Matt
Active Member
I’ve been working to get my 6PPC to shoot cast bullets.well I’ve been through several powders and landed on 4198. I was gifted a pound of 4198 by my good friend Shuz when he learned I was loading my last pound of it. I’m saving the 4198 for match shooting.
In an effort to use up other powders I settled on 3031 to experiment with. After some study I settled on a starting load of 15.0 grains of 3031 using a Remington 7 1/2 BR primer and the NOE 85 grain FP bullet. My extrapolation indicated I should have about the same velocity as my 4198 load.
To my surprise the report and recoil were very light, I saw a puff of some thing eject from the muzzle and my point of impact was 4 inches below my point of aim at 100 yards. There was smoke eminating from the vent hole in the action.
The case neck was lightly smoked indicating very low pressure. The primer looked like it was fired in an empty case. I removed the bolt and the bore was black and had un-burnt powder. It looked like I had fired a black powder cartridge. I pushed a dry patch through and the bore was bright and shiny again. The next shot was the same and touched the first shot. I repeated the patching and shooting 5 times. The result was a 5 shot 100 yard group that measures .341” ! I wasn’t brave enough to shoot each round without running a patch through the bore. Below are photos of the appearance of the patch and the group.
Is 3031 unsuitable for reduced loads? Do I need a heavier charge? I last saw something like this many years ago when trying to use 4227 in .44 Magnum. I never tried to solve the problem in .44, and used the powder in .22 Hornet and .218 Bee with complete satisfaction. My powder is 40+ years old but smells and looks good. Any thoughts or experience with 3031 or whatever is going would be appreciated.
In an effort to use up other powders I settled on 3031 to experiment with. After some study I settled on a starting load of 15.0 grains of 3031 using a Remington 7 1/2 BR primer and the NOE 85 grain FP bullet. My extrapolation indicated I should have about the same velocity as my 4198 load.
To my surprise the report and recoil were very light, I saw a puff of some thing eject from the muzzle and my point of impact was 4 inches below my point of aim at 100 yards. There was smoke eminating from the vent hole in the action.
The case neck was lightly smoked indicating very low pressure. The primer looked like it was fired in an empty case. I removed the bolt and the bore was black and had un-burnt powder. It looked like I had fired a black powder cartridge. I pushed a dry patch through and the bore was bright and shiny again. The next shot was the same and touched the first shot. I repeated the patching and shooting 5 times. The result was a 5 shot 100 yard group that measures .341” ! I wasn’t brave enough to shoot each round without running a patch through the bore. Below are photos of the appearance of the patch and the group.
Is 3031 unsuitable for reduced loads? Do I need a heavier charge? I last saw something like this many years ago when trying to use 4227 in .44 Magnum. I never tried to solve the problem in .44, and used the powder in .22 Hornet and .218 Bee with complete satisfaction. My powder is 40+ years old but smells and looks good. Any thoughts or experience with 3031 or whatever is going would be appreciated.