Wc860?

[David R]

Anybody use it with cast in 308 or 30'06? Price is right, Looks like it could work, but I don't want 8 lbs of powder I can't use.

[Buckshot]

............It's slow. Full caseloads with jacketed slugs make design ballistics in the 7x57 (175gr @ 2400 fps) and the 6.5x55 (140gr @ 2700 fps). Not the best choice in straight cases as not enough pressure is developed to burn clean.

Full caseloads in std (ie: 30-06, 8x57 etc) work well with heavy cast boolits, and reduced loads are also successfull. I personally recommend a wad or granulated filler for much reduction. An exception would be for the solid filler would be loads like 42.0grs in the 7x57 (172gr cast @ 1775 fps) or the 6.5x55 with 35.0grs (152gr cast @ 1550 fps) and for these I use dacron.

Try'em without a filler/wad first and go from there. It's so slow, in standard non magnum cases you really can't get into trouble with it. A friend loves it in his 35 Whelen (full case) with the Lyman 358009, 280gr slug. Goes about 1800 fps.

...............Buckshot

[BCB]

270…280642 (150)…49 grains WC-860…Model 700…2184 fps

30-30…C309-150F (150)…36 grains WC-860…T/C 14”…1347 fps

30-30…311041 (170)…35 grains WC-860…T/C 14”…1307 fps

7-30…287346 (135)…36 grains WC-860…T/C 14”…1541 fps

I don’t really show any of these loads in my spreadsheet as being overly accurate at 100 yards. Yet, they do make the gun go bang and the bullet fly downrange. But for the price, it still isn’t a bad purchase. Good-luck…BCB

[David R]

Thanks guys, just the kind of info I was looking for. Looks like I am going to try a jug.

[PatMarlin]

David,

You might want to contact Jim "Kenjudo", cause he doesn't like the 860 for his setup and may want to sell it.

Pat

[9.3X62AL]

David--

I tried some of the WC-860 in 30-06 a while back with Lyman #311291, using a full case (60.0 grains). In this application, velocities ran about 2150-2200 FPS over Buckshot's chronograph. Accuracy wasn't "stellar", but I'll likely try it again in the rifle I replaced the former one with in this caliber. It's just too cheap not to attempt. There was little of the powder granule debris that my 45-70 loads produce. Similar story in the 25-35.......little debris with full-case loads, but indifferent accuracy--I suspect the boolits are doing the "6.5 Swede Shuffle", getting run too fast in the 1-8" twist barrel to behave correctly. I'm hanging onto my lot, in order to see what it does in a 6.5 x 55 I should be getting back soon. This will be a "j-word only" proposition.

Its chief advantage is its cheapness, but I've found some pretty accurate loadings with the 45-70 using this fuel duplexed with IMR-4198. 3.0 grains of the faster stuff cleans up the debris quite a bit, and I have some loads with 5.0 grains underneath 46.0 x WC-860 that will get test-driven tomorrow.

[kenjuudo]

I find the stuff very accurate, but find the unburned kernels in the lighter loadings a pain. Tried fillers, even the dreaded duplex loads. While a little unburnt powder isn't that bad to deal with at the bench, most of my shootin' consists of stuffing a handful of rounds in a pocket and taking a walk.

[Maven]

I've used #24 of WC 860, but mostly in the 7.62 x 54R (It's really 53mm), 7.65 x 53mm, the .30-06 and the 8 x 57mm and generally without fillers. Even with mag. primers and heavy bullets, e.g., #314299, there was enough unburned powder to make things messy (enough to dent your cases if you don't clean your chamber & bbl. periodically). Messiest was the .243Win. (never again!) followed by the 6.5 x 55. Buckshot likes 860 in the Swede, but I found it -> erratic velocity and so-so accuracy. However, in the cartridges I mentioned first (above), accuracy was first rate with no sooty necks. In the '06 and 7.62 x 54R, 48gr. works very well with 175-195gr. CB's. It will also perform well in the 7.5 x 55 Swiss (47gr.). In the Arg. Mau., 44gr. with 195gr. CB's is also excellent.

Fillers & WC 860 Reloading manuals caution us not to use fillers with ball powders, so if you do be careful: Use at least 1gr. less powder and don't compress it too much! I've used 1cc Grex with WC 860 , typically 47gr. (wi. mag primers) + 1cc Grex in the .30-06, but found no improvement at all. The Arg. Mau. was a different story, however. In it, I used 43gr. 860 + 1cc Grex and got excellent efficiency and accuracy with almost no soot on the case necks at all. In short, you'll have to try this for yourself to see whether the extra reloading step is justified given chrono. data and down-range performance.

860 & Powder Measures One of the virtues of 860 is the ease with which it flows through powder measures. Some will be dead on much of the time, which is a huge time saver. By contrast, IMR 5010 is dead "off" through my powder measures almost all of the time.

[kenjuudo]

I saw no advantage to the filler, didn't burn any cleaner. A full case was the best improvement as far as unburned powder. 48 gr. in the 7.62x54r was the sweet spot for accuracy for me also, about 1900 fps and low SD. I resorted to keeping a bore snake at the bench while trying out 860.