I bought a can of H110 last summer and know I've used it without any issues in my 77/44 using Lyman devastators down to 19 grains of powder. Well, I loaded up 36 rounds of J words yesterday with it and headed to the range this morning. I did a ladder test starting at 20.7 grains of powder and worked up in .5 grain increments to 22.7 grains. I used hornady xtp's, a federal large magnum pistol match primer...like always, loaded to 1.587", and gave them a good heavy crimp with my Lee collet style factory crimp die.
Every one of the loads fired and exited my S&W 329NG's 2.5" barrel but barely recoiled. There was a lot of dirty smoke build up on my cylinder. The gun had a stinky smoke comming out of it like I was lighting 4 th of July snakes and it was spitting out unburnt powder all over the place. The spent powder was Yellow in color. I saved some for show and tell...
My cases were pin tumbled and a good three days before I loaded them up. I wouldn't think that ALL the primers were weak as EVERY shot reacted the same. My crimp was pretty heavy IMO and I've used the same crimp style on my devastators down to 19 grains of H110 and never had this happen. I called Hodgen and asked if the powder was bad. They told me the hornady 7 th edition manual was wrong (page 880) and that I should be loaded the 240 grain xtp's between 23 to 24 grains?
I know I used some of this powder last year with no issues. Could it have gotten, old, contaminated, or wet? Do I need to crimp harder on my crimp. I put ALOT of pressure on my crimp IMO like always.
The Hodgen rep said he's done the same himself with not enough H110 in the case. He said H110 is the only powder that will do this. I'm confused since I have worked the H110 from 17 grains to 24 grain with a 265 grain devastator and never had any issues with a 1000 plus rounds I fired out of it last year.
So what's your opinion? Bad powder? Too loose a crimp, or not enough powder fill? I would rather dump the powder and start over before I waste time with loading defective loads again. Hodgen told me it's likely not the powder but if I wanted it tested I'd have to send them loaded ammo. It would cost more to ship hazmat than to buy another jug of powder IMO.
I did load up a bunch of devastators with this powder a few months ago. I'm going to have to test them now. I'd hate to have this happen in a hunt.