I recently purchased 600 Speer 180 gr Gold Dot bullets to load for my Sig P220 10mm (5" barrel) and my Glock 20 SF (6" LW barrel), and I'm wondering if Longshot or 800 X would be the better powder to use.
I have a pound of each, and have not used either powder before when loading 10mm. I have several pounds of Ramshot Silhouette and Alliant Power Pistol. These have worked well for 135gr and 155gr bullets.
I am looking to use either Hodgdon Longshot or IMR 800 X for my recently acquired 180gr GDHP bullets because the results look promising in all of the reading I've done. It seems that Longshot can plateau velocity wise, and 800 X can have some varying pressure curves/spikes. Is this correct?
I wanted to get opinions from those that have used either or both. Thanks!
Of the first two listed I use the 800x only when making special loads... it can make some nice rounds. The problem is it meters bad like cornflakes ( and I hand weigh each )
Power pistol will also work well with the GDs
But if you get the chance, my go to powder is Blue Dot which really well with the 10 mm 180s
Is the goal top velocity?
Either will get you there, understanding that (in my experience, 5.15" LW) Longshot hits a brick wall pretty quick, and 800X NEEDS to be hand weighed if you're loading greater than the minimum charge.
I am looking to get between 1,200-1,300 fps with these Gold Dots. Looking in the Hodgdon reloading data, there is one charge for 800 X, which I believe was 8.7gr. I have chrono'd the Underwood 180gr GDHP load- 5 shot avg Sig P220 was 1297 fps, 5 shot avg Glock 20 6" LW was 1336 fps. The factory ammo pulldown on this site for the 180gr GDHP Underwood load showed 9.6gr of 800 X.
Has anybody duplicated this load with any success? Since Hodgdon shows only one load for 800 X (8.7gr), I would start there and work up to 9.6gr in .2gr increments. The Underwood load is stout, but I did not see any signs of high pressure other than slight case bulging with the stock factory Glock barrel. This was no longer an issue after purchasing the LW barrel.
My component choices are as follows- new Starline brass, Federal GM150M or WLP primers, Longshot or 800 X, and 180gr GDHP bullets.
I don't have experience with Fed's GM primers, but with WLPs (either Longshot or 800X) I'd back down at least 1/2 a grain from published max for my start point.
Back in 1998 I worked up the 1911 40 Super load data for Tritron Cartridge. I fired thousands of rounds using a whole slew of different powder/bullet/primer combinations and the Number 1 most accurate load was the 180gr Gold Dot in front of 800X powder. Of course back then, there was no Longshot.
I fired two back-to-back five shot groups at 50 yards that both went under 1.5 inches. That's 50 yards, not 25.
Iron sighted, hand held, rested on bags.
Tony Rumore
Tromix
800X will give you near maximum velocities but it is a royal pain to work with. It doesn't meter in most powder measures so you have to hand weigh each charge. It also seems to get a little flaky when you get close to maximum. Longshot is real easy to meter and should get you to your target velocity without going over "book" loads. Start with about 8.5 grains of Longshot and work towards 9.5. You should get to 1,300 fps somewhere in between.
Sorry to resurrect this old thread, but if you're loading for Personal-Defense use, Longshot and 800-X are poor choices, as they have HIGH muzzle flash. See my research at
http://s89.photobucket.com/user/jeffreybehr/library/Muzzleflash?sort=3&page=1
HS-6, A7, and A9 are low-flash powders, but I think you won't get to 1200FPS with HS-6 within a couple manuals' maximums; I'm currently working on a load of A9 and the 180g. HST; more info tomorrow when it'll be chrono'd.