h110 in 45lc

[14cm]

i loaded some 45lc and shot them today. it was 22gr of h110 with a 300 gr siera flat point. the accuracy was very good and the speed was around 1140fps. the primers looked good but there seemed to be a wee bit of unburnt powder on the walls of the case. i have loaded pounds of h110 in my 454. 31.5 gr behind a 300 gr xtp mag however i have never noticed any unburnt residue.

i would guess it has to do with the pressure? 25-30k vs 50-55k. anbody got any ideas.
maybe it happens with the 454 but i have never noticed it.

[Unclenick]

Yep, its the pressure. That powder is notorious for being right on the ragged edge of extinguishing at low magnum revolver pressures. That's why Hodgdon has its warning not to reduce loads more than 3%. The powder is known to squib out and leave a bullet stuck in the barrel for the next shot to run into. The fact you are finding unburned powder suggests your pressure is in that vicinity.

I don't know the length of the Sierra bullet or the COL you are using, but I've noticed that with a magnum primer (necessary with the H110/296 powder), the recommended loads seem to occupy over 90% of the space behind the bullet. You should check that your's do, too. If you don't want to raise the load level, you might want to switch to 2400 or Blue Dot or another powder that doesn't have the problem of squibbing out with reduced charges.

[14cm]

have anyone used lil' gun in this application? i have not heard of it squibing.

[Unclenick]

No, I haven't, on either count. Hodgdon doesn't list lil' gun loads for lead 300 grain bullets, but for 325 grain lead bullets in their Ruger-TC-Freedom Arms-only .45 Colt loads, they list 17 grains to start and 20 grains max. AFAIK, only H110/296 has the squibbing problem severely among pistol powders. You do hear of slow rifle propellants sometimes squibbing out when bullets are too light for them.

[tomh1426]

H-110/W-296 is a great powder if used correctly, In my Blackhawk I load 300 gr hard cast RFN GC bullets over 23gr of H-110 with no leading or unburnt powder.
You need a magnum primer a good crimp and more powder.
Be careful!

[GeauxTide]

H-110 is dirty in my 41 and 44. I don't have any burnt powder because I use mag primers; however, the case mouths are always black. One other thought is to be sure that your sizing die gets the case, before belling, to .450 to ensure good bullet pulls with slow powder.

[SwampYankee]

I use 9 grains of HS-6 behind a 255 RNL bullet as my target .45 Colt load. The recoil is very mild but there is always a ton of unburned powder left, it goes everywhere. I think the pressures are in the 13,000 psi range (I forget what Quickload calculated) but I have never had a squib and even Magnum primers don't help.

I've got some H110 and have not used it yet, based on the comments made here I'll be careful not to underload with it.

[Doodlebugger45]

I use H110 and W296 all the time in my 44 mag, 454 Casull, and 480 Ruger. However, for my hot 45 Colt loads, I've had better luck using IMR 4227. I'm not sure why, it just seems to burn better.

[Mr.RevolverGuy]

SwampYankee,

I load 9.8 of HS-6 for 45 Colt with the same bullet and use winchester large pistol primer and I do not have the unburnt powder problem. I say bump your load up a bit more and you will be ok. Lyman and Hodgdon both list their max powder charges in the 10 range.

[14cm]

I use cci mag primers any time i use h110. if it looks like an ongoing problem i may try lil'gun and religate my h110 to 50k 454 loads.

[Stargazer]

CAUTION: The following post includes loading data beyond currently published maximums for this cartridge. USE AT YOUR OWN RISK. Neither the writer, The Firing Line, nor the staff of TFL assume any liability for any damage or injury resulting from use of this information.


I just got a new 4" Redhawk and have been trying to get a 300 grain jacketed bullet up to 1200 FPS and it ain't happening. I have used H110, WW296 and Unique mostly. I just got some AA#9 and my first looads with that were disappointing. I was using a 300 grain Speer Unicor bullet and started wth 15 grains, PACT didn't read due to sun angle messing with IR screens, later on 16 grains read 762 FPS, 16.5 read 781 FPS, 17 read 832 FPS, 17.5 read 903. All cases were dirty but not as dirty as H110. Winchester WLP primer. Not bulged either so I can try a little more powder to try to get it to at least 1100 or so.

Now 300 grain Sierra Cor-Bon hunter rounds did give me an honest 1187 FPS from the 4". That is some bad *** ammo guys. 4' muzzle blast tube!

My heaviest load with H110 has been 23.5 grains with a 300 grain jacketed bullet and that gave me an average of 1092 FPS. Cases are very dirty.

My practice and plinking rounds go back to Unique. 10.5 grains gives me 956 FPS and is rather clean compared to AA#9 or H110. Way economical compared to H110 too.

Let us know what you end up with result wise with your loads.

[14cm]

from a 7.5 barrel i am getting 1130 avg from 22gr of h110. this is with a 300gr siera flat point. the preliminay grouping is soo good i may not screw with it. i shot three into paper at 30 yards all three cut each other.

[Stargazer]

from a 7.5 barrel i am getting 1130 avg from 22gr of h110. this is with a 300gr siera flat point. the preliminay grouping is soo good i may not screw with it. i shot three into paper at 30 yards all three cut each other.

My 7.5" BlackHawk gave me 1157 FPS with 22 grains of H110 with a 300 grain Hornady XTP so our readings with loads are rather close to one another. That shorter barrel just seems to lose a lot of velocity compared to the 7.5" in this caliber. 26.5 grains of H110 with a Nosler 250 only got me 1144 FPS. No telling what they would do in a 7.5" barrel.

[Unclenick]

Swampyankee,

Just to be sure you are on the same page as the OP, the St.Mark's powder that is packaged as both H110 for the Hodgdon brand and as 296 for the Winchester brand is just for higher pressure loads in the magnum revolver range, and is listed by Hodgdon as only suitable for Ruger, TC, and Freedom Arms guns which are beefy enough to handle 40,000 psi. The HS-6 load you mentioned for 13,000 psi and the max load mentioned for .45 Colt are nowhere near the pressures of the H110/296 loads. Thus, subbing and H110 load for the HS-6 loads is not comparable and would be outright dangerous and capable of bursting many guns chambered for .45 Colt.

HS-6 seems to want around 15,000 psi and up for burning fairly completely, and does better near 20,000 psi, IME. H110/296 needs to see about 28,000 psi and up to burn reliably and efficiently. Lots of folks use both these powders below those pressures, as many HS-6 starting loads are, and more soot and less complete burning should then be expected. No harm in the case of HS-6; just more cleaning. In the case of H110/296, occasionally a lower pressure load will squib out and get a bullet stuck in the barrel. That can damage the gun if a follow-up load is fired before the bullet is removed. That's especially a hazard in rapid fire shooting where you may not stop to notice the lower recoil and report of the squib. Mostly folks get away with such underloads, which leads to a false sense of security. Keep an eye and ear and sense of recoil alert for a stuck bullet in the barrel if you experiment with H110/296 below 28,000 psi or below 90% powder space fill, and don't shoot such loads rapid fire.


Stargazer,

Be sure your chronograph is far enough away that you don't get a start screen false trigger from the bypass gas and particles that can precede the bullet. It will result in false low readings.

I ran a 1200 fps table in QuickLOAD and it looks like Norma 123 would give you the lowest pressure, followed by Lil' Gun, then H110/296 in your search for the 1200 fps goal. The fact is, you'll have to load up beyond normal limits to get where you want to go with your barrel length, and all attendant precautions need to be taken in doing that.