doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com 800x GREATEST POWDER EVER FOR LOW PRESSURE LOAD?

Ok, I know there will be skeptics here. Over the last year I have been experimenting with 800X powder for everything from 28 gauge to 10 gauge. I know that it does not meter that well but + or - .5gr has not made a difference in any gauge from my single stage Mec 600 Jr. I regularly shoot 50-75 strait at skeet with my vintage and modern guns alike with this powder. The "magic" 12 gauge low pressure load is as follows: 19.5gr. 800X, Win AA case, Windjammer blue wad, Rem. or Win. 209 primer, and 1 1/8 Oz. of #8 or 9shot. Pressure is 5000 psi. For all you short 10 gauge lovers out there I just developed a great load. Here it is: 24gr 800X, Rem SP10 plastic wad, Win. 209 primer, 1 1/8 Oz. of shot with 2 16 gauge card wads or 1 1/4 Oz. shot with no card wads. This is very soft shooting. My point is that 800X is not the best powder for all applications but it is convenient to load all gauges except .410 with one powder! I will develop an 8 gauge load this week with 26-28 grains of 800X and 1 1/4 Oz. of shot. And yes, I shoot these 800X loads in all of my Damascus guns and my modern over/under shotguns. I hope people will respond with their thoughts. If you need my pet loads for 14, 16, and 20 gauge I can provide those as well.

That 12 gauge load would concern me.

Hodgdon lists that load at 20.5 Gr. and that's with a W209.

They publish nothing with the Remington primer, significantly even with Remington shells. Rem 209 is a very mild primer.

The Windjammer wad has about the poorest gas sealing of any wad available.

End result is a very dirty load at best, at worst you may be flirting with a 'secondary explosion' scenario.

It works like this:

The weather gets a little chilly, the Remington primer sort of lights off the 800X which has a reputation of being difficult to ignite anyway. It kicks the shot charge down barrel a short distance and the fire which wasn't too intense in the first place goes almost, but not quite, out. Then the pressure builds up from the slowed ejecta, the powder finally gets to it's ideal combustion pressure... and... Kaboom.

I would at the very least use a W209 and the published charge.

It made me sick to see the old gold medal go and the old federal paper is kaput too. I�m not that keen on those new federal shells that replaced the gold medals (the new gold medal grand with steel base rather than brass). Progress.....not always for the best, sadly.

I am in total agreement with Jones here. 5K pressure with a slow burning powder is flirting with Danger. I read a very knowledgeable report on this & in "Hindsight" it is now believed this Secondary Explosion effect was one of the major factors in giving Damascus a bad name for use with Smokeless powder. The other was loading dense smokeless with a bulk dipper.

In the early days of smokeless there was still many primers around which were rather weak, being designed for Easy to Ignite Black Powder. This may indeed have led to this secondary explosion effect when loading Smokeless which was harder to ignite.

As my personal loading has always been for hunting I do not load below 7K & more generally in the 8K range. The faster powders ignite easier & the higher pressures results in much more efficient burning of smokeless.

When I want 5K pressures I shoot Black. Just my thoughts which were asked for.

I have a few guns that I shoot 5-6K shells in but have decided to review my practices. If a gun is not able to safely shoot 7K loads it is probably best not to shoot it at all. If it is only safe to shoot with extreme weak loads that�s a concern it really is tough weak to shoot at all. Since I have many other guns to shoot it just seems best to retire the ones I am concerned about due to safety issues.

When you raise you pressure level to 7K you get a larger variety of loads to try. Most do very well, even in cold weather. Once you decide to reload your options get better. If you accept that 1100 FPS kills birds just as dead as 1200 or 1300 FPS velocity does not matter. Pressure and patterns become what you choose from. Larger shot size retains energy down range and helps make slightly slower loads performance better on live birds.

I had such poor results I gave away 4 pounds. I have reloaded for 45 years and tried almost every shotgun power and this stuff doesn't make.

bill

Hi all, well, my 2c worth. I use 800-X for my 12ga LP loads. I've never had an issue with this powder, except it meters poorly. I do weight each of my powder drops and while it takes time, I'm only loading a few boxes, so no big deal for me. The load I use does a fine job on wild ringnecks. I've never had any issues with this load in cold weather. I like it and have been using it for a few years now. Here's the load I use:

2 3/4" Plastic Gold Medal Hulls
Windjammer wad w/overshot card
Win 209 primer
24grns 800-X
5900psi
1200fps

Like I said, this one works for me and I'm happy with it.

Best,

Greg

800x does have a reputation for not metering well. On a Multiple stage loader it does have a lot of variations in drop weights. On my SpolarPower loader it is not too bad but that machine has a vibrator on the primer tract which might help. A in line powder baffle on a MEC helps but big flakes just don�t drop the same every time.

To start with, using someone's "pet" load that they worked up on their own and have never had pressure tested is just stoopid.

As mentioned above low pressure loads can be nothing less than dangerous. Like KY Jon says - If a gun is not able to safely shoot 7K loads it is probably best not to shoot it at all.

And, of course, 800X is smelly crap. GreenDot and Unique are both far superior in every way. As are a number of other powders. Why anyone uses 700X or 800X for anything is a total mystery to me.
Please don't tell me why - I actually don't GAF
thanks

I should mention, the load I use is from IMR. It's listed on their Load Data section of their website.

Best,

Greg