844 Surplus Powder: What's your thoughts?

[Cannon]

I've never used and I'm new to reloading. I think I understand that most of it is reclaimed. Is it in good for consistency? Anybody with their ?

 

[kevinm]

i have not used it yet but got 8lb friday . cant wait to try it

 

[indymadcaster]

with surplus powders you MUST start low and work up loads!!!! it can vary a bit from one lot to another I have seen this in several surplus powders.......you can normally just run with it with retail powders thou we should restart low and work up even when starting a new one pound cannister......... vigilance affords safety to the conciensous reloader!

 

[Aszerigan]

You can get WC844 for really cheap these days. It comes from mil 223 pull downs. WC844 is comparable to H335 in load data and pressures.

Of COURSE.... work up your load data, don't max it and work backwards.

 

[slow1911s]

WC844 is very common in .222 and .223 cases with 55-62 gr heads. H335 data is said to be equivalent. Be careful when loading near max because it is temperature sensitive. And, there can be significant differences lot-to-lot. Work up slow, and be careful

 

[Cannon]

Gotcha on the lot to lot differences and you gotta work it up. How consistent is 1 8Lb keg? I'd like to make atleast near match ammo so I had not considered it up to this point.

 

[Aszerigan]

Consistency between kegs is going to be absolutely nonexistent. Pulled powders may come from mixed lots, mixed calibers, any number of variables.

It's great powder to plink with, but don't enter any matches with surplus unless you're shooting it all from the same keg.

 

[Cannon]

Consistency between kegs is going to be absolutely nonexistent. Pulled powders may come from mixed lots, mixed calibers, any number of variables.

It's great powder to plink with, but don't enter any matches with surplus unless you're shooting it all from the same keg.

I've never shot a match but I have got the accuracy bug. I've shot match ammo before but it's crazy on how well some of this reloaded ammo is. I'll pick some up eventually I'm sure, just wanted to hear others opinions. Honestly, my hands are full right now just trying out some of the RL15 I picked up this week. Thanks for the info!

 

[indyjohn]

You can get WC844 for really cheap these days. It comes from mil 223 pull downs. WC844 is comparable to H335 in load data and pressures.

Of COURSE.... work up your load data, don't max it and work backwards.

Educate please: what's the definition of the term "pull downs". This is the second time I've seen it tonight and I don't know what it means....

 

[slow1911s]

Educate please: what's the definition of the term "pull downs". This is the second time I've seen it tonight and I don't know what it means....

It's powder (also applies to bullets and sometimes cases) that comes from surplus military ammunition that has been disassembled. Our government can't/won't sell current surplus ammo. But they can/will sell to contractors who disassemble and re-sell the components.

 

[Aszerigan]

It's powder (also applies to bullets and sometimes cases) that comes from surplus military ammunition that has been disassembled. Our government can't/won't sell current surplus ammo. But they can/will sell to contractors who disassemble and re-sell the components.

^^ This.