IMR Hi-Skor 700X vintage powder score :)

[JKH]

Hey Guys,

Last weekend my wife and I were hitting lawn sales, of course I always keep my eyes peeled for anything gun related. We stopped at this place and first off I found an original can of Pyrodex 4F which was cool (got that for $1, just to have the can its a great deal!). Then while snooping around I see a steel drum about 14" high that is black and almost dismissed it, until part of the label caught my eye.

Of course as the thread title suggests it was IMR 700X, the guy at first said he couldn't sell it to me becaus it was black powder, derp! So I educated him on what it was and that he certainly could legally sell it to me, finally he says "okay, how much will you offer me?" So, being the typical reloaded (read hoarder) I said "how about 5 bucks?", he says "okay", I pay and run (well hobbled as fast as I can with my cane) to the car and got out of Dodge?

Cleaned it up at home, got the pull up spout to finally open and the powder is perfect The label gives net weight of contents as 12 pounds and with canister 15 pounds, I weighed it and there is 8.5 pounds in the can, yay! I can load a **** ton of cast rifle and pistol loads with that!

I will ill try to post pictures but for now can anyone give me an idea how long ago they sold powder IMR that is) in these steel drums? It looks like a miniature 55 gallon drum and the address for IMR is the old NY state address.

Edited to add; could this have been marketed to commercial loaders/reloaders? I have never seen larger than 8 pound canisters/jugs before but have only been reloading since 1984

[Budzilla 19]

I've got my last one from 1988, so I know it was sold to the public then for sure! BTW, that was my third can! We did a lot of trap and skeet back then! If you had your ffl back then, they were delivered for the princely sum of $96!!! Hahaha! Never see that again! You're right, looks just like a mini 55 gallon drum! I'm betting it's still good.

[Mauser48]

Awesome score!I just got a 5lb container of the old 700x for free not too long ago. It's great for cast loads in a lot of calibers, and 12 gauge. You don't have to use much of the stuff either, I use 3.4 grains in 38 special on a 158 grain swc. Good for light rifle loads too.

[runfiverun]

12 lber's were called keg's, a drum was 35 or 50 pounds.
I still have one of the 35 lb fiber drums [alas empty now that I took the last 15 lbs out of it] and have recently seen a few 50's.
and use an old keg [metal] that was full of red-dot as a trash can.
and another keg [cardboard with metal top and bottom] that was full of 231 as a used primer and bad brass catch-all
I remember when the 12 lb kegs were under 100 bucks and I thought that was too much.
a case of shot shells was also 500 count, not the 'flat' [half case] of 250 they call a case now.

[Hardcast416taylor]

What`s that old saying about the grass was greener yesterday than today? The older I get the better I was!Robert

[Went2kck]

I have 2 700x kegs. One is almost empty the other is unopened.

[JKH]

Thanks for the info guys!

I just started loading for 12 gauge a few years back, and only then for buckshot and Lee slugs, mostly to have a bunch for just in case.

I am still working on a jug of 10B101 and have been trying it in pistols, it's a pain to get consistent loads using small scoops (heck, it's a pain in general to measure! But better in large scoops for rifle) so I think this 700X is going to load a lot of .45ACP, 9MM and .380
Anyone have any pet loads for those calibers they care to share? I will use t primarily with an as cast 240 grn truncated cone Lee boolit for .45 and an as cast 120grn boolit in 9mm

[Mauser48]

I dont have any specific data for you but I hear its a favorite in 45 acp. Ive used it in .38, 30-06, and 12 gauge. Excellent results in all! When I first got the powder I didnt know if it was good or not because it smelt really acidic, my new jug didnt. I heard someone say that the old formula smelt like that. I loaded up some rounds and tried them and they all worked great. As long as theres no rust flakes in it, its probably fine.

[JKH]

Hardcast416taylor,

Too true! When I started loading IMR powder was running about $7 a pound, 100 primers were about .50 cents and I was paying $7 to $8 for premium Sierra bullets�� What I really miss now though is all the awesome surplus rifle powder (WC846 and WC844, and Accurate data powder AA2230C), and all the cheap pull down FMJ's for blasting with .30 and .22, and Wolf .223 shipping to my door for a bit over a $100 and surplus 7.62/.308 for under $200 per 1K, every time I took my two boys out shooting we would burn up 500 to a thousand rounds and not feel like I would be broke for years to come, sad state of affairs we are in!

[Landy]

I think this 700X is going to load a lot of .45ACP, 9MM and .380
Anyone have any pet loads for those calibers they care to share?

It's not a pet load, since I've not tried it yet; but I did find this here in an old post for that boollit:

[Ken in Iowa]

700x was introduced in the mid-1960s.

Like you, I have obtained vintage partial kegs and cans from old timers. All of it was in good condition. There are quite a few people that swear by it for 45ACP.

[warpspeed]

well done!

[buckshotshoey]

Works great in a 9. Havent tried it with cast though. Just jacketed.

[cosmoline one]

LOOK LIKE THIS?go to hodgdons sight, they have a ton of loads for it for pistol & shotgun. Great for mouse farts too!
thread on mouse farts:
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...52#post3018352

[leadman]

I know there was a change in this powder as I had some also at one time. The old powder was called Hi Skor, the newer powders are Hi-Skor 700X and Hi-Skor 800X.

[jonp]

You can't sell someone else some black powder in NY?

[rbstern]

Works great in a 9. Havent tried it with cast though. Just jacketed.

It's my favorite powder for the Lee 358-125gr LRNFP in 9mm.

[JKH]

Cosmolin, them be the ones.

jonp, sure can but this guy obviously had no idea about explosives and propellants in general. Now large quantities may be an issue but no one here is going to have more than I believe 50 pounds without a license, I pick up one pounders at garage sales quite frequently, in fact I have bought more BP this way than smokeless.