I heard a rumor that SR 4759 powder will be discontinued in the near future. Anybody have the sraight, ungarbled word? If so,I'd better stock up, as it's the best powder I've found for cast bullets in rifles, and I shoot a lot of cast bullets.

Seem to remember that back in the 1960s they discontinued it but brought it back again after a few years.

It has been announced that it will be discontinued.

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Old paratrooper in NC

Hodgdon's, the current distributor of the IMR line of propellants, has announced that they will be discontinuing the following numbers:

SR 4756

SR 4759

SR 7625

PB

If you want more information I would suggest contacting Hodgdon's. If there is enough negative feed-back they may re-consider!

Yes, production will be stopped.

I am dismayed because it is the best powder to do what it does. Like the A-10 Warthog airplane, I hope that they realize that it would be in everybody's interest NOT to retire such a product. Anybody know any close substitutes? 2400, Unique? The trouble is going to be finding data for these.

I also enjoy very much reduced 4895 loads, but I can't get down to the velocity that SR 4759 does.

For years, I've used SR 4759 with cast rifle loads. However, I doubt I'll miss it. Depending on the cartridge, I've found at least one of these three powders will adequately fill the 4759 role: Accurate Arms 5744, Alliant Reloder 7, or Hodgdon 4895.

4759 was discontinued once before and then brought back into production. I don't hold any hope for the 3rd coming though.

I like it just as I like 7625. I shoot a lot of that in low pressure 12ga loads.
There's a substitute somewhere in all those multiple listings of powders that are mfg'rd today if you can stumble accross any for sale.

Two of the powders have been a problem child.........

SR4759 is a great low pressure, high volume powder
for reduced loads but I guess they think there are enough
"New" powders out there to replace it.

At least they have given us a years warning...........

It has been "discontinued" at least twice in the past (that I am personally aware of) but this time, the factory that makes/made it has announced that they will no longer manufacture it. Hodgdon just markets it, and if it isn't being made, they have none to market.

4759 has the rather unique combination of position insensitivity, bulk, and lack of propensity to ring barrels in old soft steel barrels that makes it ideal for schuetzen rifles like the old 32-40, for which I have used it in literally thousands of rounds in competition over the last 20 years. It will be sorely missed after I use up the 8-10 pounds I have on hand (i think.)

Froggie

What are some of the new powders? Is there anything like it out there?

From what I read it's St Marks who decided they didn't have the room in their manufacturing schedule to continue producing those powders.

Hodgdon further claims there are other powders in their line that will do as well or better than the SR powder line. (not that I agree) They claim Trail Boss is the substitute for SR4759 for loading cast bullets in rifle cartridges. (sorry, I like SR4759 much better thank you!)

Big shakeups over at Hodgdon. If you look at the IMR and Hodgdon sites you will see some changes. They left the SR powders on the IMR site, I'm guessing because they will be gone at the end of the year, but all the other shotgun and handgun powders are gone and now in the Hodgdon catalog. Luckily they didn't mess with the Winchester line. (YET)

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Freedom is never free!!
SWCA #3437

While they are cutting back..............

will they drop one of the w231/HP-38
or one of the 296/H110 bottles from the list

and just stock two jugs instead of four ?

Never know what they will try next................

Probably not, why trash a trademark that is very valuable? (Winchester)

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Freedom is never free!!
SWCA #3437

I picked up 2 lbs of 4756 (see post) and was very unhappy at first till I posted my problem on this forum. IMR/ Hodgdons site show loads that wouldn't cycle my Sig 226 even at max 5.2 grs I had to go to 6.5 loading 115gr 9mm rn to get it to function . I don't like to go over max but it works great now, yes I still have all my fingers. Even when I had manually chambered the shots it sounded more like a 22
Once I use all of the 2 lbs I have 4lbs of Power pistol and one lb of titegroup to use

It works pretty good for large capacity pistol cases too! I use SR-4759 for .44 Spl. and plan to see how it works for my .500 Magnum. Reports indicate that one can basically "volume out" a case with 4759 and still be within safe pressure margins.

I'm a fan of SR7625, in 40 and 45 ACP loads it provides soft shooting moderate velocity loads that feature a distinct reduction in muzzle flip. Not really sure why but in comparing my SR7625 loads to Federal Champion loads that feature identical bullet weights and velocities the reduction in muzzle flip with the SR7625 loads is quite noticeable. My hunch is that SR7625 builds pressure in a smoother manner and this results in a reduction in the slide velocity but that is just a guess. So I really hate to see it being discontinued. However, with 19 lbs of it on hand I'm fairly well set for 3-5 years.

However, from one viewpoint SR7625 is extremely position sensitive in the 38 special. My one and only trial loading 38 special with SR7625 showed a velocity swing of 300 fps depending on how the barrel was pointing prior to firing. Point the barrel down and the velocity was only 400 fps, point the barrel up and the resulting velocity was 700 fps. The good news is that this issue led to me trying out Vihtavouri 3N37 for 38 special and this is a fantastic powder for 38 special. It's clean shooting and quite accurate so it's probably going to be what I use to replace SR7625 when I finally run out. About the only possible negative to the 3N37 is that it does produce loads at the higher energy end of the chart but in spite of that I've found it to be somewhat soft shooting.