WARNING - 4955

[Calvin45]

A simple google search will find multiple other user reports of 4955 in particular being spiky, behaving strangely, and just all around being a bit of an odd duck to work with.

You speak as one with experience and just blanket statement assert I'm wrong about the powder and continue to discount the extraordinary amount of luck I must have had with EVERY SINGLE OTHER POWDER IVE USED. I'd like to know where on earth you get the idea that it truly is just coincidence that an experienced loader has two such incidents in his life with only ever the same powder and never with any other. I'm not dropping that side of this as well. Why is that not admissible evidence in this inquiry to figure out what happened?

And what has your experience with 4955 been? Not being antagonistic or combative, I actually want to know as I'm planning to sell mine off but hey, if there is a spot where it shines you'd care to speak to I'm all ears.

And yeah, I hope everyone can take away yet another reminder to slow down. It seems every major accident I can think of in this field and on this forum can be traced back to people either being in a hurry OR being distracted, doing too many different things at once.

Sorry if I was needlessly defensive in my previous post, my pride may have been showing . And as my former pastor used to say about preaching, "90 percent of it is reminding people of what they already know but don't do anything about…."

I guess that applies to a lot more than preaching haha.

 

[Mike Matteson]

I did wonder about that too but verified that it wasn't. Good thought tho.

As I mentioned, I had this happen once with a .300 win years ago and assumed I must have done something wrong. But it's never happened likenthis with any other powder in any other load where it goes from no tRouble to big trouble in such a short window. It's like someone who doesn't know how to give good instructions when you're backing a trailer or something haha

"You're good…you're good…keep going….oh shoot you hit someone's car…"

Except it's "you're good…you're good…keep going…okay you froze your action and popped a primer"

You haven't tried IMR 4831 & 4350 powders. Build a load in the cooler weather, then try it again in hotter weather. You's get the same thing. Not good especially if hot loads.

 

[Calvin45]

You haven't tried IMR 4831 & 4350 powders. Build a load in the cooler weather, then try it again in hotter weather. You's get the same thing. Not good especially if hot loads.

Lots of experience with imr 4350

 

[asd9055]

Lots of experience with imr 4350

The 300WBY Mark V was built and tested around the 180 grain bullet and IMR4350 more than 60 years ago. Still a good powder for me.

 

[Calvin45]

You haven't tried IMR 4831 & 4350 powders. Build a load in the cooler weather, then try it again in hotter weather. You's get the same thing. Not good especially if hot loads.

I have definitely learned the hard way about temp sensitivity when I started thsi. Some powders are only to have loads worked up in the summer haha. RL22 is the single most temp sensitive powder I've experienced. No close runners up even.

 

[Dean2]

4955 is Temp stable and has Copper cleaner in it. It is very similar to H4831 in burn and performance. Therefore it works well in most cartridges that like H4831, like your 243 with 90+ grain bullets. Off the top of my head I have used it in the 7 Rem Mag, 300 Mag, 257 Bee and the 300 RUM. It gave me good accuracy and velocity in everything but the one 7 Rem Mag. There the velocity was fine but I couldn't get it to group well, went back to H4831.

To be fair, I have heard many many people talk about how unstable/spikey Lil'Gun is. The internet is replete with hundreds, maybe thousands, of accounts of pressure issues. I have loaded and shot 10s of thousands of 22H, 221 FB and 17H at gophers, and never had a problem. However, if you load below min load it will act wonky, and if you don't respect the effect a small increase in charge or change in primer has in those small cases you could get a nasty surprise.

Same holds true of trying to light load a 7 RUM or 300 RUM. Not a good idea at all. There is no two ways about it, reloading takes a lot of thought and knowledge and you are definitely making good progress along the learning curve.

 

[Calvin45]

Fair enough man. And yes I've heard the horror stories about reduced loads in magnum, especially full length magnum, rifle cartridges. Never experienced that with my 257 wby or 300 win because I never thought to try doing that in the first place! What's the point of having a magnum rifle and downloading it!!!????

 

[RAGGED EDGE]

Calvin, your former preacher was a wise man.

 

[QuietTexan]

Same holds true of trying to light load a 7 RUM or 300 RUM. Not a good idea at all.

Kind of ironic you said 300 RUM there, considering it was sold with multiple power levels of factory ammunition. Downloading is an easy thing to do, just use the appropriate powders. There's book data to run 210gn bullets from 2750 FPS from a 300 RUM, and 2900 FPS from a 300 Win Mag. Same bullet in 30-06 can be loaded to 2650 FPS. Running the RUM slow is no problem at all, you can rstill get load densities of 90+% using the right powders. Trail Boss would probably get you down to 308 velocities

What's the point of having a magnum rifle and downloading it!!!????

The same points as not stepping on any cartridge - same velocity at lower pressure than a smaller cartridge with attendant benefits of better case and barrel life. Wider window of useable velocities. Sometimes bullet designs don't need to be/ can't be pushed as fast as the rifle is capable of but you can still run them without buying a different barrel. There are cons, mainly it always burns more powder than a smaller case would and you can't be scared of recoil, but to me that's not a huge deal.

300 RUM is very versatile, you can laser 110-125gn bullets at 4000 FPS and smoke varmints, you can lob 220 Partitions slower than a Win Mag for feeder hunting, or you can push 245s faster than almost anything else to shoot across canyons. All through one barrel without changing anything but the ammo. Great option as a back-up rifle to haul around because it might not be as good as something purpose-built but it can be made to do a lot of things well. 9 twist 300 RUM is about the most useful rifle I ever had. Only have one barreled right now, but a 300 RUM AI is on my To Do List. 4D even stocks the reamer!

 

[Dean2]

Kind of ironic you said 300 RUM there, considering it was sold with multiple power levels of factory ammunition. Downloading is an easy thing to do, just use the appropriate powders. There's book data to run 210gn bullets from 2750 FPS from a 300 RUM, and 2900 FPS from a 300 Win Mag. Same bullet in 30-06 can be loaded to 2650 FPS. Running the RUM slow is no problem at all, you can rstill get load densities of 90+% using the right powders. Trail Boss would probably get you down to 308 velocities


The same points as not stepping on any cartridge - same velocity at lower pressure than a smaller cartridge with attendant benefits of better case and barrel life. Wider window of useable velocities. Sometimes bullet designs don't need to be/ can't be pushed as fast as the rifle is capable of but you can still run them without buying a different barrel. There are cons, mainly it always burns more powder than a smaller case would and you can't be scared of recoil, but to me that's not a huge deal.

300 RUM is very versatile, you can laser 110-125gn bullets at 4000 FPS and smoke varmints, you can lob 220 Partitions slower than a Win Mag for feeder hunting, or you can push 245s faster than almost anything else to shoot across canyons. All through one barrel without changing anything but the ammo. Great option as a back-up rifle to haul around because it might not be as good as something purpose-built but it can be made to do a lot of things well. 9 twist 300 RUM is about the most useful rifle I ever had. Only have one barreled right now, but a 300 RUM AI is on my To Do List. 4D even stocks the reamer!

Good, value added clarification. You are right about the 300 Rum being versatile, and with the right powders has a pretty wide velocity range. I should have been clearer. Loading the 7 or 300 Rum at charges below the min published for that powder and bullet is a very bad idea. Using trail boss or other appropriate powder you can slow either down a whole bunch.

 

[Mike Matteson]

Any more I come across some different powder loads that look interesting. I go to who making is and check it out. First stop is it a double base powder. That generally stops me right there. 2nd I research the powder and read everything I can find on it. Mostly on how much it's temp sensitive. There isn't much out their either. Bits and Pieces show up here and there. I try and collect them and store them. There some newer powders out that are double based powder and claiming that they less temp sensitive. I gotten some of those powders in 1 lbs, and will give them a try in some point time.