ordering some surplus powder, want a little advice

[trickyasafox]

Hi everyone

i'm about to order some wc844 for 223 and 7mm-08. i'm guessing wc844 will be okay for most 30-06/308win family of cartridges? i'm not against wc846, i just got the impression 844 was a bit more suited as most of it will go to 223.

then i was thinking a keg of 820 for some 30carbine and 357 mag. does this powder meter okay in lee auto disks? i was going to order from pats, and i was going to get the PD as it's a bit cheaper.

any reason not to do this? also i was curious, could i use a light 357 mag load in a 38sp case? or will pressure go too crazy? i have plenty of 38sp brass, but not so much on the 357,

i'm lookin for light to med mag loads, not barn burners by any means.

i know the wc844 wc846 debate comes up a lot, so i apologize for bringing it up again, but i trust the advice of this board.

thanks!

mike

ETA: i was wondering if these powders will meter through a an autodisk measure. those are the only measures i have, and i want to know if i am going to cry trying to get this to work.

i also have a lee perfect measure if that would be better.

[454PB]

I use a lot of WC 820. It's a very good powder, comparable to AAC #9 or 2400 in burn rate. It works in everything from .357 magnum to .308 Win. It meters perfectly in my RCBS Uniflow, and while I own a Lee auto disk, I've never tried using it for WC 820. My guess would be that it would bind, since it is very fine grained.

[frank505]

Having tried 820 in a lee powder measure, it will run out the sides of the drum and any other place it can. It is small grained ball powder but it works very well in 44,45,475 and 500 L. Also 357.
844 is surplus 223 powder and 846 is surplus 308 powder. Buy lots now, you never know whats coming, and none of it is any good from my point of view. klinton the socialist bastard did all of America a great disservice when he closed 6 of 7 arsenals and stopped the sale of surplus powder to us civilians. Lake City arsenal can't keep up to the war effort by itself, what happens when our soldiers run out of ammo?

[gwalchmai]

also i was curious, could i use a light 357 mag load in a 38sp case? or will pressure go too crazy? i have plenty of 38sp brass, but not so much on the 357

1000 Starline .357MAG cases cost $111.25 delivered. How much does a .38SPL handgun cost?

You can do it, but it's just a bad idea because there's always the chance of getting that hot load into a .38SPL gun.

[ron brooks]

I agree with gwalchmai wholeheartedly.

1000 Starline .357MAG cases cost $111.25 delivered. How much does a .38SPL handgun cost?

You can do it, but it's just a bad idea because there's always the chance of getting that hot load into a .38SPL gun.

[trickyasafox]

you guys are right with concern, we only own 1 357 and no 38s. i was thinking of marking cases, but i should probably just rat some more brass and avoid the problem entirely

so im getting mixed opinions, does wc820 burn like aa9 or h110? and one person said like 2400. . . that sounded downright out to me.

i realize i have to test the lot i get, but thats a pretty large range to consider.

[Junior1942]

Tricky, see http://www.castbullet.com/reload/wc820.htm

[georgeld]

I've never used these powders though I load for all these listed shells/guns.

I use either H110, or 4227 in the .30 carbine or 45 Colt. and Red Dot for 38's by the many thousands. For 357's and heavy loads I'll use the 110 4227 again.

Having been questioned about the H110 and lighter loads just a few days after buying a jug of it. Kinda wish I'd gotten 4227 as it's not as particular, or drastic in pressure changes. Just might order a couple jugs of it before too long.

For surplus powders I recommend: hi tech ammo. They are quite a bit cheaper on these than Powder Valley, but, they don't have the selection PVI has either. Since I was just getting one jug of it along with five others I paid the price rather than going deeper in the hole for extra hazmats.

hi-techammo.com check them out, they're a good old company, easy to deal with and better price's on surplus than most others offer.

I'd suggest you stick with the heavier loads in 357's and use proper brass. For light stuff use 38's, they'll shoot in your 357 without problems, even for plinker loads. There's a whole lot of powder selection for 38 loads. Just about all the shotgun powders can be used for light cast loads for it.

I load/shoot over 1000 rnds a week, nearly every week in 38's. I just bought 16# Red Dot, that'll last me a yr or more as it sure don't take much.

Study those loading books, get a Lyman's cast bullet handbook and study that, and a Lee loading manual. There's a whole lot of cast loads in there everyone shooting them should have.

When it comes to .223. Pick your powder so it can be used with any wt bullet. I use the same charge for all. But, only load from 35-55gr and don't load the heavier one's at all.

There's two powders I use in it. 23gr AA2200, but, that's getting hard to find. Soon as this last jug is gone I'll be going back to 4895 and use 25gr of that. You can't go wrong with 4895 for just about any cartridge.

It's about as good a powder as there is. Sure you can sort & select various powders for each one, each bullet, etc and end up with a room full of powders with limited usefulness. But, the 4895 will work fine with almost anything other than pistol ammo. It's a real good "average velocity" powder in them all from .222 clear up to .458's. I use it for .223- .375H&H and it satisfies me because I only have to stock one powder for rifle's.

I went down that winding road a few yrs and had so many half full can's I couldn't keep track of them all. Right now I've only got four that I stock much of. There's about four others in small amounts still left over that haven't been used up yet.

Study those loading tables and their results and see if you can figure out what I'm trying to explain.

Wish you well, stay safe,

[trickyasafox]

georgeld-

thanks for the advice! i've worked with hitech before, but i've never ordered powder. i can't say enough good things about those guys!

thanks for all the replies, next month i'll be cashing the work study check in on a powder only order. i was thinking pats, but i may just call hitech and see what they have kickin around. if i can give a company i trust the business, i definatly will!

-mike

[Dale53]

I have used the Lee Pro Auto Disc powder measure for years with WC 820 with NO problem whatsoever. 820 is probably the finest (as in small) powder you'll run into. I have no problems with "leaking" and the powder drops very consistently.

I DO prefer the Pro Disc Measure over the standard disc measure... It is SO much easier to change powder charges, etc.

Dale53