Well, I’m looking to test out some 168ELDM and some 178ELDx in my 30-06 using some H4831SC. Has anyone used this combo?

Hornady lists some powders but not this one and I can’t find the info on this combination on the Hodgdon site. Is there one in the list below that you would find to be close to the equivalent?





Basically wanna make sure I stay under the max load, to find the sweet spot.

Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

George, I load 178 ELDX for my son's Browning 30-06. The best load I have developed is 58.2 gr H 4831. That is on the low end of the range, but is what his gun likes. I think the max is 62gr.

AA2700, H4350, and IMR 4350 are mainstays for the 30-06. At this point after 20 years of loading I only use manuals for guidance. I use non suggested powders for my rifles based on burn rate. Since it lists Superformance data and H4831 is slightly slower I would start at 5/10 of a grain lower and work up. This has worked very well for me it’s how I found an amazing load for both my 220 swifts shooting 85gr RDF and 88 ELD M. Best part is Not only is it accurate. The older one has nearly 1900 rounds and it still shoots half moa out to 1100 yds.

Go to http://www.hodgdonreloading.com/ and enter the cartridge and bullet weight. The specific brand of bullet will not matter much and it will give you starting and max load.

I had best accuracy with 4350 burn rate powders with those bullets in mine. I was using IMR 4350 at the time.

Great feedback so far. Thanks!

I also have access to some RL16. Was leaning towards the H4831SC, but I am down to experiment.

The reason why you don't really see much data on 4831 with the 30-06, is because it's almost too slow burning for that combination. Running the numbers, if you max out the pressure, you are at 111% case fill and about a 93% burn. This would be a VERY compressed load with a lot of unused powder. Unless you dial the load down some, you will not reach max velocity with that combo. But it will certainly work if you want it to go bang.

Thanks! I just ordered some H4350 and plan to give that a go. Might twist some up with what I got now to make it go bang, in the meantime.

I agree with the above. H4350 is a much better powder for the 30-06.

I've tried H4831 with a number of bullets, since I had a lot of it and wanted to simplify my powder inventory.

I've never gotten it to work nearly as well as H4350. Just something special about H4350 and the 30-06.