Rarely mentioned powder. Herco

[BillBro]

Stumbled across a few lbs at a gunsmiths shop and at $24 per I bought all 3. Old powder yes but how similar to Unique is it? Of course Unique is an old powder too. Ive found a lot of older load data for it for my 44mags and Specials. Havent shot any uet though.

Anyone still use it? Other uses besides 44s? From my reading it seems like a do-all powder. True? Not?

 

[Nevada Ed]

It was the go to powder for a lot of factory Dup loads in the 50-70's.

It started to loose ground when Unique came out but it is still a great powder to have.

The only bad thing about the two, is that they are very bulky and fill the
case faster than the ball type powders and in some cases like the little 9mm,
sometimes fps will take a back seat with the larger bullets of 135 grs or more.

They both work well for a lot of "Standard loads". though.

 

[arjay]

It’s similar to Unique,but a bit slower if I’m remembering right. I still have a partial lb around

 

[rockquarry]

It's apparently fallen out of favor and there is little current data for it other than what Alliant might offer. The burn rate is just a hair slower than Unique and it should work well for the same applications as Unique. It doesn't go through a measure much better than Unique, but will work okay if you know how to uniformly throw charges.

I doubt many handloaders who only started loading in the last thirty years or so are even familiar with Herco, but it's a very useful powder for handgun cartridges. I've used it in .380, 9mm, .38 Sp., .44 Special, and .45 ACP, maybe a couple of others, all with cast bullets.

 

[BillBro]

Well Im gonna give it a go and see. Been looking for some Unique for about 2 years and never seem to see any in stock, anywhere, except gunraper, I mean gunbroker, for $450-$500+ for 8lbs.
I just went to the gunsmith shop and saw it and as we know you dont pass up on any useful powder these days, or I dont.
Yes all of the data Ive found is all very old but cant see why it wouldnt apply today. Its funny seeing a powder be at its pinnacle of popularity and then fall out of favor by reading whats in these old manuals and Herco did seem to be quite popular and versatile.
Just took delivery of a new( really, its new) 696 no dash yesterday and while I have found a couple really good loads for 44Spl with HS-6 and CFE Pistol and TrueBlue theyre not for this gun, lets try the Herco.
Just goinv by the burn rate charts it does appear to be just a tad slower than Unique. Seems to be in a good and useful spot relative to some other really fine powders so I look forward to trying it out at least. Ill be using both cast and jacketed bullets.

 

[2152hq]

I used to load it in 12ga and 16ga.
It was for heavier payloads than what is popular these days for clay shooting.
I also used it in 45acp.

There used to be a lot of data for Herco.
But these days the powder companys seem to be pushing just their new powders with plenty of data for them out there.
The older stuff gets little attention, a couple loads if that.
As if it's not any good anymore for anything for some reason.
Same old marketing talk.

 

[CZU]

I was about 14 when I first started reloading. My first pistol was an Astra 600 9mm and shortly after I got that one I lucked into a 1900 American Eagle Luger in 30 cal Luger. Herco was the powder that was available to me and that is what I used for both cartridges. IIRC 4.5 grains was the load that I used for both, The Speer #8 manual I think showed 5,6,7 grains with 7 the max for 9mm. I was being safe and kept it a 1/2 grain below minimum. There wasn't any data for the 30 cal in this manual. FWIW, the gun used for testing with the loads that are published was the S&W 39.

Speer #8 has a lot of data for Herco.

 

[Nevada Ed]

I was about 14 when I first started reloading. My first pistol was an Astra 600 9mm and shortly after I got that one I lucked into a 1900 American Eagle Luger in 30 cal Luger. Herco was the powder that was available to me and that is what I used for both cartridges. IIRC 4.5 grains was the load that I used for both, The Speer #8 manual I think showed 5,6,7 grains with 7 the max for 9mm. I was being safe and kept it a 1/2 grain below minimum. There wasn't any data for the 30 cal in this manual. FWIW, the gun used for testing with the loads that are published was the S&W 39.

Speer #8 has a lot of data for Herco.

That is a great old manual and another great old manual is the
45th Lyman that has the 30 Luger listed on page 160.

 

[DWalt]

Herco is good for many heavier .357 and .44 Mag handgun loads. It's a little slower than Unique. Bullseye, Unique, and Herco are chemically identical, except for grain dimensions. The Lyman cast bullet reloading manual lists many recipes for Herco. Its main purpose was for use in loading Magnum shotshells. I still have a few pounds somewhere.

 

[glenwolde]

I've used it in the past and it works best in the big revolver cartridges. It's a bit fluffy for the smaller auto pistol cases.

 

[Warren Sear]

It was the go to powder for a lot of factory Dup loads in the 50-70's.

It started to loose ground when Unique came out but it is still a great powder to have.

The only bad thing about the two, is that they are very bulky and fill the
case faster than the ball type powders and in some cases like the little 9mm,
sometimes fps will take a back seat with the larger bullets of 135 grs or more.

They both work well for a lot of "Standard loads". though.

I'm pretty sure Unique was available long before Herco.

Herco is great powder. I use it, and don't understand why it is not more popular than it is.

 

[Rogeronimo]

It was my one and only for 45 ACP and 44 Special back in the day, and that was all I loaded. Today, I still load 147gn 9mm with Herco, exclusively.

 

[Nevada Ed]

I'm pretty sure Unique was available long before Herco.

Herco is great powder. I use it, and don't understand why it is not more popular than it is.

All I know is that my Lyman 45th listed both of these powders ....
in their data and I really do not know what powder came first.

Both are winners in my book.

 

[LostintheOzone]

There is some load data for it if you look at some old Lyman reloading manuals.

http://www.nzha.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Lyman44.pdf

 

[serger]

Long story short, I use 6 grains of Herco in:

9mm Luger with 124gr powder coated LRN at 1100fps
38 Special with 158gr powder coated at 1077fps
40 S&W 180gr powder coated LFP at 880fps
45ACP 230gr powder coated LRN at 850fps

I did this so I could use one powder measure on my
Dillon 550.

Herco was the powder I could find in 2010-14
when the last shortage occurred. It's now my
"go to" powder

 

[Skeet 028]

It is a great powder for some loads. I happened to buy 3 8 lb jugs about 4 yrs ago...40 bucks each. A good load I have shot in the 44M is 10.5 gr with a 240 LSWC. Doesn't beat you up but still has a bit of thump. I also use it in the41 mag the 28 ga(14 gr?) and some in the 20(16 gr) to save my Unique supply. There are plenty of good loads in some older load books

 

[Dfish1247]

I remember my dad using it for 44 and 41 moderate mag loads when I was a kid, was a ton of fun and not quite as dirty as unique.

As far as popularity, herco is forgotten because all you hear is unique, bullseye, cfe pistol, h110, hp38, etc. Winchester 244 is a darn good unique substitute, never hear a peep about it either.

 

[minconrevo]

Herco works great in 40 S&W with 180 gr cast bullets. Can easily make Major PF in that caliber and shoots well. Burns clean.

I keep a selection of paper loading manuals, some over 40 yrs old, so I have data when I run across a deal on older powder. A while back I was gifted some H110 (not a miss key) that I had good data to put it to use. Same for some Win 230P, check, got data!

 

[jjfitch]

We're on the same page..

I consider it a medium burn rate powder for heavier bullets and "shot" loads.

It allows reaching factory velocities in cartridges without exceeding max pressure such as 147 grain 9mm.

Today there are more powders doing the same thing that burn much cleaner.

Smiles,

 

[mtgianni]

A friend describes it as Unique's big brother. Really useful in most applications where Unique is.