Herco powder

[Jniedbalski]

Went to my local fun store that had a bunch of powder on sale. Got green dot blue dot and Herco. The first two dot’s I have plenty of data for. The data I need is for Herco in 9 mm 38 special 40 S&w & 45 acp. The online data is for 45 and only one load. I wasn't going to buy it but you never know what will be in stock next week. I can use it for my 45 loads but would really like to try it in 38 and 40s&w first. Then 9 mm with lead 115 to 124 gr lee molds . The forty I have lead 165 and 180 gr . The 38 I thank i have every mold lee makes except the gc swc. What loads do you all use Herco for.

[ddixie884]

The older Speer manuals listed loads with Herco.

[onelight]

The old Alliant loading guides show more loads to.
If you can't find one online pm me your email and I think I can send you a pdf of the 2002 Alliant reloading guide.

[Harter66]

Ben Amonti (sp) at Alliant was very helpful to me some time back . He was able to pull some 20ish year out of print data for 32 Rem .

[JM7.7x58]

This is a good thread on Herco.
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?321319-Alliant-has-brought-HERCO-back!

Multiply Unique Loads by 1.05 for a 5% increase.

I’m running the Lee 401-175-tc in my .40 S&W over 6gr of Herco.

Also 13grains in 30-06 under a 311291.

JM

[shooting on a shoestring]

Herco is a little slower than Unique. You can start with Unique data and work up. I find in those calibers Herco will use about 0.5 to 1.0 grains more charge weight than Unique.

The cool thing about Herco is it is not very dense so it fills the cases better and eliminates dead air space. In 9mm and 40 you may end up with very slight compression.

Herco does what Unique does but with more consistent ignition due better case filling which means less powder position sensitivity. It’s also common to see a slight increase in velocity over Unique when pushed to the upper end.

[Jniedbalski]

Thanks for the info. I have read on this forum to use unique load data but I really wanted to find out from the more experienced loaders on here. I also should of bought more unique ,red dot bullseye And a few others. I have maybe 5 or 6 pounds of bullseye now So I should be good. I am finding that the most used powder I have is bullseye and red dot. I use it in light rifle loads and all my pistole loads. In 9mm the 3.5 to 4 grain load works great. So does the 3.2 of bulseye in 308 with a 90 to 100 gr bullet. The older I get the more I like the light plinking loads. Accurate and fun

[lotech]

There is a lot of Herco data, but much of it is old. It's certainly a very useful powder that for some reason has lost much popularity in the last twenty years or so. Many of the newer handloaders are likely unfamiliar with Herco.

[Eddie Southgate]

I load it in .38 S&W with 110-135 gr GDHP's . In the short barrel the 110's run just under 1000 fps and expand as they are designed to do. In the longer barred it is supposed to clock 1080 fps but I haven't checked that as I only have a 2" m32-1 . Been using it a long time and try to keep a couple of jugs minimum of it , red dot , unique , bullseye and 2400 .

[JM7.7x58]

There is lots of old data for the old cartridges. Lyman Cast Handbook Third edition has a lot of Herco data.

Not so much data for the “Newer” 40S&W.

Here is a link to a Castpics powder/cartridge search. It lists a cast load on the bottom.

http://castpics.net/dpl/index.php/reloaders-reference/load-lookup-by-powder

JM

[1006]

http://https://photos.app.goo.gl/fic1oCHqZ2Dmvdg27 (http://photos.app.goo.gl/fic1oCHqZ2Dmvdg27)


Maybe these photos will help, from older Alliant Manual

[JM7.7x58]

Buried on page 7 of this PDF. Layne Simpson was running 5.9gr of Herco under a 175gr LSWC in ISPC competition.
http://www.k8nd.com/documents/hl40sw.pdf

This gentleman did quite a bit of load testing and found that 6.1gr of Herco worked best for him in his Glock.
https://www.thehighroad.org/index.php?threads/40s-w-and-herco-for-lead-plated-bullets.743416/

I ladder tested my loads until I got reliable functioning in my M&P Shield, 6gr is where I found it. I’m getting zero leading with this PC load.

I did however change a few variables when I got to 6grs. I started to PC these bullets and reduced my sizing to .401”. I had been loading lubed and as cast at .4025”. At .4025” these barely passed the plunk test, 5.4gr, 5.6gr, and 5.8gr all had failure to feed/jamming issues.

I do plan on going back down to 5.6gr/5.8gr and seeing if with PC and sizing to .401” (my barrel slugs at .401”) I can get good functioning. I will be looking for accuracy when I run these at 5.6gr, 5.8gr, and 6gr.

I have twelve pounds of Herco, and only 3/4 of a pound of Unique. In 38special I load the 358477 over 5gr of Unique. I’ve been told by a few people that when they switched over to Herco they went with 5.5gr and couldn’t tell the difference. Next time I load up a batch of 358477 it will be with that load.

JM

[Greg S]

Have had good results with heavier boolits in 9mm with Herco.

[GSP7]

I like Herco in my SAA .45colt, 44spl, loads

[Silvercreek Farmer]

Great powder but beware of old Herco data. Not sure about the calibers you listed, but there are some gun wrecking loads for 357 mag out there. A call to Alliant may be helpful.

[35remington]

Generally in 38 Special equivalent velocities to Unique are reached with a few tenths of a grain more powder. A full half grain more will be outrunning the Unique load, and possibly also outrunning reasonable pressures depending upon what is being used.

[Hick]

Go here for three Alliant manuals that include Herco loads: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B5OXFZ9peAawfi1zNHA1TUx3QjhFRVA3RGc2cTVCUUZFanpjT 1RJSlJRQW1FR001OGcwTEk

[stubshaft]

Being an "old timer" I have a great fondness for Alliant powders and count Herco as one of them. In fact I picked up 3 pounds of it this past Saturday.

[kenton]

Alliant currently has 1 load for 45 acp on their website.

https://www.alliantpowder.com/reloaders/powderlist.aspx?type=1&powderid=6&cartridge=35

[tazman]

take onelight up on his offer of the older Alliant manual. Those have data for all the cartridges you listed using Herco.

[rintinglen]

Back in the 60's and seventies Herco was a popular powder for use in the 357 and 44 Magnums as a mid-level to full power powder. However, as time went by and more testing was done, those "full power loads" that had been developed without adequate pressure testing were greatly scaled back. It still saw some use in the 9mm and 38 Super cartridges and was moderately popular in the latter cartridge for making major in IPSC competition. It has been largely eclipsed as a handgun cartridge by other more modern powders. If you have some that you wish to use up, Speer #10 has loads for the 380, 38 Super, 38 S&W(?), 38 Spl, .357, 41 Mag, 44 Spl, 44 mag, 45 AR, 45 Auto and 45 Colt.

In my own experience, it doesn't meter very well and seems to run best at 20,00 to 35,000 psi pressures. I have tried it in 9mm, 38 Special, 357 Magnum, and 44 magnum but I don't recommend it for any of those. It never seemed to produce top flight accuracy. Unique, WW231 or Bullseye always seemed to beat it out. I now use it only in reduced power rifle loads where it works very well. In particular, in my 30-30 I like 8.0 grains of Herco with an Ideal 311-245 93 grain rn boolit. It is as accurate as I can shoot iron sights at 50 yards and "minute of squirrel" at closer ranges.

[rintinglen]

In particular, DO NOT USE DATA FOR THE 357 MAGNUM OR 44 MAGNUM CARTRIDGES FROM THE 1970 LYMAN 45. They are way over the top and were apparently not pressure tested.

[Jniedbalski]

The old Alliant loading guides show more loads to.
If you can't find one online pm me your email and I think I can send you a pdf of the 2002 Alliant reloading guide.
Got the Herco info in thanks. It has all the info I need. I got the newer Manuel’s but they don’t have that info thanks again

[Jniedbalski]

I also got the older manual sent to me by a member here also thanks

[300h&h]

Herco @ 6.9 grains with berrys 115 grain hollow base 1300/1350 fps accurate too

[Carrier]

I find that a half a grain or so more than Unique produces the same accuracy and fps in 45 Colt. Meters the same as Unique in my powder measures.

[JD Miller]

I like Herco :mrgreen: