H870

ligonierbill · July 5, 2009, 04:57 PM

Anyone know what happened to this slow burning, easy to meter powder? I just put nearly the last of my supply under some 175 gr. 7 mm bullets. The 7 mag really likes this powder with heavy bullets. Guess I will have to go with Re25. I loaded both Speer and Hornady 160's with it, but I have not had the opportunity to run them through the chronograph. What is your favorite powder for heavy 7 mm bullets?

Jim Watson · July 5, 2009, 06:10 PM

H870 has always been a surplus powder. When Hodgdon saw part of their inventory deteriorating, they scrapped it all.

ligonierbill · July 20, 2009, 06:41 PM

I finally got an afternoon at the range and had some interesting results with 7 mm magnum loads using Reloader 25. Hornady 162 grain SSTs just did not want to go faster than 2,800 fps. Approaching the published max, standard deviation went up, but not velocity. The best load was 68.2 grains averaging 2,811 with std of 26.4. Speer 160 grain spire points reached diminishing returns at 2,900 fps. Best std was 17.6 at published max of 70 grains, but that gave an average only 9 fps over 69.5 grains. Half grain below max averaged 2,910 fps with std of 25.9. No pressure signs from any round out of a Remington 700. My old H870 pushed Speer 175 MagTips to 2,871 and 32.2 std one grain below the published max. Too bad I can't get more. Next trip I'll shoot some "chosen" rounds for group--after 60 rounds I was getting tired. I do like heavier bullets in the 7 mm.

Anyone have a favorite powder for 160/175's in this caliber?

July 5, 2009, 04:57 PM	#1
ligonierbill Senior Member Join Date: May 20, 2007 Posts: 2,448	H870 Anyone know what happened to this slow burning, easy to meter powder? I just put nearly the last of my supply under some 175 gr. 7 mm bullets. The 7 mag really likes this powder with heavy bullets. Guess I will have to go with Re25. I loaded both Speer and Hornady 160's with it, but I have not had the opportunity to run them through the chronograph. What is your favorite powder for heavy 7 mm bullets?

July 20, 2009, 06:41 PM	#3
ligonierbill Senior Member Join Date: May 20, 2007 Posts: 2,448	Range Results Re25 I finally got an afternoon at the range and had some interesting results with 7 mm magnum loads using Reloader 25. Hornady 162 grain SSTs just did not want to go faster than 2,800 fps. Approaching the published max, standard deviation went up, but not velocity. The best load was 68.2 grains averaging 2,811 with std of 26.4. Speer 160 grain spire points reached diminishing returns at 2,900 fps. Best std was 17.6 at published max of 70 grains, but that gave an average only 9 fps over 69.5 grains. Half grain below max averaged 2,910 fps with std of 25.9. No pressure signs from any round out of a Remington 700. My old H870 pushed Speer 175 MagTips to 2,871 and 32.2 std one grain below the published max. Too bad I can't get more. Next trip I'll shoot some "chosen" rounds for group--after 60 rounds I was getting tired. I do like heavier bullets in the 7 mm. Anyone have a favorite powder for 160/175's in this caliber?

July 5, 2009, 06:10 PM	#2
Jim Watson Senior Member Join Date: October 25, 2001 Location: Alabama Posts: 18,539	H870 has always been a surplus powder. When Hodgdon saw part of their inventory deteriorating, they scrapped it all.