800-X Measures Just Fine for Me

[Mauser69]

As just about every knows, there are certain flake powders that some people love to bash, claiming they do not throw uniform charges from powder measures. 700-X gets this complaint a lot, along with Unique and Red Dot to a lesser extent. But the one that that these folks bad mouth the worst is 800-X.

Well, I love 700-X and Unique both, and I have ZERO problems getting uniform throw weights all the way down to about 3.0 grains with any of my powder measures. But I have never tried 800-X until now. Because I find the complaints about 700-X so laughably wrong, I wasn't too worried about 800-X, but I was curious. I finally picked up a jug of it with my last powder order and did my first box of reloads with it yesterday.

In short, 800-X measures just fine for me so far! With only one exception, all throws were +- 0.1 grains; the single exception was +0.15g. Here are the details for anyone that might be interested:

I loaded .357 Magnums on a Lee Classic Turret press and the Lee Pro Auto-Disk measure. All of the charges were weighed on an RCBS/Ohaus beam scale. I started with the .88 disk and just filled the hopper 1/2 way, with no tapping to settle the powder.

Note: I consider tapping the powder measure 10 times or more when first filled to be an absolute requirement with any powder, and especially flake powders, and I also always throw at least 10 charges back into the hopper before I even begin to check weights on the first load. But I did not do either of these this time because I wanted to give this powder every opportunity to measure poorly, like it might do for someone with bad loading techniques.

I did my first 10 test throws one after the other without moving the turret (meaning the powder measure was getting less jostling than during normal loading, so theoretically should be less uniform). My very first throw was 8.3g, and the next 9 were all between 8.1 and 8.2.

After the first 10 test throws, I proceeded to load 25 rounds with this setup; here are the exact charge weights for every throw:

• 8.10 8.15 8.20 8.15 8.20
• 8.20 8.25 8.30 8.25 8.10
• 8.15 8.10 8.20 8.20 8.30
• 8.15 8.20 8.15 8.20 8.20
• 8.30 8.20 8.20 8.20 8.20

With a target charge weight of 8.2g, all 25 were within +-0.1g.

Next I changed to the .95 disk and loaded another 25 rounds with a target weight of 8.7g:

• 8.70 8.65 8.80 8.70 8.65
• 8.70 8.70 8.75 8.70 8.80
• 8.70 8.70 8.70 8.65 8.70
• 8.75 8.85 8.75 8.70 8.70
• 8.70 8.70 8.70 8.75 8.75

You can see that a single throw was +0.15g, otherwise all were again within+-0.1g. I consider this very acceptable performance for handgun loading. I do not know yet how small of a disk I will be able to use and still get this consistency, but certainly for mid-level .357 Magnum loads with 125 and 158 grain jacketed bullets, it seems to be doing just fine. Now to go shoot them and see how the powder performs as it turns into smoke!

[Nick_C_S]

Mauser69 - TFL MythBuster Extraordinaire!

I don't load with 800X. Partly because of its (maybe undeserved?) reputation for metering crummy. But mostly because it's out of the burn rate range for 90+% of my applications. When I do need that burn rate range, I have AA#7.

Unique is my worst metering powder. I've conducted a similar experiment a few weeks back using my 32 year old RCBS Uniflow. Results were rather similar to yours, actually. Out of some 40 or 50 throws, one or two were outside the +/- 0.1 grains.

I don't load Unique in 9mm - because of the small case. And I don't load Unique at the top of the charge weight data (except doing work ups, where all the charges are hand-weighed) range. Problem solved.

Good write up Mauser69. Always good to see stuff like this.

[Mauser69]

I have no doubt that some people do see bad metering with flake powders in some equipment, but I just wanted to point out that it is not a universal issue. And that is why I carefully identified the equipment I was using.

I have always suspected that much of the howling was coming from folks who never really tested it and just like to make noise by repeating ugly stuff they read. If someone hasn't tried one of these powders yet, they shouldn't necessarily believe everything they read!

[Strafer Gott]

I didn't have much luck with the "perfect powder measure", even though it does great with Unique. I only use 800X on .45 Colt, and use a RCBS trickler to nail the loads. It's a labor of love anyhow so... I guess you have a better measure. Good to know!

[Nick_C_S]

It's a labor of love anyhow so...

Isn't it though? (Rhetorical)

Handloading in general is a labor of love. A craft in and of itself that transcends shooting.

I like the ritual of setting up my balance scale; zeroing it; setting the charge with check weights, etc. Taking the time to do it right; and experiencing the results of excellence. In 32 years, I have yet to drop the hammer on one of my rounds and it not discharge as intended.

But I digress . . .

Getting back to the subject at hand. Yes, I have (we all have) read lots of horror stories about 800X and other "difficult metering" powders. My RCBS Uniflow is the only powder dispenser I've ever used, so I have nothing against which to compare it. It seems to work great; especially in the contrast of the countless posts regarding metering issues.

Again, Unique is my worst metering powder; and I just take the previously posted (#2) precautions. Other than that, I've noticed that Bullseye and Power Pistol don't flow as smoothly as some; but nothing to bring about any level of concern. Good metering powders include: W231/HP-38; HS-6; & Nitro 100. Excellent metering powders include: VV N-310; TiteGroup; AA#5; AA#7; & W296/H-110. Extraordinary metering powder: AA#2 - it wins the title.