Anyone tried H110 for .357 behind 125g JHPs'?

[rwnielsen]

H-110

Has anyone actually clocked those H110/W296 loads for some real world measurements? I have seen 1620 fps with my loads, but they aren't loaded with a ball powder.

.357, 110g HPXTP, 21.5g/H-110 1640fps avg.

.357, 125g HPXTP, 21g/H-110 1560fps avg.

.357 110g HPXTP 9.5g/Unique 1520fps avg

I noticed a snappier recoil with Unique

Also, I stayed below max (just) on the H-110 for this trip

 

[Paul5388]

Thanks for the data!

That's pretty much what I suspected, less velocity with a lot more powder.

A lot of folks think that big ball of flame is equal to high performance, but that's just a myth perpetrated by the data being published.

 

[Dragon88]

A gun magazine did a comparison of H110/W296 loads and those with faster burning powders. They fired them in a sealed pressure barrel, and then in revolvers of same bbl length with the cylinder gap. You lose a *lot* of gas and velocity due to the gap (the nice fireball you see), but it's the nature of the beast with revolvers. Your overall velocity will still be higher with H110/W296 as compared to most other powders.

A 125gr XTP over W296 is my all-time favorite load in 357. Velocities I have recorded match pretty well with the data posted above.

Also, H110 and W296 are the same powder in different packaging, as confirmed to me by a Hodgdon rep. He said he doesn't know why people publish different data with the two powders, but that they are and always have been the very same powder. I get my load data from the Hodgdon reloading center and have found it very reliable in my guns.

 

[Paul5388]

This is pistol data from the Hodgdon site.

125 GR. HDY XTP Hodgdon H110 .357" 1.590" 21.0 1881 38,400 CUP 22.0 1966 41,400 CUP

That's 320 fps less than real life velocities with 21.0 gr. That's hardly what I call reliable data. Sorta like this inflated data.

125 GR. HDY XTP IMR SR 4756 .357" 1.590" 6.0 1169 18,600 PSI 7.8 1427 30,600 PSI

It'll take close to 13.0 gr of SR 4756 to get a real life velocity like they posted.

 

[Dragon88]

If that's inflated to you then so be it. Common sense tells me that they use a long pressure barrel for most of their testing, which is fine since I don't need their velocity number anyway. I have a chronograph and my own guns for that. If you don't like their "inflated" data then don't use it.

 

[Paul5388]

And pray tell how you are going to use that chronograph to tell you anything? If you try to match their velocity, you're in big trouble. So, the best you can do is use their load and accept the velocity you get. If the velocity is that far off, who can tell if their pressure is that far off too?

In fact, here's some psi data that refutes their data and it's from the powder manufacturer, DuPont.

In case you have trouble reading it, 9.5 gr of SR4756 with a 158 gr lead bullet produces 36,800 psi (not CUP). You'll also notice the load they published is more than the current SAAMI allowable MAP of 35,000 psi. 18% less powder with 84% as much bullet just doesn't add up to 6000 psi less pressure.

For a better comparison, here's the current 158 gr LSWC data from Hodgdon.

158 GR. MEI CAST LSWC IMR SR 4756 .357" 1.620" 5.0 968 13,800 PSI 6.5 1214 27,600 PSI

Now we have 2/3 as much powder producing 130 fps less velocity with the same type bullet and doing it with 9000 psi less pressure. It just doesn't happen that way in real life, where 9.0 gr with a 158 gr LSWC will produce 1240 fps out of a 4" M66. After you add whatever you want to equate to a 6" barrel, it's still going to be much closer to DuPont's data than Hodgdon's data.