Hodgdon-HI-SCOR 800X users loading for 44mag info wanted

[49FMarlin]

I was ar cabbalas today,
they had a full rack of powders, things must be looking up,

there was some
H110
296
and
the 800X

talking to the salesman (he teaches reloading-and reloads himself, and understands my wanting to mousefart my 30-30 and now 44mag V2-Scout--contender wanna-beee)

he leaned me towards the 800X saying i can slowly 1/2 a grain at a time under load from the starting load to find a good mousefart load,
he also warned about the 2cndary explosion, and still WILL NOT sell me any of his personal stock of trail boss after i offered him 3X the going rate
for half a pound,,such a nice 30yr old KID)

so I'm looking for opinions from you guys, as to how low anyones gone with this 800X in a 44Mag and what grain-lead will give me the best mousefart,
I'm learning heavy is better,

have you used it, how did you like it,
how low did you go?

14inch barrel break action V2-CVA Scout

thanks
john

[Foto Joe]

I did some pretty extensive testing with 800X and 44 Mag out of a Marlin lever gun this last winter. The boolits were .431-210RF's cast from COWW's +2% tin with a hardness of 12-14BHN.

I started my 800X loads at 6.4gr which yielded 910 fps out of a 16" barrel. Accuracy with this load wasn't worth noting on my logs but sooting was very bad. I didn't start getting any accuracy or minimizing the sooting until I got up to 8.6 and 9.1 grains with a speed of 1,200 fps and 1,244 fps respectively. My max load was 9.9gr and 1,318 fps and a LOT of leading on that load.

What I found was that 800X will soot badly with reduced loads, this leads to not only dirty brass but a dirty action/bolt as well and no accuracy (in my case) worth noting. Once the loads got up to the 1,200 fps+ range the pressures were high enough to eliminate the soot problem and the accuracy increased. It's also interesting to note that until the charge reached 8.2 grains the Standard Deviation and Extreme Spread were high even for a pistol round. Once enough powder was placed in the case to provide a more efficient burn rate the SD and ES calmed down to an acceptable level with the best being the 8.6gr load at an SD of 14 fps and an ES of 44 fps. If I were to load 44 Mag again with 800X I personally would load with 9.1gr resulting in the 1,244 fps loads with minimal soot and pretty good accuracy. This charge out of a handgun will more than likely produce velocities in the 900-1,100fps range.

Although you might have a hard time finding it the powder that I personally have settled on for 44 Mag is Unique at 10.1gr with the 210gr boolit. It provides the best accuracy for me with little to no leading.

[runfiverun]

800-x is actually a magnum shot shell powder.
i have used it in the 44 mag at 10 grains with a 240gr boolit and it was a pretty soft shooting and accurate load in my lever gun.
i started by using herco data and working up from there.
Herco is another powder that shoots very well but you have to get it into it's zone for it to work properly.
it does not like to be reduced either.

[BAGTIC]

I use Red Dot is all my straight case low velocity loads. Its bulkiness fills the case well and aids consistent ignition. It almost always gives complete 100% combustion, certainly in a barrel as long as 14 inches. It produces very low muzzle pressures which combine with subsonic velocity to suppress noise. In instances where the load density is so little that it affects SD I seat the bullet extra deep in the case. With these very light charges deep seating can help improve charge density and provide equivalent velocities with even lighter charge weights.