Anyone used new IMR Target powder yet?

ontargetagain

Member
Joined
Sep 18, 2014
Messages
921
Reaction score
600
Location
North Central Ohio
I'm pretty lucky that in my area I have good access to powders and I enjoy trying many of them out. So far, Bullseye, BE-86, 2400, Unique, 700x, Titegroup, Universal, HP38, WST, WSF, Trail Boss, HS6, H110.

Some new IMR powders have come out and just wondering if anyone has experienced the IMR Target powder? I primarily load for 9mm, 38/357, 45acp, 44 and 45 Colt.

Thanks
Karl
 
Register to hide this ad
Have not tried them yet. For pistol I pretty much stick with bullseye, unique and 2400.

Did just pick up a can of 4451 to try on the rifle.
 
98% of my reloading and shooting is handguns and target loads , since the great powder shortage I am on constant look out for any handgun powder. At times , no handgun powder would be available. I have heard of of the new IMR them but have not seen them yet and will keep an eye out for them.
What I wanted to mention was Red Dot , I was looking for Bullseye, the ONLY powder on the shelf was 3 one pound containers of Red Dot .....I bought 2 , Great powder, a lot like Bullseye, I like it a LOT , looking for more...but found Tightgroup , HP-38 and 700X ...wish I could find more Red Dot .
Gary
 
I've tried Imr powders in the past, but always seem to find something that that shoots as good or better and cleaner for target handgun loads.

When I was saving my Unique, Red Dot made for an excellent 45 Colt replacement load.
 
98% of my reloading and shooting is handguns and target loads , since the great powder shortage I am on constant look out for any handgun powder. At times , no handgun powder would be available. I have heard of of the new IMR them but have not seen them yet and will keep an eye out for them.
What I wanted to mention was Red Dot , I was looking for Bullseye, the ONLY powder on the shelf was 3 one pound containers of Red Dot .....I bought 2 , Great powder, a lot like Bullseye, I like it a LOT , looking for more...but found Tightgroup , HP-38 and 700X ...wish I could find more Red Dot .
Gary

Red Dot is a very popular shotgun powder so any store catering to the sg loaders should have a lot of it as well as it's cheaper brother Promo. Same powder, no red tags, same data by weight.
My local guy has the new IMR line & I will get a # of Target to try in my 45acp & 9mm/40, minor loads.
 
I bought some and am currently testing it in 38sp. So far the velocities are pretty high compared to other powders and it seems to be clean. I am using Berrys Plated 158gr and my 38/357 test gun, a Ruger Blackhawk. I had to buy a new chrony so it is taking longer than I wished.

Promo is my primary target powder across all calibers. Cheap, works great and goes a long ways
 
Well I was able to pick up 1# of IMR Target today at local Cabela's and I picked up 250 Berry's plated 45acp HPT's (Hollow Point Targets) to also try out. Will be a few days until I get to the range to report back, will be shooting these in a Shield 45 and S&W 625 45acp revolver both.
Karl
 
Is IMR Target a ball or flake powder?

After looking at there loads online, not much difference then BE for target loads in 38 SPL 148 WC and 45 ACP 200 gr .
 
Last edited:
I have used IMR 800-x in pistols and revolvers in the past for full loads.....

but it does not meter well and is pretty bulky, however it works great
in a 38 1 7/8 inch with a 125gr for a maximum loading.

Works for 12 Ga. steel loads also.

Just have a lot of Alliant to burn up before I need to grab the new IMR pistol powders.
 
I'm using all kinds of powder......

Red Dot is a very popular shotgun powder so any store catering to the sg loaders should have a lot of it as well as it's cheaper brother Promo. Same powder, no red tags, same data by weight.
My local guy has the new IMR line & I will get a # of Target to try in my 45acp & 9mm/40, minor loads.

I haven't tried IMR in pistols, but i found out that I really like Red Dot. I've only seen one pound of BE 86 in my life.
 
I haven't tried IMR in pistols, but i found out that I really like Red Dot. I've only seen one pound of BE 86 in my life.

BE86 is regularly available online. Just need to oreder it with some primers to for economics to make sense.
 
***An update on the IMR powder from my use...........
For me clean burning and pleasant feel to the loads. Cases seem to seal well even in lower charges and come out clean. Nice amount of case volume fill in 45's. Metering for me in my Lee Perfect Powder Measure is not making me comfortable, I will get .2 to .4 swings which does not make me comfortable even though I load midrange and have the room the consistency is not appealing. But it may be time for a better powder measure too, always been thinking about the RCBS and maybe the new Lee Deluxe Perfect Powder Measure?
Karl
 
  • Like
Reactions: LDM
The real question is since this is Hodgdon's second answer to Bullseye (the first was Titegroup), can Target do anything Bullseye can't do?

One thing I'd like to know is if it's cleaner burning. Since BE uses low charge wights, it tends to be on the dirty side in my .38s. I'm thinking of trying American Select next for target loads. Does anyone have any other clean options?
 
***An update on the IMR powder from my use...........
For me clean burning and pleasant feel to the loads. Cases seem to seal well even in lower charges and come out clean. Nice amount of case volume fill in 45's. Metering for me in my Lee Perfect Powder Measure is not making me comfortable, I will get .2 to .4 swings which does not make me comfortable even though I load midrange and have the room the consistency is not appealing. But it may be time for a better powder measure too, always been thinking about the RCBS and maybe the new Lee Deluxe Perfect Powder Measure?
Karl

Thank you for the Update Karl. BTW, I have 3 of the Lee Perfect Powder measures and put them all in a box because I found that the only thing perfect about them was that they were a Perfect PITA to adjust.

I now use the RCBS Competition Powder Measure as my single powder measure and will recommend it very highly. The Micrometer adjuster make it very easy to change the volume to a previous setting so any time I change between calibers I can have my thrown weight dialed in on the dot within 2 or three throws. Since I'll use a powder like SR7625 for a variety of calibers this ability means I can load 9, then 40 caliber, and then 45 ACP by simply adjusting the micrometer setting. Note, I now keep a log of every recipe that includes the micrometer setting to it's real easy to change to a new caliber.

However I will note that with a large flake powder such as Longshot or Unique the Competition Measure is NOT any more consistent than the cheap Lee measure, so if you are using a poor metering powder then plan on hand weighing your charges. This is one reason why I load almost every handgun caliber I load using a powder that meters well. My Primary choices for handgun load are all Ball powders such as H110 or the Accurate 5, 7, & 9 along with the SR7625 and VV 3N37 because they meter superbly. However, I have used CFE Pistol to load 380 and even though it's a smaller flake powder it does meter well in the RCBS Competition measure. I would be curious to know if the new line of IMR flake powders are similar in size to the CFE Pistol, so anyone using both please post.
 
I too liked and used SR 7625 for many years , along with IMR 4756 . But they both were discontinued a couple of yrs ago . I have a fairly good supply of both but the day will come when they have been used up .
I found other substitutes that work well for me . I too am curious about the new IMR powders , still waiting for reports .
 

Latest posts

Back
Top