IMR White Hots

History of IMR

The history of IMR Legendary powders actually begins in 1802 when a young E.I. DuPont, who was forced to leave his native Paris during the French Revolution, built a black powder plant in Delaware. The plant was located on the former 95-acre Broom Farm. The farm was actually purchased under the name William Hamon, a friend, because at the time E.I. DuPont was not allowed to buy land until he became a U.S. citizen.

By the mid-1840’s the Gold Rush and industrial expansion ushered in the need for a better explosive than black powder. The twin 1845 discoveries of nitrated cotton and nitroglycerin began the transformation to a new explosives future. IMR powders started in 1892, ushering in the transition from black powder to smokeless powder. The earliest powders were designated “MR” meaning “Military Rifle”. These powders were numbered and ranged from MR#10 through MR#50-1/2. In the 1920’s an improved version of the powders were introduced. These “Improved Military Rifle” powders carried the “IMR” title in front of a four digit number.

Compared to modern standards, the calibers of the time were suited to faster burn rate powders. Thus the first of the “IMR” series of powders are on the faster end of the burn rate scale. The initial IMR powder was IMR4198, produced in the early 1930’s. This was followed by IMR4227 in 1934 and IMR4895 in 1941 (IMR4895 was the standard for military 30-06). Advances in ordnance drove the need for slower burn rate powders. In 1942, IMR4831 was developed for 20mm cannons. This was the slowest burn rate powder of its time. Following very quickly was IMR5010 for the 50 caliber Browning machine gun cartridge.

Originally, IMR powders were built in a facility at Carney’s Point, in New Jersey across the river from the black powder operations. This plant, built in the 1880’s, was a key provider of gunpowder to the U.S. military and its Allies during World War I. As the U.S. moved out of the Depression and headed towards World War II the need for increased capacity was satisfied through the construction of additional powder plants modeled after Carney’s Point. Amazingly, these plants in total shipped up to 1 Million pounds of gunpowder per day during World War II. In total, 2-1/2 billion pounds of smokeless powder was manufactured in these plants during the War. One of the locations of the newly constructed plants was Valleyfield, in Canada. This plant continues to be the primary supplier of IMR Legendary Powders today.

IMR powders maintained a competitive market position through the 1950’s in the reloading smokeless powder business. The company recognized the surge in the reloading market and produced their initial handloading guide in 1961. It was a modest effort limited to shotshell reloading. The 1960’s marked a very active reloading period with the invention of plastic shotshells and one-piece plastic wads. IMR introduced “Hi-Skor 700X” for target shotshell reloading in 1963.

The slowest burn rate IMR powder, IMR7828, was made available to reloaders in 1985. Prior this powder was only sold to commercial ammunition companies. The demand from reloaders for powders up to the task of modern cartridge and bullet designs brought about the availability of IMR7828. Today, IMR 7828 continues to be the standard for use in large-caliber and magnum performance rifle cartridges.

Hodgdon Powder Company purchased IMR® Powder Company in October 2003. Hodgdon Powder Company offices are located at 6231 Robinson in Overland Park, Kansas. IMR powders continue to be manufactured to the same exacting performance criteria and quality assurance standards that shooters have come to expect.

IMR truly represents Legendary powders – the IMR powders we reload today had their DNA established over 200 years ago. From World Wars I and II, to 1,000 yard benchrest competition, to your deer stand, IMR Legendary Powders are the standard all others attempt to follow.

50 Caliber - 50 Grain Equivalent

PURE POWER – PERFORMANCE

Fastest Loads – loads exceeding 2,300 fps
High Energy Knockdown – up to an amazing 2,600 foot-pounds of bone crushing force
Long Range Reach – White Hots allow the most from your rifle

PURE POWER – ACCURATE

Flat Shooting – less aim error with distance
Shot to Shot Consistency – shoot to the same place every shot
Dependable in Extreme Weather – Deer don’t mind the cold, neither should your powder

PURE POWER – EASY LOAD

Fastest Reload – patented Pre-Formed charges drop freely down barrel
No Fuss – why bother with measures and funnels in the woods?

Easy to Carry Hunt Packs – added convenience, one pack covers a day of hunting

PURE POWER – CLEAN

Clean Burning – forget about cleaning between every shot
Easy Clean-up – water wet patch removes all residue
No Strong Smells – so long rotten egg smoke and residue smell

PURE POWER – SURE IGNITION

Not Primer Specific – works with all 209 primers
Not Breech Specific – ready for use in your 209 ignition rifle.

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As of June 15th, i received Three boxes of the IMR White Hots to Test and Review in all of my CVA Inline Muzzleloaders. I will be testing the White Hots with both Thor Bullets and Powerbelt Bullets and will be building a Data log for the Accura, Accura V2, Optima, Apex and the Wolf. All the New Model CVA's out on the market today.

One of my main worries about Pellet powder is weather or not the weight is consistent from one pellet to the next. It is terrible trying to get the best accuracy when you pellet is anywhere from 5 to even up to 13 grains off from one pellet to the next. Pretty much impossible to get consistent groups from one range outing to the next!

I weighed Four Pellets *so far* and all Four were amazingly dead on! These pellets by WEIGHT weigh in at 33.2 grains on my digital scale. I was pretty impressed that IMR is able to get these pellets so consistent in weight... Other companies fail at doing this and accuracy will suffer if the weights are not consistent. I plan on weighing each pellet before i go out to shoot and will make notes if any of the pellets are off by a good amount. Any that are off by so much, i will pull off to the side and add to that pile as i go through the boxes. I think it would be interesting to see if those off weight pellets will effect my accuracy.

I have only had the IMR's for a handful of hours and have put 9 rounds through the CVA Optima with the homecast 360 grain Lee Minie conical and Two 50 grain IMR White Hots. Shooting off of my Sling Slix set up i was very surprised as how good i was grouping at 50 yards. The Pellets just drop right down the bore and you'll hear them clack down on the face of the breech

I fired Four shots without any trouble and on the Fifth shot i noticed some grittiness down near where the bullet is seated, I fired four more shots with that grittiness and had no trouble loading at all. This normally is caused by using hotter primers * I was using Winchester W209 primers* And so when i can find the Cooler burning Winchester 777 primers i will give those a try and see if that grit will be removed or not. Over all, the Accuracy, cleanliness of the IMR White Hots is excellent and Consistent.

Cleaning: I used Birchwood Casey's Muzzle Magic Foam cleaner and gave it Four sprays before allowing it to sit for 10 minutes to allow the product time to do its job. Afterward i ran One patch down the bore and it came out grayish/black as you can see from the picture. Pretty clean in my opinion for 9 shots with lead conicals. I followed up with Two more squirts of my cleaner and again, gave it some time to sit and perform. The next patch came out with barely any fouling so i dry patches and once the bore was dry, sprayed down a dry patch with Birchwood Casey Barricade to protect against rust. I am a big believe with the Barricade as it has been a fantastic product and does not leave me feeling light headed after i use it in a closed up room.

The powder after its been lit off leaves the classic big white cloud of smoke that we all love to see come rolling out of our barrels! Its the best part of shooting muzzle loaders if you ask me!

Pellet powder seems to have issues with either breaking off little chunks here and there or even just leaving a great deal of powder at the bottom of the canister. With the White Hots i have gone though 9 tubes so far and only Three of the tubes had a very small amount of powder. Loading them into my Roto Loader, they are able to bounce around a lot while walking to the shooting range out back and i have not noticed any of the pellets missing sections or even powder while i am putting a fresh load down the Muzzle. A very Durable Pellet that is clean.

Blow back - Pretty typical due to some primers being shorter than others, therefore allowing pressure from the barrel to blow through the breech plug and into the action of a muzzleloader... With the White Hots, i've noticed very very little fouling inside of the action.

As of right now, i believe IMR has a very good consistent and performing product on the market. I will be putting in an order for Powerbelt/Thor bullets and as soon as i get an assortment of bullet weights, i will begin testing on all of the CVA Muzzleloaders i own at the moment and will start collecting the Date for those of you who own the rifle and are needing info on what Powerbelt is the one to look at for starting out with.

Thanks again to Chris Hodgdon for supplying me and allowing me to Review the IMR White Hots in my CVA Muzzleloaders.
More To come!