I have 3031 on hand and I'm just starting to reload this caliber. Does anyone have a 'secret formula' for 3031? I have 55 gn. Hornady FMJ SP bullets (the free ones - buy the dies, etc.). The AR platform is 1:10 twist. Any help appreciated. TIA.

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Mike Maher #283

You don't have a manual??????

9th edition Hornady lists start load 20.5 gr/2800 f/s, max load 22.8 gr/3100 f/s.

Mostly use either 4198 for that bullet weight.

I've used 3031 and mostly 4198 for 223 and 458 WinMag.
Work up your loads as each firearm is different.
With 1:12 twists, No.1V/40-55gr, and now 1:7 as well, Colt 6920s/70gr Sierras, looking forward to 300 yds asap.
Varget as well.

Love that old bow.
Wheels are bigger than OEM.

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Have Fun/Stay Safe

Get a Hornady manual at the very least and maybe a Lyman and a Hodgdon. You may want to compare 3031 with other suitable powders. Can't have too many manuals and they will give you some handy background for load development.

I have the Lyman and Hornady manuals but was hoping to get someone's sweet formula. I'm asking as this is a 'new' caliber and wanted to avoid the trial 'n error approach to building a nice load. All of this is for paper punching and not 'one-hole-groups'.

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Mike Maher #283

I have a 35 year relationship with IMR 3031. It is a truly amazing powder, and when powders were a different cost for each, 3031 was one of the least expensive.

The Remington Custom shop gave a target with each rifle they made. The groups were always tiny and always loaded with IMR 3031.

My experience tells me go to the your manual and go 1 full grain below Max. I have Hodgdon's Annual Manual (2019) in front of me, and it says Max is 24.6 and Compressed for the Speer Spire point (Closest shaped bullet), back off 1 grain and try 23.6. You didn't say which rifle you are using. If it is a bolt action Remington, I find they like the bullet seated Zero to .005" off the lands. If you are using an AR, load with the case mouth crimped in the cannelure. Try that and report back to us.

You will have good results with IMR 3031, but you can have just as good of results with H-355, H-322, Benchmark, WW748, and several others! You have to try to have terrible accuracy with 223 in a good rifle!

Ivan

ETA: Older designed IMR powders like 3031 really respond well to CCI BR4 and Remington 7 1/2 primers.

Thank you to all. Great insight. Ivan, that information is what I was looking for. I didn't want to start at the minimum and work up a half grain at a time. I'll double check my manuals and back off some and go from there. And, yes, it is the AR platform; Eagle and/or Colt.

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Mike Maher #283

During the last powder shortage about all I could find for a while was 3031 and ended up getting around 8 cans of it. And it shot very well, but metered like poop out of my Lyman 55 powder measure. I ended up scaling every load because the Lyman doesn't deal with stick powder too well. IIRC, I was loading about .5 grains off of a max 223 charge from either the 9th Hornady book or off of the Hodgdon load data.

I don’t use 3031 in 223. I remember doing it once and would have been with a 55gr bullet. When you get close to a factory dupe ( 3250fps/ 55gr )
you have to settle each load by tapping, almost compressed. That’s in a commercial 223 brass. In GI 5.56 brass you have less volume than that.

I've been handloading since 1965 and will say that I never gave IMR3031 a fair evaluation in anything. I briefly tried it with cast bullets in .30-30 and .45-70 (I think) many years ago and found something I liked better.

However, it used to be an immensely popular powder and likely a good one for many uses and probably could be today. The same can be said for Herco - a powder about as useful as Unique that you hear little about today. I would guess that very few of those that have gotten into handloading in the last twenty years have tried 3031 or Herco.

IMR3031 is my 'go to' powder for most standard cartridges as 223 and 308. I'm a paper puncher with bolt actions. I've also found IMR3031 very good with 17Rem and 30-06. Yes, metering is 'so-so' because of its' 'long stick' design. In the AR I've got test loads with 55fmjbt made up but have yet to test them.

My usage kinda mirrors yours. Never used either of the noted powders either but got a bunch of powders cheap a couple years ago and have used them both. 3031 is a useful powder in certain rounds. Herco has taken the place of Unique mainly cause I got 4 8 pound jugs for 30 bucks each.. I also got quite a bit (9 pounds)of 748 for 3 bucks a can...another powder I hardly ever used. Guess I'm good to go on powder for the 223 now