30-30 Win & H-LVR

[Ranch Dog]

Last week, I shot my home cast C311-170-RF with Hornady's H-LVR powder through my RG3030 while I had it coupled up to my pressure trace equipment. I've always favored the Hornady powder product line and have had a pound of H-LVR on the shelf for about two years now, just never had the time to work with it. Part of the issue with testing it is that I have been shooting their BL-C(2) for about twenty years now as a result of some very extensive testing back when and have always been very pleased with its accuracy and performance across a wide range of bullets. With my move to cast bullets about 15 years ago, BL-C(2) made the switch seamless and I continued to pound the lead out of the barrel at jacketed bullet velocities.

I've also been waiting on the QuickLoad software to add the H-LVR but alas, not yet, so I decided to move forward. Without QuickLoad's help, I had to turn to the published data for this powder but overall, there still is little to go on. I did set up a sample of the H-LVR powder in QuickLoad with it's known properties, bulk density, as I felt that would be important. Still, the properties of the "bomb" are unknown so I was very careful to label this powder "H-LVR, DO NOT SHOOT!" as all it is providing is the percent of case compression with the variables of bullets and overall lengths for the various cartridges used. With the published data, using the suggestions for my bullet and cartridge overall length would not be valid in that I would not be using the bullets and OALs that Hornady used. I had to sit back and analyze the published data to see if there was anything that could offer guidance in determining a maximum charge. Even though I would be shooting this across the pressure trace equipment, I needed a starting point that would not damage anything including myself! My review of the Hornady data included not only the 30-30 Win but both the 308 & 338 Marlin Express, the 338 Federal, and the 35 Rem.

After analysing H-LVR, across the variety of cartridges, I found a common link. If you careful calculate case density with the exact bullet and overall length used in the published data, 105% case density is always the maximum. With the bulk density of H-LVR in QuickLoad and using my C311-170-RF in my RG3030 at an OAL, the max load of H-LVR should be 36.8-grains. This charged is based on 105% case density. This should also provide about 40.0K PSI based on my review of all the load data.

Starting 10% below that charge, I worked my way up to the calculated maximum and it sat exactly at 40.0K PSI. 36.8-grains provided 2255 FPS which is about 3% higher than what a maximum load of BL-C(2) provides with this same combination of bullet and OAL. The accuracy is not as good but some of that is related to the conditions of shooting the pressure trace equipment. Too much time is being spent at the shot making sure the equipment is ready to capture the data. To give the powder a fair shake, I will shoot it with nothing attached to the rifle. I've already removed the strain gage from the barrel and will get a bit more shooting done this week but H-LVR is going to have to be really good for me to make a permanent move from BL-C(2). Just been with it too long and have a lot of it left.

[pricedo]

The LEVERevolution powder was developed by Hodgdon under contract from Hornady expressly for the LEVERevolution line of ammo using the new soft-pointed FTX "Gummy Bear" bullets.

The factory LEVERevolution ammo using the pointed FTX bullets demonstrated greater ballistic gains (MV, trajectory) over standard FP ammo normally used in leverguns in the smaller calibers like the 30 WCF than it did in larger caliber cartridges like the 45-70.

I use the factory Hornady LEVERevolution 160 grain ammo in my Rio Grande in 30-30 and it is superbly accurate as is the LEVERevolution 325 grain FTX ammo in my Guide Guns..........we're talking < 1" 3-shot groups @ 100 yards.

Pretty darn good for guns that are normally considered short to medium range "brush busters".