More info wanted on Herco powder

[CGT80]

I have half an old 15 pound keg of herco powder. It is at least 30 years old. I loaded with it a little as a teen, but I am twice that age now. It seemed like it was very dirty, but I also used some cast boolits with nasty factory lube.

I searched and read for hours on the topic, but I still don't think I grasp what it is well suited for and how it compares to my other powders.

I am going to work up some loads for cast bullets, both plain base and gas checked, in 30-06. I found some other posts regarding that. I figured I would burn up this powder if I can find a good use for it.

Here is what I do use and understand better:

Red dot for 45 acp, 38 spl, 45 colt, 30-30 pb cast boolits, and 13.0 grains in the 30-06 with a 150 jword. It works well for light to mid loads. I haven't really tried it in 9mm or 40 cal.

Win 231 or hp 38= my favorite for pistol ammo, also light to mid loads.

Beye-limited use but worked in 45acp and 38 spl, small charge weights IIRC.

Trail boss for my light 460 mag loads and very light rifle loads.

A5744 is great for mid to almost full power 460 mag loads

SR 4759 ???? worked well for mid power rifle loads in 30-06.

H-335 for j words in 223

4895 for j words in 243 and 30-06. works well downloaded to 60% in 30-06 for a mid load.

h110/296 for hot 460 mag loads-can not be downloaded

I just wondered if Herco is similar in performance to any of my other powders or if it is better or worse for a typical use. Is it more bulky than red dot? Will it give more power/velocity than red dot?

In 45 colt, 6.0 grains of red dot doesn't take up all that much space. A 230 rn boolit moves around 700 fps from my x frame and works well. My light 460 load is a 270 boolit at 1000 fps. Mid load is 1400 fps with j words and a5744, but I am going to try some pb gas checks on my 270 SAA boolit. Will herco work for a mid level powder for this gun? I'm sure it will work in 45 colt, but I don't know if it is worth working up a load and where to start (I haven't researched my drawers full of load books for herco and 45 colt yet).

I have a 308241 pb 30 cal 159 grain boolit to run with herco in 30-06. I run the same one in 30-30 over 6.0 rd for 1116 fps average. I will shoot for similar speed in 30-06.

My other boolit for 30-06 is a 311413 gas check. I have read that it works well at 1400-1600 fps, but not any faster.

Thanks for helping out my curiosity.

PS. I don't load for shotguns, so that is out for the herco.

[Nobade]

Herco is actually a very good powder for cast boolit loads. Just think of it as slightly slow Unique. It basically does the same thing as Unique, but has a slightly more gentle pressure rise and loads just slightly heavier for the same velocity. I prefer it over many other powders for light to mid range velocity cast boolit loads in rifles. It is fairly bulky, though not as much as red dot. But it lights off easily and works fine in cases with a lot of air space. And yes, it works great in the 45 Colt as well as the 30-06.

-Nobade

[CGT80]

I was looking at Unique loads and had read that it is similar. Unfortunately, I have never used Unique, so I can only guess what it would be like, by looking at Unique data. I will try it in rifle loads and will refer to unique data for comparison when I do more work with it.

[runfiverun]

it is a slow version of unique lower pressure too.
I like 7 grs under a 158 in my 357's especially in my lever guns.
it does very well in the 44 mag too.
it's a good field type powder for shot shells too.
in rifle type cast boolit loads i'd use 1 grain more than unique, you'll have right bout the same pressure and slightly higher velocity's.

[shooting on a shoestring]

Herco is a great powder for .45 Colt loads that fall between cowboy loads and magnum territory. Its also great at top end .38 Spl loads. I've shot it in 30/30 and 8mm'06 with good results, but have moved to 4759 for nearly all my cast boolit rifle loads. If you've got 7 or 8 pounds and a .45 Colt, you're set! Gonna need a really good supply of lead!

[CGT80]

Thanks for the advice guys. I have 5 different test loads for for each of my two cast boolits in 30-06. Now I just have to go endure the heat one of these days to test them at the range. I look forward to seeing if any of these will be a good combo in my Winchester 54.

[RobS]

Herco is one of my favorite powders for my 45 cal shooting. I use it for 230 grainers in the 45 auto and use it for my 45 Colt loads and mid house Ruger Only 45 Colt and 454 Casull loads. It cleans up pretty well as the pressures hit 17,000 CUP give or take a bit and gets better from there.

[bobthenailer]

from personal experince Herco works well in top loads for the 45 acp as well as std pressure loads in the 9mm & 38 super.

[sargenv]

Herco is also a great powder for loading medium to heavy field loads in 12 gauge and shines nicely in the 20 and 28 for target and light field loads.. I use it for a light-ish early season 12 ga steel shot load utilizing the older Activ hulls.. 7/8 oz of 2's or 3's @ 1450 fps..

[Reload3006]

Herco seems to work just about the same for me in pistols with PB boolits as IMRsr4756. In shotgun shells I personally give the advantage to IMR but Herco is pretty good too. One of my all time favorite loads with Herco is 44spcl WWlp primer 9.0gr herco and a PB RCBS 44-250K boolit very good accuracy little recoil and just a joy to shoot in both a Browning 92 lvr rifle and a Super black hawk.

[sargenv]

It's interesting.. I usually rate IMR 4756 a bit slower and more equivalent to Blue Dot.. since they both list magnum velocities and payloads via lead shot.. If I were comparing Herco to IMR, it would likely be as a close comparison to SR 7625.

[pmeisel]

I have been searching older manuals for Herco data. I plan to start using it in 357 and 45 ACP.

[woody1]

Quite a bit of Herco data in Lyman's 47th. Regards, Woody

[sargenv]

I've also found data in the Speer #10, 11, and 12.

[CGT80]

Quite a bit of Herco data in Lyman's 47th. Regards, Woody

That is actually my favorite book. I wasn't sure how accurate the info was, and they don't list the same mold I am using. I have a total of 100 rounds of test loads waiting for a few hours of range time. I cleaned up the weaver 29s scope that goes on my Winchester 54, tonight. Now I will have an old scope, old gun, old shotgun powder, and some old school boolits. Heck, even the primers are 15+ years old. At least I am somewhat young, maybe even a kid for these here parts, at 32 years old. 8-)

[zomby woof]

I had a bunch of this powder. I tried very hard to find a good load for it. 38 spl, 357, 45 acp 30.06. I just have other powders that do the job much better. No more Herco for me.

[williamwaco]

Runfiverun + 1

It ( Herco ) is and has been my favorite powder for the .357 / .41 / .44 Magnum for 40 years.

[john hayslip]

I've got some old Hercules (now Alliant) handouts for their powder that will have loads for Herco in it. Send me a snail mail address and I'll send you one.

[twilson1118]

I have some loads listed in the third edition of the lyman cast bullet handbook, but did not see that mold number(s), seems to run for 308 and 3006 from 12.8 to 15.0 grains and pressures range from 30K to 40K regardless of mold.
Fps for the #311359 mold is 2159 to 1876 and heaviest #311284 shows 1335 fps to 1510 fps. Hope that helps you get a starting load.

[CGT80]

Thank you for the input. I will keep it in my personal load book to use as a comparison to my other data. I have had some herco test loads sitting and waiting to be run over the chrono. Unfortunately I have been tied up with other projects lately. I hope the fall will bring more shooting time, and the weather will be better than the 100 degree days that we have had.

[Rattlesnake Charlie]

See my uploads for today.
Alliant 2004 Handgun Data
Hercules 1987 Handgun Data

[littlejack]

I load my Uberti 45 Colt with 9 grains of Herco under my 250 - 260 grain boolits. This is a max load for this wheel gun. Rugers will take more. This is all I want (recoil wise) in this light revolver. It meters better than Unique, burns pretty clean with max loads, and takes up a lot of volume in the big 45 Colt case.
Herco is also good in heavy loads for the 45 acp. There is a 260 grain jhp load in the Speer #12 manual that uses the Herco for its max load.
I also use Herco in my .41 magnum with my target/plinkin loads. I use 9 grains under any of my cast/factory boolits from 210 to 225. They work well also.
Regards
Jack

[CGT80]

I fired off a few rounds of 30-06, yesterday, that had herco under some cast boolits. Unfortunately it was getting dark and shady on the range, and my chrono didn't want to pickup the speeds on them. The few I ran were just fine. There might have been some smoke, but it was a winchester 54 bolt action, so I won't be doing any quick shooting with this gun anyway (My AR15 is my 3gun rifle). Being a bolt action, there wasn't much to not work. Maybe I will get out to the range again, on a weekday, next week when when I will have good odds of getting a decent length berm.

Yesterday I did cast boolit test loads with 2400 for my 30 m1 carbine. That actually makes two new, to me, powders that I got to try in rifle loads for the day.

I have a fairly full 13 pound keg of herco, and today I found two new 15 pound kegs of red dot at my grandfathers house (I saw it before, but forgot there were two full kegs), plus I have 4+ pounds of red dot at my house. My grandfather has slowly been giving me components to use. He doesn't load or shoot anymore with his 80th birthday coming up next week, but I hope to get him out to the range at least one more time to do some plinking. These herco and red dot loads will be great for him since he has an old shoulder injury and he isn't as solid as he used to be.

Looks like I will be using these classic powders for years to come.