Impressed with Hodgdon HS 6

[Cosmic_Charlie]

Under heavier boolits for a given cartridge it really shines. Was shooting some 170 gr. boolits over 8.7 gr. of HS 6 in .357 and had excellent performance. About 1070 fps and nice groups. 11 grains under a 250K boolit in 44 mag was also a winner. And this powder meters much better than Unique. I ordered an 8lb. jug when I got back from the range.

[Iwsbull]

It has become one of my favorite powders, when I want less than top end loads, as soon as the pressure goes up enough to clean it up it is great. Low SD too.

[Hogtamer]

6.6 gr under a 124 gr boolet is a winner in 9mm as well as HV shotgun loads. Meters great too.

[MT Gianni]

HS-6 is one of the few powders that I rarely see even in prosperous powder times.

[ACC]

Under heavier boolits for a given cartridge it really shines. Was shooting some 170 gr. boolits over 8.7 gr. of HS 6 in .357 and had excellent performance. About 1070 fps and nice groups. 11 grains under a 250K boolit in 44 mag was also a winner. And this powder meters much better than Unique. I ordered an 8lb. jug when I got back from the range.

HS-6 is a great powder although I really liked HS-7. My brother loved HS-6 in his .327 magnum. Really tight groups.

ACC

[dangitgriff]

Where does HS-6 fall in comparison to AA9, TiteGroup, Unique, etc? I don’t have my book /burn rate chart handy.

[Conditor22]

[DougGuy]

Under heavier boolits for a given cartridge it really shines.

Keyword(s): given cartridge. Meaning, the smaller cartridges and heavier boolits seem to work okay, but when you get to 44 mag and larger, HS-6 powder is too fast to make magnum power with heavy boolits. Re: the very recent thread about using WSF in the 500 S&W, that powder at number 37 on the burn rate chart is WAY too fast for heavy boolits in that caliber, and HS-6 is only a tiny bit behind it at number 40.

If you are loading warmed over factory loads in 45 Colt, HS-6 is fine up to about a 300 gr boolit but it is too fast for anything heavier than that as the heavies need velocity to gain enough spin to stabilize in flight. You can't shoot a 340gr boolit from a SBH and hope for accuracy with fast powders. You run into the pressure ceiling before you develop enough spin to be accurate.

By the pics posted in this thread, there doesn't seem to be a standard system for grading burn rate so I will post the chart I used for reference in my comparisons:



HS-6 is a really good powder for getting into the "tier 2" power for the 44 Special and 45 Colt in the medium framed Ruger single action revolvers with standard boolit weights.

[USSR]

...there doesn't seem to be a standard system for grading burn rate...

Yep, pick your poison. I will only say, HS-6 is the hands down best powder for duplicating The FBI Load.

Don

[RU shooter]

Works great with upper end +p type loads in the 45 auto and 38 spl , not a good powder for low pressure work I'll use AA5 or unique instead for those applications

[Cosmic_Charlie]

I tried it because it's close to Unique in burn rate but meters much better. And I was not looking for hot loads. But a 170 gr. .38 cal. boolit doing 1100 fps is plenty good for many things, particularly when it is accurate as well. Looking forward to trying 250K boolits over 10 grains in my Model 24. Got 8 pounds of it coming so I will get to know it well.

[bluejay75]

For 38 special and 44 magnum it’s hard to beat. I’m using 12 grains as it gave better rifle accuracy than lower charges with 250-260 grained boolits in 44 magnum.

[Three44s]

Concur with about everything posted thus far.

I am a huge proponent of HS6 but never have considered it a full power powder in the 44mag nor advised with the heaviest bullets for bore size.

I have found useful loads in 9 mm autos, though I use more WSF there.

I have it in .41, .44 mags and .480 Ruger.

My most successful is the RCBS 250k in Mag cases and Mag primer at just about 12 gr (11.8) for 1066 FPS (4” barrels) S&W and 1176 FPS in my 7.5” RH.

What this combo does not serve fits in a pretty small box.

Three44s

[DHDeal]

If you've never used HS6 yet, it doesn't work in any straight wall handgun case with any cast bullets. It's a subpar shotgun powder only. It's dirty, inaccurate, smoky, ugly looking, and even the bottle it comes in is embarrassing. Please try something else for our safety! Just say No!

To those of us that have and do use it (we're crazy BTW) we need to keep mentioning my examples above....

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

If you've never used HS6 yet, it doesn't work in any straight wall handgun case with any cast bullets. It's a subpar shotgun powder only. It's dirty, inaccurate, smoky, ugly looking, and even the bottle it comes in is embarrassing. Please try something else for our safety! Just say No!

I agree, I'll stick with Win 540 instead

[USSR]

Originally Posted by DHDeal View Post
If you've never used HS6 yet, it doesn't work in any straight wall handgun case with any cast bullets. It's a subpar shotgun powder only. It's dirty, inaccurate, smoky, ugly looking, and even the bottle it comes in is embarrassing. Please try something else for our safety! Just say No!

I agree, I'll stick with Win 540 instead

For those who don't know, W540 and HS-6 are one and the same.

Don

[Tripplebeards]

I just bought a pound of it to try with a tier 2 load for my 45 Colt and I will also double duty it for 9 mm cast.

[1I-Jack]

Hate the stuff. u

[1006]

I like HS-6, and have had good luck with it in 300BLK, plated 150 grain bullets, running about 1350fps in my bolt gun, 9mm major-off the charts 125grain loads over 1350fps in once fired cases, and 38 special +P loads with heavy 160grain cast lead loads. It has not been any dirtier than Bullseye, Unique, or certainly Red Dot. You do have to run it at the high end of pressure to get the cleanest burn, I use a small rifle or magnum primer most of the time. It is also more accurate at the high end.

[dangitgriff]

1006, TiteGroup runs very dirty/smoky in my 38 special loads...maybe I should add a touch more powder.