700x and 9mm plated bullets

[fotog54]

It has been a while since I've posted here. I was a heavy poster and tester for the CBI powder a few years back. In fact the CBI powder is what pushed me to buy the LabRadar chronograph. Over the past few years I've accumulated some powders and one of those was 700x. It was touted by the president of Hodgdon powders as good replacement for the very rare Bullseye powder. But powder loads for 700x were rare and the Hodgdon website only shows loads for 2 124grn bullets, neither of which I will ever buy! So I went through my inventory of plated bullets and found I had plenty of both Berry and X-treme 124grn 9mm round nose and decided it was time to work up a load for them. Forum data reports on 700x were searched and factory data seemed to show that loads between 3.8 and 4.2 should be usable. So I made up some bullets (I did just use the X-treme bullets for this test) and headed to the range on Monday 11Sep2023.

First I did 4 separate tests with my three loads (3.8, 4.0 and 4.2) and Federal Factory ball 115grn ammo. All tested with my stock Glock 17 Gen 4. OAL was 1.14ish some were as long as 1.15 before I adjusted down a bit.

I will post those individual load results later, all functioned fine. Then I grabbed all of my leftover rounds loaded them in my Colt Commander LW (it can be picky about chambering some ammo) and fired the remaining group past the LabRadar. 32 rounds as recorded below:



Shot ID
V0 V15 V25 PF15 Proj. Weight
1 1031 1011 1003 125.36 124
2 1039 1031 1026 127.84 124
3 1006 998 994 123.75 124
4 1025 1019 1015 126.36 124
5 879 865 859 107.26 124
6 894 888 884 110.11 124
7 928 917 912 113.71 124
8 921 910 902 112.84 124
9 906 902 899 111.85 124
10 901 895 890 110.98 124
11 897 891 886 110.48 124
12 913 895 874 110.98 124
13 947 938 931 116.31 124
14 942 929 920 115.2 124
15 975 961 952 119.16 124
16 883 878 875 108.87 124
17 883 872 865 108.13 124
18 923 919 916 113.96 124
19 911 907 905 112.47 124
20 950 932 920 115.57 124
21 975 960 949 119.04 124
22 921 912 906 113.09 124
23 1001 989 978 122.64 124
24 1018 1011 1005 125.36 124
25 1029 1021 1013 126.6 124
26 997 991 988 122.88 124
27 978 968 964 120.03 124
28 1043 1035 1029 128.34 124
29 1009 999 992 123.88 124
30 1023 1014 1009 125.74 124
31 1044 1030 1025 127.72 124
32 1138 1124 1114 139.38 124



Now, how is the helpful? Well it shows that over a wide load range of 3.8 to 4.2grns it produces a useable bullet that functions well. The last round felt a little stronger and I knew it was going to read higher. My guess is this one is close to 4.4grn but it was below 1300fps.

Edit--- After reviewing the results, I realized that a .2 grain increase in powder should result in a approximately 100fps increase. I would expect to see approximately 1150fps from 4.2grns. So shot #32 is probably a true 4.2grn load of 700x.

Powder measurement, well it sucks, it varies a bit. On one forum the poster stated he removed his powder baffle, I am going to that this week and I will follow up with what I learn. I'm using a Dillon 650XL all Dillon dies except I'm using the Lee FCD. I had a problem with my coated bullets tumbling but that stopped when I started using the FCD a couple of years ago.

[fotog54]

I gave up on trying to redo the table. Shows ok when viewing in a normal web browser but for some reason Tapatalk strips all of the spacing and tab entries and just shows an un-readable mash of numbers!

I have attached a screen grab picture to aid in reviewing the chronograph results. It seems the v.bulletin board software doesn't recognize importing a table.

[fotog54]

I gave up on trying to correct that large table, click on the thumbnail pic for easier viewing.

Here is the report from 9mm Xtreme plated 124grn with 3.8 grns of 700x powder. Glock 17, standard OEM barrel, stock springs. No malfunctions:

ID V0 V15 V25 V25 Ke0 Ke15 Ke25 PF15

1 973 969 967 967 260 258 257 120.16
2 957 953 950 950 252 250 248 118.17
3 955 950 948 948 250 248 247 117.8
4 924 919 916 916 234 232 231 113.96
5 979 971 970 970 263 259 258 120.4

Stats - Average 957.41 fps
Stats - Highest 978.83 fps
Stats - Lowest 923.56 fps
Stats - Ext. Spread 55.27 fps
Stats - Std. Dev 21.49 fps

[fotog54]

Here is the report from 9mm Xtreme plated 124grn with 4.0 grns of 700x powder. Glock 17, standard OEM barrel, stock springs. No malfunctions:

ID V0 V15 V25 Ke0 Ke15 Ke25 PF15 Proj. Weight
1 1056 1044 1039 307 300 297 129.46 124
2 1060 1049 1042 309 302 298 130.08 124
3 1014 1010 1006 283 280 278 125.24 124
4 1057 1039 1029 307 297 291 128.84 124
5 1040 1033 1029 297 293 291 128.09 124

Stats - Average 1045.28 fps
Stats - Highest 1059.6 fps
Stats - Lowest 1014.38 fps
Stats - Ext. Spread 45.22 fps
Stats - Std. Dev 18.93 fps

[fotog54]

The following were based on 4.2 grns of 700x but the results show the average is only slightly higher than 4.0. This is due to the nature of the powder, I made several test measures showing 4.2grns before I loaded the cases. These are probably more like 4.1 average.

ID V0 V15 V25 Ke0 Ke15 Ke25 PF15 Proj. Weight

1 1061 1054 1048 310 305 302 130.7 124
2 1071 1061 1055 315 310 306 131.56 124
3 1071 1061 1054 315 309 305 131.56 124
4 1044 1037 1032 300 296 293 128.59 124
5 1027 1018 1012 290 285 281 126.23 124
6 1063 1051 1047 311 304 301 130.32 124
7 1040 1032 1028 297 293 290 127.97 124
8 1083 1073 1066 323 316 312 133.05 124
9 1051 1044 1039 304 300 297 129.46 124
10 1064 1050 1040 311 303 297 130.2 124
11 1078 1069 1063 319 314 310 132.56 124
12 1063 1054 1047 310 305 301 130.7 124
13 1027 1022 1018 290 287 285 126.73 124

Stats - Average 1057.09 fps
Stats - Highest 1083.22 fps
Stats - Lowest 1026.61 fps
Stats - Ext. Spread 56.61 fps
Stats - Std. Dev 18.15 fps

[armoredman]

Very nice work sir, thank you for sharing. I gave up on 700X, because it was such a royal pain to meter, gave away my last pound of it. But I will say I had decent results with the stuff.

[fotog54]

Thank you for the response. I'm not going to give up on it, I admit that I probably have enough of other powders to last the rest of my "shooting" life, I'm 69. I'll probably load about 500 rounds in the 4.0-4.2grn range and set it back on the shelf only to be used in the next zombie emergency! My go to powder in 9mm is Titegroup.

I only load for handguns, 9mm, .45ACP and I now have some Dillon SDB dies for .38/.357.

Very nice work sir, thank you for sharing. I gave up on 700X, because it was such a royal pain to meter, gave away my last pound of it. But I will say I had decent results with the stuff.

[TribunusSanGeorgii]

Thanks for the data!

As an aside, I bought a few pounds of CBI within the last year and found that thread. I appreciated your input there also!

[fotog54]

Thank you! I really like the CBI powder in my .45's, it the only powder I have used in .45's for the last several years! I still have about 6 lbs left!

Thanks for the data!

As an aside, I bought a few pounds of CBI within the last year and found that thread. I appreciated your input there also!

[TribunusSanGeorgii]

Thank you! I really like the CBI powder in my .45's, it the only powder I have used in .45's for the last several years! I still have about 6 lbs left!

Yes! I've been using it just for 45s based on recommendations from that thread.

Thinking of maybe trying it in reduced cast loads for mil-surp rifles. The fluffy nature of the powder might be a benefit there.

[Shopdog]

Zero problems metering through Lyman Accumeasures.... it has to do with the size/shape of the cavities.

[fotog54]

Zero problems metering through Lyman Accumeasures.... it has to do with the size/shape of the cavities.

Thanks, I'll look into them.

[fotog54]

Zero problems metering through Lyman Accumeasures.... it has to do with the size/shape of the cavities.

I can't find anything meeting that description. Lyman doesn't show a measure by that name on their site. Can you take a picture of it and I'll check into finding a used one.

Lyman current catalog only shows this:

[url]https://www.lymanproducts.com/reloading/scales-measures/brass-smith-powder-measure

I don’t know why link is not acting properly. I just copied and pasted the url from the address bar.

[Shopdog]

Had a looong response with pics..timed out,ain't doing it again.

[fotog54]

I discovered the Lyman powder measure is not for use in a progressive press. I’ll stick with the Dillon.


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[2TM101]

I just made up a box of 9mm 125 powdercoat 700x, but I went the other way. I started with 3.5 grains and worked down, not up. Started at 3.5 and got down to 2.5 before the slide did not lock back, but still everything cycled and loaded fine. And I can go all the way UP to 4.2?

[fotog54]

I just made up a box of 9mm 125 powdercoat 700x, but I went the other way. I started with 3.5 grains and worked down, not up. Started at 3.5 and got down to 2.5 before the slide did not lock back, but still everything cycled and loaded fine. And I can go all the way UP to 4.2?

According to the use of my scale and chronograph yes. My loads were under 1100 fps at 4.2 grains of 700x.


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