Bought 2 8lb kegs of Alliant Herco 1 keg of Alliant Unique and 2 kegs of IMR 700X. Paid 65 bucks a keg so I know the price was right...It has been years since I have used 700X(shotgun only) and even though I know it is a good 12 ga powder I don't really load 12 ga..And I can find plenty of data for 700X. But never used it in handguns. What do y'all think are the better handgun calibers to use 700X in? Target and midrange loads The Unique and Herco will be used in 20 and 28 ga. One keg of the 700X and one Herco are going to a shotgun shooter. I have been told that 700X is comparable to Bullseye...never really used it either. As far as handgun calibers I load....most are the usual suspects. Oh how does 700X go through Dillon powder measures?

I can't tell you anything about the Dillon measure, but I can tell you this: 700X is great in the .38 Special.

A few years ago I couldn't find Bullseye anywhere, but I did find some 700X. It's now my go-to powder for .38 target ammo.

And nice score, BTW!

Friend of mine swears by 700X in .40 & .45ACP.

700x meters better than 800x

Wish I could find any of those kegs for those prices around here!

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Jim

That is an amazing price alright.

As said above, many powders swear by 700s for the .38 Special and 45 Auto. I have not used it because it meters poorly and I like W231 for those applications.

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SWCA #3437

My long time (as in decades) standby load for 44 is 7gr 700X and a 240gr LSWC in mag cases. It clocks right around 985fps in a 6-6.5" barrel making it a manly 44spl load.


When I was loading 454 I used 10gr. with a 255gr LSWC

700x will work.............

I used it in 12 Ga. and my revolvers and pistols but moved on to
other powders, that seemed to meter and do a little better in killing clays and paper targets.

A lot of people love it...........

Great prices, by the way. Enjoy.

At one time 700X was all the rage for accurate 45 acp loads.
I've tried it in 45 acp and in a stock 1911 bullseye competition won a first place trophy !
700X , Bullseye and Red Dot are my top choices for loading cast bullets for target, plinking and tin can killing .
With cast bullets I've used it in 32 acp, 9mm Luger, 38 special and 45 acp with good results in all .
Lots of data can be found for 700X so that's a big plus and it meters quite well in my Lyman 55 . I have no experience with Dillion units .
Gary

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I haven't used any 800X in years..even damp earth would meter better than 800x. That I tried in heavy load shotshells and it was terrible. I even have a small keg of it laying around for years after trying it in steel shot loading. So I hope 700X meters better than that one. I happen to have a whole bunch(3000?) of cast 38 wadcutter bullets that were given to me so think I will try loading them on a 650 Dillon. That's why I asked about the Dillon measure. Surprisingly I don't load for the 40/10mm as I consider them almost useless for me any way. And I must have 15M 40 cases here...One of the only rounds that I never wanted to buy a gun for just cause I had all that brass. If the 700X works in the Dillon for 38s then I'm going to have to try 44 special too. I think all that 700X will load a LOT of rounds. Thanks for the suggestions.

Back in my Bullseye target shooting days, a friend of mine routinely beat me in the .45 slow and rapid fire stages. Seems he was shooting 700X and I was using BE. I had a pretty good stash of BE and was too tight to try a different powder. Just another hard headed decision I made at the time.

Most of those flake shotgun powders meter poorly. I'm using the last of my American Select for 45 acp and 38 spl but it's a PIA. Powder measure chops the flakes and that binds the drum. Now I know why Bullseye is so popular.

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That's just somebody talkin.

SKeet, I hope you wore a mask when you bought that powder! You stole them. Congrats.

Honestly Joe, If I couldn't have found someone to buy one of the 700X and a Herco I wouldn't have bought them. And I gave them away for 75 bucks each. We can only use so much powder. I can use the Herco and Unique in 20 and 28 ga shotshells. This is not shotgun country. and the reloader market is sparse in Wyoming...compared to most other states. We only have a 1/4 million people in the whole state ya know?

Skeet, as I'm sure you know, that Unique can be loaded in a ton of different calibers. If Unique was the only powder I could have I wouldn't feel too bad. I still say you did good.

700x is nice and flashy out of a snub nose revolver. Never liked how it metered though.

4.0gr for my 115 and 124 9mm rounds. 5gr with plated or coated 158’s in my 357. 5.5gr with 125gr / 357. Pretty soft rounds.

I am a fan of Unique but I use most of it loading the 20 and 28 ga and I use it in 44 sp and some others like 45 Colt. I just have at least 20 lbs of Unique here. Not a big deal. For an unusual find though I got two oldies. An 8 lb AL-7 for free and a 3 lb Win 452 for 5 bucks. The AL-7 is a great powder in heavy load 12 ga. AA cases 30 gr of powder Red Win wad and an ounce and 3/8 of copper 5s made a great duck and goose load back in the late 60s and early 70s. Maybe I will load a few 12 ga loads like that to shoot pheasants with here on the ranch or probably just sell it or give it away...And for 5 bucks a bag I got 5 bags of Magnum #2 and 4 shot. I can run it right through the Littleton shot makers to make small shot or melt it to make handgun bullets. The guy had all this and more in a semi trailer out on his ranch. Some part of a family estate. For 200 bucks he had a Dillon 650 no box still in the plastic bag they used to ship them wrapped in. Think it all is there but it is brand new and the caliber is 223/5.56. I have to stop buying all this stuff. This has been a kind of expensive thing. I made a post in the semi auto handgun forum here. I also got another S&W 41 from the fellow in the serial range 771XX but I need to get a set of factory grips as it had aftermarket targets. I think the only S&W item he had. Surprisingly he had no primers...or we couldn't find any. He tried to sell me an incomplete Lee Loadmaster Not even for free was my response

Thunder boomers since 0400 so I went searching in the powder. Have gotten the AL7 gone and a 3 lb keg of AL8 along with some others too. Given to the fellow who bought the Herco and 700X. He wants the Dillon 650 but ...not right now. I may not get rid of it. Boy I have lots of others to send down the road

Anyway thanks for the suggestions on calibers for the 700X The 38 sp are on the agenda for loading...maybe this coming weekend. I went looking and found that 700X may work in the 44-40.. Got a Uberti+ dies cases bullets etc at a yard sale last week so I may load some of them...Never really loaded the round so a new experience.

4.5gr works good in 45acp and 357. The same 7gr works good in 45 Colt and I would say would be a pretty good start in 44-40. You can go warmer but there is no need.


A rule of thumb that seems to work as a loose perameter is what ever Unique load you use you can use about 1.5gr less of 700X and get the same results. So for 44mag loads 7gr 700X is about the same as 8.5gr of Unique.

I went back to the fellow's ranch on Saturday..Went through a bunch of stuff that he had there. Came home with over 200 pounds of bullets...all kinds of bullets. Cast/sized/lubed handgun bullets(commercial boxes) for a dollar a hundred. Jacketed bullets for handguns were 4 dollars a hundred and got a bunch of rifle bullets for 5 bucks a hundred...oyther little odds and ends for cheap. and I found another Mec 9000G 12 ga loader almost new...missing the shot bottle primer tray cover and spent primer catcher...but I have all that laying around the grudge. Many of the rifle bullets have already be glommed up by a friend who does a bunch of rifle loading. He didn't take the 405 gr 45-70 lead bullets though. I did load a few 38s with some 700X. It does seem to go a long way... just wadcutter target loads though. Oh I found 2 one pound cans of Winchester powder one was 230 the other 630..but the price was right. got it to mate up with the Winchester 295 I still have.

Skeet 028, a couple of decades ago when I was shooting in a PPC league every other Monday night (I was using a custom built PPC gun and a Model 66 S&W) I shot a bunch of 38 midrange rounds with 700X behind swaged lead hollow base wadcutters. They performed right up there with factory loads and with Bullseye based loads which were a lot more dirty shooting. Of course those loads of 700X were very small, so your 8# keg should last until about the year 2100 or later.

Froggie

Froggie

Yeah I tried that race gun stuff way back yonder. Built mine on a 586. trigger job weight added...best trigger job I ever did too. Found out I couldn't hang with the big dogs of the time...or the little chihuahuas either for that matter. I used Red or Green Dot... whatever I used at the time in 12 ga. Still shot better than I could

I like it for my .45 ACP and 12 gauge shotgun. It meters about like other flake powders in my Lyman 55.

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2.7 of 700X in .38Spl shoots sooooo good in both my model 14 and 52 that sometimes I look around just to make sure it's not somebody else holding the gun for me!
Yes,it doesn't flow easy but is so accurate that I don't care.It even brought me to 800X which meters even worse but as a medium load in my 44 Mag,even a difference of +- .2gr doesn't seem to matter on accuracy.It works so I keep using it.

Last weekend I sold 4 lbs of that 700X for what I paid for it all. Trap shooter bought it. I figure if I load it in 38 sp and 45 auto I can load a few thousand rounds. I no longer shoot target 12 ga so have no shotshell use for it. I also have a med keg of Green Dot and the aforementioned Herco so am good to go for 20 and 28 ga shot shells. I recently loaded a few rounds of wadcutters in 38 sp with some Win 230. I just had to try it. I used 800X at one time in 12 ga steel shot shells if I remember right. It was terrible throwing decent charges with a Mec Sizemaster. But if it was close the shells did what they were supposed to do. Dispatch ducks....mostly teal and baldpates

700X is pretty good in about any non-magnum handgun loading. Much like Bullseye, Clays, AA2, etc. Very economical, I have used it in .38 Special, .38 S&W, 9mm, .380, .44 Spl, and .45 ACP. Seems to meter OK for me. My go-to propellant, as the great majority of my handloads are on the light side. Reloading data abounds.

I will also try it in the 44 special. I have about a thousand cases and enough bullets. Might as well load 'em up. I looked up loading data today.