Is 820 really aa#9 ?

[mainiac]

I finally found a load that will shoot 1.5 inch@25 yards in the blackhawk, and 1.25 @ 50 yards in the rossi .357 rifle . It uses the 358156 and a stiff load of aa#9 that i have had for 15 years or so. Wouldnt you know it,, ive run dry!!!! Want to know if the 820 is the same thing? Id rather buy this,than pay 116 bucks a keg for the #9. BTW, what ever happened to accurate powders being the cheapest powders you could buy years back, and now its the same as everything else? thanks,

[454PB]

I use my lot of WC820 the same as #9, although when visually compared side by side, it has a different appearance. I loaded up some .454 ammo with identical charge weights of WC820 and AAC#9, then shot groups from a wrist rest across my chronograph. Results were an average spread of less than 70 fps and same point of impact. I now use WC820 as AAC#9.

[Buckshot]

................I don't think they're the same powder. They're just similar. Both are designed as case filling powders for high pressure pistol type cartridges. In WC820's case it was the powder for the 30 M1 carbine. I'm not sure what's left available labeled WC820. There were a couple lots around and Hodgden bought a bunch and sold it as H-108. SO was new production and some was PD (Pull down).

...............Buckshot

[Marlin Junky]

I compared AA#9 side-by-side with my lot of WC-820 in the 30-30 while using RCBS 30-180FN at 195 to 196 grains checked and I have found no significant difference over the chronograph when burning 15 to 16 grains of each. Under these conditions, the two powders were interchangeable.

MJ

[BCB]

mainiac,
My lot is #47320 and it shoots absolutely the same as several 8-pound kegs of AA#9. I compared it using a chronograph. If the WC-820 and the AA#9 are sprinkled side-by-side, I can't tell the difference. This sort of disagrees with what Buckshot said, but with just my eyes (not using some type of magnification) they absolutely appear the same. They meter the exact same weight through my RCBS or Lee powder measurer. Good-luck...BCB

[frank505]

when aa powders started marketing powders in large quantity. Claude Sonday purchased quite a lot of the 13 million pounds our government sold a surplus. maybe now it a different powder with about the same burn rate.

[mike in co]

CLOSE BUT NOT THE SAME. one must work up. my lot of wc820(16 lbs) is slower than my lot of aa9(16lbs). it takes aproc 2gr more wc820 to match my lots of aa9. both were cheap, the 820 cheaper. the good news is that when i need to fill a case i use wc820, and if i'm running out of case volume i can use aa9.

as a side note i shot a 44 mag pistol match on sunday. i use a lbt280 plain base boolit , ww water quenched. i'll clean the cylinder, but after two matches...NO LEADING!

[Marlin Junky]

BCB and I have the same lot of 820.

MJ

[Lloyd Smale]

there are just as many lot to lot variations with aa9 as there is with wc820. I had batches of aa9 that appeared differnt then others. Keep in mind that aa9 is nothing more then repackaged surplus powder itself.

[454PB]

I took a picture of the two powders side by side. Kind of hard to see here, but WC820 looks almost like finely ground black powder, where AAC #9 is a lighter grey color. My lot is 47323.

http://www.castboolits.gunloads.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=2416&stc=1&d=1164250979

[mike in co]

there are just as many lot to lot variations with aa9 as there is with wc820. I had batches of aa9 that appeared differnt then others. Keep in mind that aa9 is nothing more then repackaged surplus powder itself.


i think it is more correct to say that aa outsourced the powder requirements. this lead to lot variation.

[Lloyd Smale]

Mike i was told that accurate arms got there start by repackaging surplus powders and that aa9 and wc820 are one in the same as is aa2 and pr200. If you look at the powders AA sells there is or has been a coresponding military surplus equivelent to about all of them. I can state from my own eperiences that ive had at least three different lots of wc820 and each has had a slightly different colar to them and i have two jugs of aa9 and they both are slightly different colars. They all burn pretty close to the same But i never push max loads with aa9 or wc820 because the results are sometimes not repeatable and can cause pressure problems. powder measure drops of all of the lots are so close in weight as is aa9 that theres vertualy no difference in the powders except for lot variations in burning speed and thats pretty slight too.

[Mugs]

I have 16 lbs. 820 repackaged as H-108 & 8 lbs. AA#9S. Loaded in 30 car. with 170 gr. boolit they are within 2 fps. of each other.
Mugs

[Lloyd Smale]

as mugs has stated the h108 is just another wc820 repackaged by hogdons. Ive shot a couple kegs of it up and id lump it right in with the other two.
I have 16 lbs. 820 repackaged as H-108 & 8 lbs. AA#9S. Loaded in 30 car. with 170 gr. boolit they are within 2 fps. of each other.
Mugs

[tall grass]

Is Ramshot's Enforcer working out the same as W820 or AA#9 for anyone. I've bought a pound but haven't had a chance to try it yet.

Jim