaviest bullets to produce the highest MV's (in strong or weaker actions). Google 45-70 and H4831 or H4350 and you'll see that there could be some applications for it, typically with cast bullets.
 
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woodlotowner said:
I have an 8 lb jug of this powder for use in the 30-30 and 35 Rem, but there must be loads developed for the 45-70 and 450 Marlin somewhere. Any ideas?
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I would suggest that you should have an 8 lb jug of LEVEREVOLUTION powder, rather than SUPERFORMANCE. The latter
is much too slow burning for the chamberings you are talking about.

Regards, Dave.
 
woodlotowner said:
I have an 8 lb jug of this powder for use in the 30-30 and 35 Rem, but there must be loads developed for the 45-70 and 450 Marlin somewhere. Any ideas?
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As others have said WAY to slow for any of those cartridges - Burn rate similar to 4350-4831 ! Also its DIRTY ! but GREAT in a 30-06 with 150 gr-ers HOT Loaded ! RJ
 
Eagleye said:
I would suggest that you should have an 8 lb jug of LEVEREVOLUTION powder, rather than SUPERFORMANCE. The latter
is much too slow burning for the chamberings you are talking about.

Regards, Dave.
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Dave,

So glad you checked in to this thread with your subtle nudge. I fixed my thread title and noted my error in the text. Of course it's LEVEREVOLUTION powder. :) I had just come from a marathon Google search for load data (thought of that, Andy) and for some reason had superformance on the brain when I created the thread. Egg on face.

Still would appreciate anyone's experience with this powder in the noted cartridges.
 
Not all Leverevolution factory ammo is loaded with the powder of the same name. Just like how not all Superformance ammo is loaded with that powder. They're both specialty powders that are designed to work really well in a few specific cartridges. They'll also work okay in many others, and they wont be suitable at all for many more. Leverevolution powder doesn't appear to be ideally suitable for .45-70 or .450 Marlin even though there is factory ammo in those under the Leverevolution name. It does tend to deliver the highest velocities in .30-30 of any powder at suitable pressures for the cartridge.

There is also .357 magnum and .44 magnum Leverevolution ammo from Hornady and there's no way they can be loaded with Leverevolution powder successfully.

Maybe some experimentation could turn up something but since the burn rate chart shows Leverevolution as being slower than Varget which is already kind of slow for many .45-70 loads (dirty at low pressures but works for level 2 or 3 loads), I don't think it'll work well. Maybe some fiddling could get you some successful high pressure loads (possibly above what even a Marlin 1895 can handle safely) but there's nothing published I've seen for it.

*edit*
A Google search resulted in a post on another forum where someone claims to have called Hodgdon and asked about the powder and .45-70 suitability. They were told by Hodgdon that the Leverevolution factory ammo all uses specialty blended powder specific to each cartridge. The retail Leverevolution powder you can buy is their .30-30 blend.
 
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Although i havent tried it yet. I have found it similar to Varget and have used LVR in chamberings like 308W using Varget as a starting point. Being that some people sweat by varget in there 45-70s and there is load data for it I may try and work up a load. But in 444m. If you try it let me know how it goes
 
woodlotowner said:
Dave,

So glad you checked in to this thread with your subtle nudge. I fixed my thread title and noted my error in the text. Of course it's LEVEREVOLUTION powder. :) I had just come from a marathon Google search for load data (thought of that, Andy) and for some reason had superformance on the brain when I created the thread. Egg on face.

Still would appreciate anyone's experience with this powder in the noted cartridges.
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I am using Leverevolution in my 30-30 with fabulous success. It gives higher velocities at safe pressures than any other powder I have tried in the 30-30.
Also found that accuracy was on a par with the best.

I have loaded some 38-55 with it, but have not shot it yet.

Contemplate trying it in my 303 Brit, and 300 Savage with lighter bullets as well.

Regards, Dave
 
A great variety of powders can be used with success in the Marlin 45-70 rifles. I have used LVR powder in the 30-30 and 35 Remington with great success and I'm sure I could find a good load or loads for it in 45-70. A good load can be found in the 45-70 with a greater variety of powders than in any other calibre I have ever loaded for.
Accurate loads can vary from where you shoot, then listen for the bullet to hit at a hundred yards, to loads that sends your cap flying forward and shake your teeth.
I would guess that LVR would work best at around medium, or just above, with bullets in the 400 grain range.
Bruce
 
I use it in my .300 savage with good results. I started with load data from the 308 marlin express and went from there. I've been getting great accuracy from my 99 with both 150 and 165 Hornadys.
 
Thanks to all for the helpful insights into this powder and its possible applications. I will attempt to carefully work something up in 45-70 (in the Marlin) and, if I have success in that regard, then it should be a simple matter of adapting it to the 450 Marlin. With RL-7, as things are now, the two are almost virtually interchangeable in terms of load data. I will, of course, be loading the 35 Rem and 30-30 with Leverevolution as well, until it runs out. With 8 lbs, I probably have a lifetime supply of the stuff...

Regards,

Brendan
 
When I was loading for 45-70 I bought a pound of leverevolution thinking it would be a good powder to try. After not being able to find any data I contacted Hornady directly and asked. The response was that it is not a suitable powder for the cartridge and that for best results I should stick to the loads in the Hornady manual.
I traded off the unopened pound of powder to a buddy for something I could use shortly after that. I had best results with varget and 405gr cast.
 
I would look at more than one manual when selecting powders. Hornady recommending to use only what they list in their manual is rather naive if you ask me. With almost any cartridge there are far more powders that work other than what is listed in any single book.

Hornady's data is just what they have tested, other manufacturers have tested other powders in similar bullet weights and you can start low with those, and work up. It's all part of the fun of reloading!!!
 
Cleftwynd said:
I would look at more than one manual when selecting powders. Hornady recommending to use only what they list in their manual is rather naive if you ask me. With almost any cartridge there are far more powders that work other than what is listed in any single book.

Hornady's data is just what they have tested, other manufacturers have tested other powders in similar bullet weights and you can start low with those, and work up. It's all part of the fun of reloading!!!
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I was loading 325gr FTX rounds into Hornady brass from factory Leverevolution ammo trying to recreate the factory load because my rifle would shoot those into an inch at 100yds. They didn't recommend a different Hornady powder so I think they might be a good resource for load data with those particular components.
You're right though, check multiple sources for load data, I usually use three or four sources for most of the cartridges I load for and come up with a range I want to test.
 
Finally it's time to get to the bench and consider some load data for LeverEvolution powder in the 45-70 and/or the 450 Marlin. I can't find a definitive place for this powder in any of the relative burn rate charts, but going by various manuals for calibers that list it, I surmise it falls somewhere between BL-C(2) and H-380. Probably somewhere in IMR-4895 territory. I plan to use this extrapolation as a reference for some starting loads. I know the burn characteristics are unique (supposedly), but I'm not sure how much this would affect it's behaviour in terms of powder with similar burn rates. I subscribe to Cleftwynd's comment about multiple powders being suitable in calibers for which there are no listings, simply because there has been no load development done in those calibers by the bullet or powder manufacturers.

In the meantime, if anyone has specific relative burn rate data for LeverEvolution powder please pass it along.
 
Thanks, Sask. Nice to have a chart that actually lists Leverevolution (I looked high and low for one). Looks like I pegged it in the correct spot on the chart after all. Since posting, I have read on-line where Hornady may not even use its retail Leverevolution component powder in its commercial loadings for 45-70/450 Marlin, but rather blends other propellants with it to produce a different powder. I may be spinning my wheels, but, off to the bench...
 
woodlotowner said:
Finally it's time to get to the bench and consider some load data for LeverEvolution powder in the 45-70 and/or the 450 Marlin. I can't find a definitive place for this powder in any of the relative burn rate charts, but going by various manuals for calibers that list it, I surmise it falls somewhere between BL-C(2) and H-380. Probably somewhere in IMR-4895 territory. I plan to use this extrapolation as a reference for some starting loads. I know the burn characteristics are unique (supposedly), but I'm not sure how much this would affect it's behaviour in terms of powder with similar burn rates. I subscribe to Cleftwynd's comment about multiple powders being suitable in calibers for which there are no listings, simply because there has been no load development done in those calibers by the bullet or powder manufacturers.

In the meantime, if anyone has specific relative burn rate data for LeverEvolution powder please pass it along.
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In the 30-30 AI, I have found LVR to be much faster than H-380 and BL-C(2), close to IMR-4064 in fact, but the thing is that Relative Burn Rate can vary quite a bit depending on the cartridge and bullet combination.

What I would do is make up several loads with IMR-4895 and LVR using the same powder charge, and IMR-4064 and LVR using the same powder charge again. Comparing the MV's will give you a decent sense of where it falls in the 45-70 and 450 Marlin.
 
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