HP 38, W231 may be available soon.

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Hangingrock said:
I just purchased a 8lb container of HP38 @ $20.50 per pound plus tax. I now have 13lbs of W231/HP38 on hand. Which gives me the potential of loading 16 to 18 thousand rounds of ammunition.
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Where?! I wonder if I have to make a road trip to find some...
 
I haven't used either in so long, I can't remember why I would prefer them over Bullseye, or Tightgroup or Alliant, or AA#5.
 
SARuger said:
That puts things in perspective!

My auto-disc leaks badly too (brand new) which is not helping my erratic measures. My load calls for 4.7gn of Unique (min load) and my auto-disc with the 5.3 cavity is only dropping 4.2 so I went one size up(5.7) and I'm only getting 4.6, if I go to the next size, I get too much, 5.3gn which exceeds max load. If I stay with the 5.7 cavity I get anywhere from 4.4-4.8gn drop.

I tried the charge bar, it was worse, sometimes only giving me 3.0gn and I didn't trust it.

I ordered an auto-drum....... Frustrated
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Sar- is it the old style auto disk or the pro auto disk? My old auto disk would leak some until I cut the sides of the plastic hopper down to close the gap between hopper and disk. The new one has an elastomeric wiper that effectively eliminates leakage. If you do have the newer pro auto disk and still have powder leaking, look for granules of powder stuck to the bottom of the rubber wiper. I'll find only 2-3 granules of hp38 on my bench after loading 500 rounds.
 
"Everyone" says the two powders are identical, but...

My Hornady 6th Ed says for .380 auto/90 gr XTP:

Max HP-38 is 3.5 gr and gives 1,050 fps
Max WW231 is 3.6 gr and only gives 950 fps

That sounds like a really big difference for just lot-to-lot variation in the same powder.
 
"Everyone" says the two powders are identical, but...

My Hornady 6th Ed says for .380 auto/90 gr XTP:

Max HP-38 is 3.5 gr and gives 1,050 fps
Max WW231 is 3.6 gr and only gives 950 fps

That sounds like a really big difference for just lot-to-lot variation in the same powder.
Click to expand...

Same barrel length?
 
Gearhead Jim said:
"Everyone" says the two powders are identical, but...

My Hornady 6th Ed says for .380 auto/90 gr XTP:

Max HP-38 is 3.5 gr and gives 1,050 fps
Max WW231 is 3.6 gr and only gives 950 fps

That sounds like a really big difference for just lot-to-lot variation in the same powder.
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Jim- hodgdon says the two powders are identical.
 
ArchAngelCD,

HP-38 If you are near East Stroudsburg or Broadheadsville give dunkleburgers a call they had some before Christmas and still had it last week. They also had Clays.
 
"Same barrel length?"

"Jim- hodgdon says the two powders are identical"

"That's because the manufacturer has confirmed it. All it takes is a call or email to find out for yourself"

The Hornady tests were done using the same gun (Beretta 84 F, 3.88" bbl), same cases, same primers, C.O.L., etc.

Yes, I know what the manufacturer says. But to increase the charge and still loose 100 fps between two "identical" powders suggests a rather large lot-to-lot variation, or something else.

When I chronograph my own pistol handloads, the few times I've changed from one lot of powder to another lot of the same powder, has not changed my velocity more than 50 fps if I keep everything else identical like my Hornady manual.
 
GearheadJim- maybe you should look at the data on the Hodgdon website for .380 90 gn. It is identical between the two. It's the same powder.
 
Gearhead Jim said:
"Everyone" says the two powders are identical, but...



My Hornady 6th Ed says for .380 auto/90 gr XTP:



Max HP-38 is 3.5 gr and gives 1,050 fps

Max WW231 is 3.6 gr and only gives 950 fps



That sounds like a really big difference for just lot-to-lot variation in the same powder.
Click to expand...


It's not just everyone, it's the people that manufacture and sell it. Exact same stuff.
 
So we'll just say that 231/HP-38 is a nice powder with a very large lot-to-lot variation, or Hornady doesn't know how to test ammunition.

I'm voting for the large lot-to-lot variation theory.
 
Sar- is it the old style auto disk or the pro auto disk? My old auto disk would leak some until I cut the sides of the plastic hopper down to close the gap between hopper and disk. The new one has an elastomeric wiper that effectively eliminates leakage. If you do have the newer pro auto disk and still have powder leaking, look for granules of powder stuck to the bottom of the rubber wiper. I'll find only 2-3 granules of hp38 on my bench after loading 500 rounds.
Click to expand...

New style. I got it to work better today with some graphite. I had to use the .57 hole to get the required starting point of 4.7gn of unique. I loaded 100 rounds this morning. I already shot them
 
thomas15 said:
ArchAngelCD,

HP-38 If you are near East Stroudsburg or Broadheadsville give dunkleburgers a call they had some before Christmas and still had it last week. They also had Clays.
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Thank you. I'm about 45 minutes from that area but that's not too bad especially if I stop at the casino for dinner.
 
I got a pound of W231 yesterday at our local gunshow. The dealer had a few pounds of it, he sold out in 5 min. I also got some H110, 2400 and IMR4227 from the same dealer.
 
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