Printable View
I've used International to load .380's and was impressed with it. Gonna try it next in .38 Special. Keep it away from any high pressure cartridges tho', like 9mm, .40SW, or any of the magnums. Hodgdon's doesn't list any handgun loads because the powder is allegedly peaky and they don't trust it. Keep it under, say, 20000 psi and you should be fine.
Bob, I have the Hodgdon Cowboy Action Manual that Lathesmith mentioned. In it they give data for .38 Special with 158 grain LSWC only....Ray
start 3.0 gr. 798 fps. 12,400 CUP max 3.5 gr. 903 fps. 16,100 CUP
well ive ben testing a few loads in my new fn 45 i ended up at .57cc or 4.4 grains they extract and eject beutifully but i fear these may be a tad on the warm side unfortunatlly the next size disk down form .57cc is .53cc which stove pipes everytime btw for refrence 4.3 grains of bullseye just cycles the action but will dump hot brass on your arms ouch. so thats where im at for the moment.
btw the fn 45 is designed for tactical and combat use so its most likely over sprung and is prabably set for full house ball ammo and +p ammo
also i forgot to mention .46cc is plenty of powder to shoot from my S&W 625 and is pretty accuate for informal plinking
i think i might get one of the lee charge bars and try to fine tune the fn load.
RJ
Just got off the phone talking to Hodgdon. I got a hold of a powder tech, Mike, there and asked him why aren't there very many pistol/revolver loads for Clays International. He said, simply put, it's not good for those cartridge....can in fact be dangerous. He said for any of us using it to please stop and use a more suitable powder. About the cans that did at one time have some limited load data, well those were early and now do not come with data. He said the only data is some of the cowboy loads. He made note that those loads are in large volume cases. This powder is not good, possibly dangerous in small pistol cases. He said in shotguns you have two things in loading, one is the cases have high volume, and two you have the shock absorbing affect of the wad/pistol column. These two things control the fast and high pressure peak for this powder. Those two things are missing in small pistol cartridges.
Don't use it for pistol cartridge loads, find another powder.
Joe
well illut an update in'ive been working up some loads for my revolver and my new fn-45 i did get enough energy to cycle the slide on my fn but i suspect it may be just a hair on the warm side only prblem is the next cavity down on my powder messure is a little to low so i need to get an adjustable charge bar. although i may just be paranoid i mean this thing was meant for full house +p ammo. ihad to use just shy of a full charge for bullseye for 230 ball to get my 230 tc's to drop them in a neat little pile 2 feet from my feet.
the revolver ate everything just fine and the rounds were droping out with just a hint from the ejector rod. just like it should be
opps just reposated what i already said
I tried Universal Clays when it was new but not International. My limited reloading notes from the time indicated it was OK.
If you are interested in a shotgun powder that does well in 45ACP, try Winchester Super Field. It gives GI performance with 230gr ball with a little headroom to spare, burns clean, and meters very well. It might be a little slow for cast applications, though I haven't tried it for that (yet).
-HF
I thought I just recently say in the new Hornady Reloading Handbook 7th Edition a load using hodgdon International for a 45 ACP load. Does anyone have it that can verify the info?
Old post but I thought I would add a bit of information concerning my shooting with International in my 380 Auto (Taurus 738B TCP) and 9mm Luger (Taurus PT111 Millennium Pro) with my 100 and 135-grain bullets respectfully. In a nutshell, outstanding performance!
I compared the AS50N properties in QuickLoad against the actual properties of the powder on my bench. It is the same. Then I used the software to generate the data specific to my firearms and bullets. The tested results matched the predicted results so I'm please with the powder. When compared to Clays, HP-38, HS-6, TiteGroup, Universal, and Unique; I suspect it will be the powder of choice in both of these pistols. The ES and SD are higher than the other powders, but the groups on paper are tighter and the velocity matches or slightly exceeds the best performing powders in the group.
Here is a couple of targets shot at 5-yards, standing in a self defense stance.
http://www.ranchdogoutdoors.com/Fire...tional/036.jpg http://www.ranchdogoutdoors.com/Fire...tional/033.jpg
The target on the left is the 380 Auto was shot with my TL358-100-RF. The 3.6-grain load produced 892 FPS, with QuickLoad estimating 16.8K PSI. The group measured .98". The target on the right was shot with my TLC356-135-RF. The 3.3-grain load produced 946 FPS with QuickLoad estimating 26.6K PSI. The group measured 1.07".
With a bit of shooting, I think I can tighten them both up and make a ragged hole at this distance in the offhand stance. I did change the PT111 sights out today from the Heinie Straight Eight to the Heinie 3 Dot and I believe that will help quite a bit.