Anyone else using 800X in handgun loads?

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Rogeronimo

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I finally clocked some 9mm 124gn Nosler JHP. 1225fps from 4" of bbl. I know that it meters poorly, but that may not matter to some. Accuracy and cleanliess is spot on with my hot load. Do any of you have any success stories to share concerning this powder, as I have some to use up.
 
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I haven't used any 800X in a while and won't be again because of poor metering. I've tried it with cast bullets in 9mm, .38 Special, .357 Magnum, .44 Special, and .45 ACP and did develop some accurate loads in the latter. Otherwise, results were unremarkable.
 
I had good loads in my 12 Ga. using it for steel loads for ducks and geese along with Bismuth pellets.

It gets major fps in a 38 and 357 in short or long barrels.
I actually had to back off a 125gr JHP in my J frame snub nose
that was clocking 978 over my chrony !

I don't mind how it meters vs the good accuracy that I received
however it is a bit bulkey and fills the case fast but I have yet to
load a compressed load.

It goes "Bang". A good thing.
 
I've used it in "heavy" .38 spl, also in .357 Magnum loads. I did not throw those charges, so its notorious metering flaws were not part of the equation.

Shot well, great velocities, and burned relatively clean.
 
IT is the darling of the 10mm crowd for full power loads but I have never had great accuracy with it & prefer other powders. The poor metering is just another reason to skip it for me. In 9mm, many good powders that deliver +P loads safely with perfect metering.
 
Rogeronimo wrote:
Do any of you have any success stories to share concerning this powder, as I have some to use up.
Click to expand...

Yes.

The 2004 IMR Handloader's Guide (long gone, but scanned copies still available on-line) shows the following as maximum loads:

115 gr JHP, 6.5 gr 800X, 1.110 col, 1150 fps @ 30300 fps
124 gr FMJ, 6.5 gr 800X (compressed), 1.125 col, 1115 fps @ 28600 fps

NOTE that in both cases, the guide shows a bullet diameter of 0.354, so use caution starting with 0.355 or 0.356 diameter bullets.

My own experience with 0.355 jacketed 115 gr bullets is that 5.7 grains of 800X produced an average velocity of 1,086 fps which functioned my Taurus PT111 flawlessly.

I also loaded some stray 0.355 jacketed 147 gr bullets under 3.7 gr 800X. The first round showed excessive pressures, so I brought the rest of them home and disassembled them. I will try a different powder.
 
There are two ways around 800X's poor metering consistency without weighing charges. It throws consistently through a Belding & Mull measure and, with practice, can be dipped consistently with a hand scoop.

The Belding & Mull measure has a powder chamber that slides horizontally from under the hopper to a dump hole. An adjustable cylindrical measure that is very much like a black powder measure is used to transfer powder to the cases. They are liked by bench rest shooters who do not mind that they are slow. It's also good to have a Belding & Mull as an extra measure for long stick rifles powders.

I make hand scoops by wrapping a piece of stiff wire around a case's extractor groove, twisting it for double the length of the handle then folding it back for a stiffer handle. The case is shorted to throw the desired charge. With a little practice dippers are as consistent as any measure.

I have not used 800X in a long time.
 
Last edited:
hdwhit said:
115 gr JHP, 6.5 gr 800X, 1.110 col, 1150 fps @ 30300 fps
124 gr FMJ, 6.5 gr 800X (compressed), 1.125 col, 1115 fps @ 28600 fps
Click to expand...

I stopped short of max at 6.3gns, seated to 1.090" for flawless function. I am quite pleased with this. Perhaps the chrono was off, but my range was 1200 to 1262 fps, about 3' back. Thank you all for your replies.
 
I haven't loaded 800X in nearly 40 years. Back then I used powder dippers, didn't own a chronograph, and just wanted something that went bang in my .38 to punch paper with. About 25 years ago I tried to load that clumpy bulky stuff with modern powder measures - an exercise in futility.

6.2 grains of Power Pistol hits 1225 fps with a 124 JHP, and meters like water through a garden hose.

800X makes good fertilizer. Spread it around your garden.
 
It's just another flake shotgun powder that ended up being used for pistols when the powder shortage hit. I used to use it for heavy trap loads and it worked well. 700X is also another one that pistol loaders found that would work.

I had lots of American Select after I gave up trap shooting. I tried it in 45 ACP and found it did a great job. Then I tried it in 9mm and it works just fine there also although it fills the small case.

800X has about the same burn rate as Herco and HS-6 (both listed as acceptable for 124gr 9mm loads in the new Hornady manual) so I would think it would be a good substitute if you can meter it.

That sounds like a plus P load and I don't have any data on that. My load for AS is only 4 grns. but it's much faster powder than 800X.
 
Hodgdons pistol data shows a plated 124gr bullet & 5.2gr 800-X @ over 1000fps and 5.7gr 800-X @ 1,114fps. I've loaded 380acp, 9mm, 38 S&W, 357mag, 40 S&W and 45acp with this powder.

Using LEE scoops (allows you to approximately confirm via volume as well as weight) & a RCBS powder trickler on an Ohaus scale makes it pretty hard to err or double the charge...!

Cheers!
 
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