Al-8

[Forrest r]

I was on the GI-brass website & saw they had this powder for sale. It is new production powder that used to be a pretty good mag powder when I used it years ago.

I have no conection with gi-brass in any way, I just thought I'd pass the info along being it's being sold for $39 for 6#.

[sargenv]

He apparently has a good stock of it too.. when the notice went out that he had a "limited" supply of Herco and AL-8.. the Herco was gone within 24 hours.. he hasn't had any AL-8 in some years.. till now.

[HamGunner]

I ordered powder from him today and he said he was running low on AL-8. Better put in an order before it's gone again.

[sargenv]

Wow.. that stuff seems to be going fast..

I've been trying to work up a major load for 38 super.. 10.0 gr under a 135 gr RN and I am making about a 166 PF..

I have enough for at least a year or two.. then I'll work up something else.. This stuff will help make nice cheap ammo if it all works out.

[HARRYMPOPE]

it works good for plainbase 30 cal rifle loads in the 30-30 and 7.62 x 39

George

[angus6]

Never used this powder, I reload 9mm and 28 super with lead 122gr TC and lead 147gr and 147gr plated , .45acp with 185/200 LSWC and 200 plated and 230 LRN and some flat based plated 7.62x39

Wondering if I should grab a couple jugs ?


Wow.. that stuff seems to be going fast..

not listed anymore

[BCB]

I found it to be fairly accurate with the 358429 and the 45-270-SAA in the 357 Magnum and 45 Colt respectively...

Doesn't meter very well though...

Lot #72198

Good-luck...BCB

[sargenv]

I'm not sure that it would work well with a light bullet in 38 super or with the limited case capacity of the 9mm.. I am nearing 38 super case capacity at 10 gr.. 10.5 should give me a reliable major with 135's, you should be able to get 147's to work with it though.. Being a magnum powder, I think it tends to like heavier bullets anyway. It seemed to be not so great with Montana Gold 124 HP's sized .355", one reason I switched up to 135 gr Zero's sized .356", I'm trying to build it up to the pressure it likes to work at. I stopped at 10.0 gr just because that's as high as I've gone in testing.. it produced an average velocity to get me 166 PF.

I can publish my 38 super results thus far if you like..

[sargenv]

Just checked, GIbrass is now sold out of AL-8.. that went pretty fast..

[shaune509]

Help me understand, is this old stock Alcan AL8 [20+ years old] or new run to AL8 specs?
Shaune509

[sargenv]

As I understand it, it is old stock... not like properly stored powder doesn't last nearly forever...

[sargenv]

So I gave up on the 38 super.. but I just picked up Speer #8 and it has several loads listed for 38 spl, 357 magnum, 41 magnum, two for 44 spl, and two for 44 magnum. It has no loads listed for 45 acp or 45 long colt.. seems to be too slow for those calibers. Speer #8 date of publishing I have is 1970.

[BCB]

I used from 9.0 grains to 11.5 grains of it in my 45 Colt (Ruger Blackhawk) with the 45-270-SAA boolit (283 grains)...

I used Blue Dot data...


Velocity was lousy from 616 to 763 fps...


I would have thought it would have done better with the velocity...


Accuracy was good for the 10.5 grains and 11.0 grains charge...


Good-luck...BCB

[sargenv]

It seems AL-8 likes heavier payloads (bullets or shot).. and enough room for the amount of powder it needs to make velocity..

[zomby woof]

I've used it with 30 Carbine

[HARRYMPOPE]

it is a good powder for low velocity plainbase loads in the 308 and 7.62 x 39.I burned quite a bit of it up 10 years back when i was given about 10# of it.

[hornady308]

AL-8 likes magnum primers. I use 13 grains with a 255 cast in the 45LC.

[kenyerian]

Here is a link to a Powder Burn Rate chart that has it listed at 78 between WAP and 800x. Used a lot of Al-Can products in the 60's and early 70's.
Really liked their primers. http://home.hiwaay.net/~stargate/powder/powder.htm. here is another link to a thread on cast boolits that discusses AL-8
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?84217-Anybody-remember-AL-8

[sargenv]

I found that the earlier Speer manuals have ample data for the AL series powders.. I picked up Speer 6-9 on Amazon and they all have the AL series listed for several calibers..

[Japlmg]

AL-8 is simular to Blue Dot.
You can use Blue Dot loading data (weight, not volume!) with AL-8, as long as you are not loading near max loads.
Gregg