IMR Target

PROPELLANT PROFILES

- R.H. VanDenburg, Jr.

This year, Hodgdon introduced five new IMR powders: IMR Target, IMR Red, IMR Green, IMR Blue and IMR Unequal. They are said to be cleaner burning, to meter better, and several environmentally unfriendly chemicals have been eliminated from their makeup. This latter trend was not started by Hodgdon, but it is nice to see the company join in by doing away with harmful chemicals. Hodgdon has, however, earned a well-deserved reputation for demanding, and getting, its suppliers to adhere to extremely tight manufacturing tolerances. To handloaders, this means more consistent shot-to-shot and lot-to-lot performance. As we shall see, this appears to be true of this new line of IMR powders.

This introduction also helps to explain several Hodgdon moves that have taken place recently. If you remember, the company rebranded IMR-700-X and IMR800-X as Hodgdon powders, now called Hi-Skor 700-X and Hi-Skor 800-X, which were the original DuPont names. This eliminated any double-base powders from the IMR lineup. The company also dropped – for poor sales apparently – IMR-4759, 7625, 4756 and PB from its single-base line, clearing the way for this new double-base family of IMR powders. These new powders, as are most IMR powders, are manufactured at the General Dynamics-owned facility in Ontario, Canada. Packaging, testing and distributing is done by Hodgdon at its Kansas headquarters.

I decided to simply test the powders one at a time, from fastest to slowest, beginning with Target. This is a double-base powder with a nitroglycerin content of 38 percent. It is extruded and cut into very short lengths. Diameter of the kernels is .104 inch; thickness is .004 inch. Bulk density is .630 g/cc. Color is a dark gray. Labeling on its packaging hints at its usefulness in the .32 S&W Long, .38 Special, .44 Special and .45 ACP, although it has a much broader appeal than that.