surplus powders for .44 mag

[tom barthel]

What's a good surplus powder for the .44 magnum with 265 grain+ bullets? I'm almost out of my 2400 and 296.

Thanks for any help you can offer.

Tom

[felix]

WC820 is the only outstanding one. 18-20 grains, depending on lot. For WC680 you will need at least 25 grains of it in the case to make it burn worth while. ... felix

[Ricochet]

Yep, WC-820. What I've got is pulldown stuff from Hi-Tech. They said it was equivalent to H110 or 296, but under a 240 grain lead bullet, 22 grains is all I'll shoot in my 7 1/2" Super Blackhawk. That gives a muzzle velocity of 1575 FPS, more than my long-favorite 25 grains of 296 gives, and I wouldn't go any hotter. It's more like Accurate #9. There seems to be a good bit of lot to lot variation.

[Ricochet]

For the heaviest bullets, WC680 might be an option. It's a good bit slower than 2400 or 296, more or less a Ball powder equivalent of 4198.

[Junior1942]

Here's some Chrony data with WC820 (n) in 44 mag pistol:

http://www.castbullet.com/reload/wc820.htm

[tom barthel]

Many Thinks guys. I'm planning a $200.00 + order for wc820, wc844, and imr 4895. You were a great help.

Tom :) :) [smilie=p:

[BD]

I have one of the slower lots of WC820 and I'm loading 21.5 grains behind both a Ballisticast 265 grain WFN design and the Saecco 265 grain sillywet design with excellant results.

I also load WC680 at 28 grains, (compressed), behind the Lee 310 grainer. This works but is a bit of a PITA to load.
BD

[Buckshot]

.............Junior1942, I enjoyed your testing of WC820n very much. Sure did a good job or writting it up. Especially the part about the Lee 'Soup Can':

I used a .7cc Lee dipper for ~10.1 gr WC820 (n). The photo on the right speaks for itself.

The data:

AV = 1480 fps; SD = 23; Group size = 5 in 1 1/4"

That was with the target flapping in the breeze, too.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In conclusion, I can only say one thing: WC820 (n) works well. Hey, there's something else I can say—I wish I'd bought 3 jugs instead of 2. I'll run out in a couple of years, and there might not be any more. . . .

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

[nighthunter]

Buckshot .... an easy remedy is to buy some more while you can. I know that I am going to.
Nighthunter

[Bigscot]

Are there any good surplus powders for reduced or plinking loads? I have my full bore hunting loads pretty much set but I would like to find a powder to use for plinking with a 200 gn Lee rnfp pb.

Bigscot

[mike in co]

WC820 is the only outstanding one. 18-20 grains, depending on lot. For WC680 you will need at least 25 grains of it in the case to make it burn worth while. ... felix


i'll second the wc820
my lot is slower than aa9, but with 16 lbs of aa9 and 16lbs of wc820 i'm set for a while.

[C A Plater]

Are there any good surplus powders for reduced or plinking loads? I have my full bore hunting loads pretty much set but I would like to find a powder to use for plinking with a 200 gn Lee rnfp pb.

Bigscot
Bartlett has some 105 that would work for this. Here is a quote from the web page.



#105 A flake type powder, which can be loaded using AA#5 data. This is one
of the first lots of #5 Equivalent as manufactured by Hercules in the
late 1980s. Seems to be faster than today's #5 ball-type powder.
Slightly faster than Unique, and slightly slower than Green Dot.
This powder is new.
$50/5# jug.

[Lloyd Smale]

i use a pile of pr200 which is accurate 2 in the acps 10mms 40s 38s and for light loads in the 45colt and 41 and 44 mags. Its been a very accurate powder for me. I just got another shippment of 24 lbs of it today.
Are there any good surplus powders for reduced or plinking loads? I have my full bore hunting loads pretty much set but I would like to find a powder to use for plinking with a 200 gn Lee rnfp pb.

Bigscot

[Bigscot]

I tried 11gns of Unique and the with the 200gn Lee rnfp pb in a rifle and is leaded terribly. Some of the guys at the range thought that Unique may be too fast and causing the boolit to strip the rifling. Would these surplus powders mentioned be in the same boat as Unique? That is too fast and cause the boolit to strip the rifling?

Bigscot.

[felix]

Yeah, that's a little warm, especially when the boolit is so short, and the throat so long as would be in modern lever gun. Drop down to 8.5 grains max of Unique, or better yet, why not try the GreenDot load of 7 grains? If that leads up, then drop down to 6.5 of that. If you are looking for a faster boolit, then go to the slow powders so you will get some automatic buffer behind the boolit. I typically shoot 20 grains of WC820/AA9 with a 200 grainer. ... felix

[MikeG]

I second the vote for #105 voiced by C A Plater. I loaded up some using 240 gr SWC over 11.5 grains of #105 - got around 1290 fps in my S&W 629, and accurate. I have also used WC820 with good results.

Note: I don't have my notes in front of me, so my loads are from memory - refer to published loads. #105 is a bit faster than AA#5 in my estimation.

Mike G.

[jcork]

I typically shoot 20 grains of WC820/AA9 with a 200 grainer. ... felix

That's good news. I cast up lots of those and was thinking about buying a jug of WC820 for some cheap shooting. I wasn't sure the Lee 200 would create enough pressure to burn the 820 well.


Drop down to 8.5 grains max of Unique ...

My Lil' Dandy throws that and it seems like a good balance in my M29.