Sitting there thinking this morning after doing some research on old loads.

Wouldn't it be nice if one of these powder companies came out with a powder that you could use to match the old HiVel #2 loads grain for grain.

I know HiVel had it's problems but for a while, almost dominated the rifle reloading market and there are bunches of loading data out there for it.

I think I shot one can back in the late 50s but it ws almost gone by them.

With the technology we have, how about a HiVel #2-2 or something without the bad habits???

Weigh in here on this felix./beagle

Beagle,
I was a big fan of the old Hi Vel#2.But I do believe that somewhere out there,there is a powder that is just as good,and cleaner burning,too.
I was an even bigger fan of Hercules Sharpshooter.All of my best loads in the 45/70 were with it.I nursed a can of it up to around 1980.I only used it in the Trapdoor,and only used it for serious shooting.Over time,I thought that the barrel was shot out.Then I discovered Alliant Reloader#7.With a red dot sight,the old barrel is just as good as ever;one hole groups at 50 yards are back.
There are a thousand powders from a hundred countries out there.You just gotta keep tryin'.
Frank

OK, I'll start a little early on my powder expose here and now. The early smokeless rifle powders simply had too much nitro(glycerin) without commensurate deterrent remaining at that point in time where/when the nitro burn becomes benificial in producing productive gasses. The end result was nitrided and oxidized barrels (before their time) as evidenced by premature cracks, which were/are caused by boolits vibrating hardened metal. The brits saw this first in their 303s after WWI, but nobody knew the whats, whens, wheres. So, in the late 30's or so, they (Nobel) cut the nitro percentage to be no more than about 10 percent and the problems started going away. Today we have deterrents that work, but most of them cheap enough cause other problems like gumming up the bores. Triple base powders are the real answer, but they are presently too expensive for the gain in velocity (in small arms). It's OK to have lots of nitro in pistol applications, because there is not enough total powder to get barrels that hot. So, to replicate the HiVels in totum, we have a long wait. ... felix

felix....Oh well, just a thought.

I figured as far as we've advanced in making powder, someone could come up with a workable substitute witout all of the problems./beagle

Beagle, the current version of 5744 has about 20 percent nitro and you might say it is therefore pointing in the direction of the HiVels. Use this powder only in large bores and in small quantity applications like was intended for this number. Not a hotrod powder! ... felix

Beagle,
I've got an unopened can of of Hi-Vel#2 sitting on the shelf, how bad do you need it? As far as the 5744 goes Felix, I've tested both the current against the some of the first available, and I'm glad we bought 32lbs of the stuff when we did. In a 50/70, the new version leaves big wet globs of unburned powder in the case. In any aplication tried so far the old MP5744 is the better of the two....Geo