For those who have used both, preferably in the same cartridge, please share any observations or differences noted.

Thank you.

Sako:

The first powder I started reloading everything with, was H 4895.. I was told it was the most versatile powder out there...

Well after a lot of use in a lot of calibers, I found it would make them all go BANG, but the accuracy was all over the map.. it was a tack driver with one load, and as accurate as a blind kid with a slingshot with another load...

Now it is my least favorite powder for those reasons...

IMR 4895 on the other hand has never disappointed me... In fact besides using it in smaller calibers, I use it a lot in cases where most folks normally run powders like 4350 instead... like in some of the 300 and 338 Mags..

Even in those, I find that IMR 4895 will be 100 to 150 fps short of max velocities capable for the cartridge when used with 4350, 4831 powders...BUT it alwasy more than makes up for it all with stellar accuracy...

So I burn LOTS of IMRs version and hardly any of Hodgdon's...the main reaosn is accuracy consistency..

My use of the 4895's has been mainly in 7-08's. I started out using H4895 and got excellent accuracy. Then I tried IMR4895 and it did good but not quite as good as the H type. I tried some of the ball powders and Varget but H4895 would always out perform them.
Strangely, I've tried H4895 in several other cartridges and it does very well but I could always find another powder that worked better.

They're both excellent powders and SO VERY close in burn rates.

I've used both in several calibers as well . One may out preform the other in any given weapon or caliber . Try additional loadings of different weights of projectiles , if the accuracy isn't there for a particular load .

Shoot Straight Know Your Target . ...

Hi everyone, this is my first post.

I'm new to reloading infact I have just reloaded my first lot of 38spls.

Just saw this post about IMR and H4895, I read in my Speer reloading manual that these 2 powders are interchangeable as their properties are almost identical. Would any of you experts say that?

BTW, I have the H4895 and I'll be using it on a .303Brit

Welcome 303man!

Use the front door and get a greater welcome... LOL

I would never even consider two powders of the same label identical if from different lots!

Thanks Seafire, and others for the glint I was seeking. I am sure that as always YMMV.

Hey 308Sako, I've used both too and found the differences similar to Lot-to-Lot variations within the same Powder. Probably shot more of the Hodgdon than the IMR, but it is a toss up.

Hodgdon has provided an excellent Down Load capability with H4895 which is basically "60% of any MAX H4895 Load found in their Manual", and anywhere inbetween. This way you can have Reduced Loads which have been thoroughly Tested by the folks that actually make the Powder. And the spread is wide enough that if you can't find an accurate Load in there, then it is typically just the Bullet being used.

I would not want to be without one of the 4895s.

Best of luck to you.

Funny, I have four types of 4895...H4895, IMR4895, military surplus 4895, and Accurate Powders 2495 which is suppose to be duplicate of 4895. In the lots that I have, I can hardly tell a difference between them. I use a chronograph and that is where I judge the differences.

Hot Core, and Starmetal... I think we all realize the value of the burning rate 4895 represents. I don't expect significant differences, just hoping the Extreme aspect of the H version offers something for the desert heat.

quote:

Originally posted by 308Sako:
...just hoping the Extreme aspect of the H version offers something for the desert heat.

Hey 308Sako, About the coldest it gets when I go to a Range is in the 50degs. And the hotest I've Hunted in is the humid "low" 120degs of the early season SC Lowcountry.

However, I don't know what the temp was with any of my "4895" Loads without going to the specific Loads. Then trying to guess if I used it during the "balmy" early season would be a complete guess because I Hunt with more than one rifle.

So, I just don't know the answer. If you do try the extremes, let us know how well it does for you.

Good Hunting and clean 1-shot Kills.

Well now, that brings us to this question: When it was all milsup, it was listed in the load books simply as "4895" but now it is supposed to be new manufacture and there is supposed to be a difference between H and IMR. And I have treated them as different. When I develope a new load, I am usually looking for accuracy first and don't use a Chrony.
Starmetal, you say the various 4895's all Chrony at pretty much the same velocity? Hmmmm?

Mil surplus 4895 was is H 4895 !.Now made to same specs. as old Mil Surplus which was never really anything but 4895 .

It's how Hodgdon got started selling powders .
Selling Mil contract over runs and pulled munitions surplus powders .

IMR is almost identical in " almost " every loading one could be exchanged for the other .

I'm with Seafire when it comes to IMR , I've had a bit better performance on a regular basis using it.

As some people swear by AA 2495 !.

On any given lot of powder things can change as most of us know all to well .

Shoot Straight Know Your Target . ...

All of the 4895's are surprisingly close to one another. I have never had particularly different performance from one versus another.

However, I would point out that their sources are surprisingly varied:

Original surplus (marketed by Hodgdon) was made by DuPont, at one of their facilities in the U.S.

The first Hodgdon newly manufactured 4895 was made in Scotland by ICI. Now Hodgdon 4895 is made by ADI in Australia.

The commercial DuPont IMR 4895 was made in the U.S. Then the powder division was sold to the IMR Powder company, who eventually moved production to a facility in Canada. IMR powders are now distributed by Hodgdon, and the 4895 version is still made in Canada, as Hillary would say, as far as I know.

I seriously doubt there being any practical difference in any of them in terms of response to ambient temperature. The Hodgdon "Extreme" label is, like so many other labels, more a function of the marketing office than a reflection of actual performance.

H4895 is a little faster than IMR4895.

I got 32 pounds of bulk military surplus IMR4895 that was faster still. I was more like H322.

I used it for everything, and it always gave me the best accuracy, but H335 ball powder always gave better velocity.

If there is no wind, Blue Dot can give better accuracy than the IMR4895 with light bullets.

for the extreme aspect, H-4895 seems to be a little more stable now though, it never did seem to unstable in the past. I haven't ever been one to try to wring the maz out of a cartridge. The best i have used for stability though is varger, 30 deg. to 10 deg and maybe~ 30 fps difference.

I've found them to have slightly different burn rates. 48 grains of H-4895 gives 2678 fps while a like amount of IMR-4895 gave 2713 fps and a like amount of the surplus variety gave 2714 all with 150 grain bullets out of my .30'06.

quote:

Originally posted by Joe Dean:
I've found them to have slightly different burn rates. 48 grains of H-4895 gives 2678 fps while a like amount of IMR-4895 gave 2713 fps and a like amount of the surplus variety gave 2714 all with 150 grain bullets out of my .30'06.

Unless you chronographed quite a large number of rounds on the same day and under the same conditions (including allowing the barrel to cool between strings), those velocities are so close as to be indistiguishable.