IMR-3031

Approaching a Century and Soldiering Onward

- Terry Wieland

In this age of fascination with DNA and tracing our ancestors, it’s fun to do it with gunpowder. In fact, with some you can trace not only the family tree of the powder, but also the various companies that produced it down through the years. IMR-3031 has been a stalwart in the gunpowder lineup since the 1930s, which is a good lifetime for anything, but it’s not showing its age and there is no sign it will be joining the “discontinueds” anytime soon. Good old “3031” is just too useful to let go.

The first edition of Cartridges of the World was published in 1965. It was a monumental effort by author Frank C. Barnes, and became a handloading cornerstone through the following decades. I can’t count the hours I spent poring over every entry, when I should have been studying something “important,” like trigonometry.

Frank Barnes, being a shooter, wanted to keep old rifles shooting so, along with the factory ballistics of each cartridge, he included loading data with modern powders. One impression I had then was just how many cartridges, new and old, black-powder and smokeless, could be loaded to respectable levels with just one powder: IMR-3031. Even when there was a better option – with 4895, say, or 4831 – Barnes often included a 3031 load as well.

A quick flip through the latest edition of Cartridges of the World 16th Edition indicates that while the number of cartridges has mushroomed, no equally versatile powder has come along to displace IMR-3031. Loads are still listed for many cartridges. In more than 50 years, it has lost none of its usefulness.