Back reloading 10mm and liking it.

Peter M. Eick · 07-08-2012, 12:20

I finally shot through my stash of 10mm reloads and am now back behind the press. It has been almost 3 years since I loaded any 10mm's. I was on an 38/44 then 357 Maximum kick for part of that so they took the bulk of the reloads. Then came the 38 supers and now finally I have come back to the 10mm. I think I have 5500 pieces of brass to load right now. I will be at it for a while.

I will comment that I am having great consistency with my 800x. Once I got it dialed in, I was getting 9 grns to 8.9 grns on every through. This is a nice accurate lead round plinker load I like to shoot. I read the posts and think 800x is going to be a pain but every time I use it, it is very consistent on my Pro2000.

_The_Shadow · 07-08-2012, 12:28

Hey gald you're back in the 10mm saddle...I have as much fun handloading as I do shooting!

My RCBS Uniflow throws the 800X pretty good also.
Having prepared cases a head of time the only step left for me is adding the powder and bullet, so I can hand weigh each by droping the charge in the scale pan trickle up, load'em...Match Grade quality!

michael e · 07-08-2012, 12:36

I liked the 800x in my 180 loads, but my 170 loads seemed disappointing. Need to go back into the room and play with some new loads for 170.

TDC20 · 07-08-2012, 13:37

Quote:

Originally Posted by Peter M. Eick

I will comment that I am having great consistency with my 800x. Once I got it dialed in, I was getting 9 grns to 8.9 grns on every through. This is a nice accurate lead round plinker load I like to shoot. I read the posts and think 800x is going to be a pain but every time I use it, it is very consistent on my Pro2000.

I agree with you on 800-X. Seems like my G20 loves the stuff with 180 and 200gr jacketed bullets. I have also found consistent single-digit standard deviations in velocity at the full power level. And I've found nothing else that can get the same velocities with the 180's and 200's without evidence of higher pressure.

Like Shadow says, I get pretty good accuracy from my Uniflow measure, and since I'm loading 800-X full power, and on a single stage press, I'm weighing all the charges anyway. It's not the easiest to load, but IMO, it's worth it for the best performance.

nickE10mm · 07-15-2012, 09:39

Hey Peter! Good to see ya back! I thought about dusting off my can of 800x and loading some monsters again, myself. :-)

Nothing touches hand-weighed 800x in velocity, period.

Peter M. Eick · 07-15-2012, 11:04

Well we have about 1500 10's loaded now. Every day, I just pick off another few hundred as a relaxing evening instead of watching TV or something like that. Still loading with 800x. Great stuff!

robert91922 · 07-15-2012, 22:34

Me too, I rather load couple hundred rounds in the evening than watch TV

agtman · 07-18-2012, 18:16

Quote:

Originally Posted by Peter M. Eick

Well we have about 1500 10's loaded now. Every day, I just pick off another few hundred as a relaxing evening instead of watching TV or something like that. Still loading with 800x. Great stuff!

Maybe I'll try the 800x next ...

Still have quite a bit of AA7 and some canisters of AA9, as back-up. 'Til now, all of my "plinking" loads and the loads that simulate a duty/carry load for practice were stuffed w/ the AA7.

I was also put off from 800x after having read posts complaining about the metering issues. Didn't want to get into wasting time w/ pain-in-the-keester propellants ...

Good to hear it isn't so bad.

gofastman · 07-18-2012, 18:49

Quote:

I was also put off from 800x after having read posts complaining about the metering issues. Didn't want to get into wasting time w/ pain-in-the-keester propellants ...

same here.
I still wonder if its worth the extra effort over Longshot...

dm1906 · 07-18-2012, 23:08

Just a note:

Comparing 800X with the likes of AA9, Longshot and even AA7 is just crazy. They are not interchangeable in the least. I know a lot of folks like 800X (it's a good powder, and has it's place), but it's a fast powder, faster than AA5, and a long way from the slower powders like AA7/9, Longshot and Blue Dot. If you try to compare them, and try to get similar results, bad things are going to happen. 800X should be limited to modest heavy bullet velocity, or very light bullets. It's great for bulk target rounds (lightweight stuff), if you can work with the very poor metering characteristics.

nickE10mm · 07-19-2012, 09:35

Quote:

Originally Posted by dm1906

Just a note:

Comparing 800X with the likes of AA9, Longshot and even AA7 is just crazy. They are not interchangeable in the least. I know a lot of folks like 800X (it's a good powder, and has it's place), but it's a fast powder, faster than AA5, and a long way from the slower powders like AA7/9, Longshot and Blue Dot. If you try to compare them, and try to get similar results, bad things are going to happen. 800X should be limited to modest heavy bullet velocity, or very light bullets. It's great for bulk target rounds (lightweight stuff), if you can work with the very poor metering characteristics.

I partially disagree with these statements. While 800x is faster (that most of us probably realize), there is a lot more to where a powder sits on the "burn rate chart". I and MANY others have found 800X to get more velocity with lower pressure than almost (or ALL) of the powders you listed. That doesn't mean its a super powder and it can be used without care.... but it is DEFINITELY not dangerous to use in heavy 180-200gr hot loads (like your example of AA5, for instance). The flake-nature of 800x increases the possibility of erratic burning according to its new distributors but mainly with light bullets and mag primers, as I believe they thought that there could be "secondary detonations" of unburnt flakes while still travelling down the barrel.

Anyways, I don't claim to be an expert on this but I do know what I and other have experience with 800X and its by no means unsafe as long as you hand weigh it.

FWIW, I now use Longshot, Blue Dot, Power Pistol, AA7 and HP38 (light loads) almost exclusively since I don't always wanna hand weigh charges of 800x. Still, I thought I should chime in here.

Be safe!

Kwesi · 07-19-2012, 20:58

I loaded 1# of 800X in my 550 powder measure but it metered poorly. I did speak with the company about a year ago. I was told that they were trying to reduce the flake size to improve metering. Power Pistol & Longshot meter great.