I see some IMR 700-x available

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gonoles_1980

gonoles_1980

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I really need powder for my 357 mag, IMR 700-X looks like it's the same burn rate as titegroup and bullseye. I already have enough of those powders (not that you ever have enough).

Is IMR 700-X one of those must get powders, or waiting around for a slower burning powder better? I really don't want to horde if I don't need to.
 
Well, good question. 700X is my main powder for shotgun and .40SW and 9mm right now. Works well for me. I am not sure how many of us former Hodgdon Clays users will go back to Clays when it starts showing back up on LGS shelves.

700X works fine. Meters fine in my Dillon 550B and my MEC presses.

Question - since you already have Bullseye supply, why store something so similar?
 
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That's what I was asking myself. Whether to buy or just wait until I get what I'm looking for. I was desperate for a while, I had zero powder and was ordering what I could get online, paying for a 1lb + hazmat fee was hurting the wallet. Now I have a decent supply, especially for the faster powder. I've had 8lbs of HP-38 on backorder for about 9 months now. The fact I was without for a while, has given me some tendencies to get powder when I see it. I still don't see it around a lot. Pistol powder is just hard to find.
 
I've used it for 38 special. There's load data for 357. It's not going to be full house, fun, fireball loads, but it will get you shooting. Not ideal, but then again, I don't know what your need and Intentions are.

I use a lot of 700x for 9mm and 45. You'll read countless people claiming that it "meters terribly " or "meters like fish/corn flakes". It is simply not true. I load 2.8 gr for 38 special with .1gr accuracy.

People just regurgitate Internet myths as fact.
 
It is a good powder and useful for target loads. It shoots better than it meters, which is so so. Bullseye covers you on most anything 700X does. I really like 700X, and if you have a chance to pick up a pound locally to try one day, I would suggest you try some if you like trying different things.

If you want something for .357 Mag to use for anything but light target loads, wait for something else, either a medium (Universal Clays, Unique, AA #5 etc) speed, or a slow speed (N or H 110, W296, AA #9, Enforcer, etc) powder.
 
It's my main powder for .45 acp plinking. It's a pretty versatile powder for light to moderate target loads in a variety of calibers. For me it works great and the last few "pounds" have cost between $14-$18. I put pounds in parenthesis because a 1# jug of 700x only contains 14oz of powder.

Metering was +/- .1 grain in my RCBS powder thrower, but very rough and catchy. I just got a Lee Classic Turret with the pro auto disk powder measure. Still meters accurately,but I don't notice any rough or catchy metering like I did with the RCBS.

It probably wouldn't be my first choice for .38 or .357, but having some on hand can't hurt.
 
For those of you that have used both... (700x and 800x) I'm taking it that the 700x is smaller flakes? I have used fair amount of 800x in my 550b and short of tapping the funnel constantly, it meters very poorly.

Comments?
 
I have never used 800X, but it has a reputation for metering like "cornflakes".
 
gonoles_1980 said:
I really need powder for my 357 mag, IMR 700-X looks like it's the same burn rate as titegroup and bullseye. I already have enough of those powders (not that you ever have enough).

Is IMR 700-X one of those must get powders, or waiting around for a slower burning powder better? I really don't want to horde if I don't need to.
Click to expand...

I have used 700-X in 45 ACP for decades. It meters fine for me but you have to learn the technique. I also have a 380ACP load with 700-X.

Recently, I have been a bit frustrated with the powder position sensitivity of Unique in 45 Colt and have interested in trying 700-X in 44 Special, 45 Colt and mid range 44 Magnum.

For full power loads in 357 Magnum or 44 Magnum, 700-X ain't it But for low pressure loads, 700-X will work well.

Some folks fuss that 700-X is dirty but i find a quick wipe down will clean up the soot quite well.

That is not to say that other powders will not work as well but with pistol powders in short supply these days, beggars can't be choosers sometimes.
 
Resisted my urge to horde, all 19 4lb jugs are gone now. If I hadn't had the titegroup and bullseye already, I would have grabbed it. I need some slower burning powders. It's looking like powder is starting to show up once in a while, saw some longshot earlier today.
 
Yes, 800x is bigger flakes and I have banned 800x from my 550b and only using in shotshell rounds.

I will admit that as bad as the 800x meters in my Dillon, the .40SW rounds shot ok.

Sorry for the 90 degree viewing angle.
 

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for what its worth, using my lee pro auto disk with 700x, any charge under 4.4gr can be inconsistent. ~10% of the throws end up being a single grain or less. Loads higher than 4.4gr will throw +/-.2gr. Not ideal but I have a sweet little 38 load that Im going to burn up the remainder of my 700x on before I switch back to hp38.
 
Reefinmike said:
for what its worth, using my lee pro auto disk with 700x, any charge under 4.4gr can be inconsistent. ~10% of the throws end up being a single grain or less. Loads higher than 4.4gr will throw +/-.2gr.
Click to expand...

Interesting. I think the pro auto disk instruction manual mentions inconsistent throws with light charges of large flake powders like 700x. I just loaded a bunch of 45 acp at 4.9/5.0 grains with consistent results.
 
I just finished a run of 12K 40S&W rounds using one lot of 700X. Loads from my Dillon 650 powder thrower were generally about 4.4 grains, +0.3/- 0.2 grains. These results covered the full span of the recommended load for 40 S&W. For my 650 equipment, this is a much bigger variation that I see when using powder that meter more consistently (e.g. Bullseye, AA#2, etc.).

Given this variation, I stopped more frequently to spot check charges than I typically do with powders that meter better. I found that keeping the powder thrower close to full helped keep results more consistent.
 
Walkalong said:
I have never used 800X, but it has a reputation for metering like "cornflakes".
Click to expand...

I found that 800x gives 95% the velocity of LongShot in 10mm but at much lower case pressure. So I bought some years back. Yes, absolute cornflakes. Changes the formula from "X" rounds per minute to "X" minutes per round. Had to hand weigh every charge.

But it sure does run nice in that 10mm. Just too much of a pain to use.
 
It's the first powder I ever used. I've made thousands and thousands of 45 ACP and 45 Colt with 700x.

It meters poorly but, oddly enough, it doesn't affect performance as much as you would expect.

My goal charge with any lead 200gr bullet in 45ACP is 4.6 grains. It would be common to see charge weights from 4.5 to 4.8 and on paper you couldn't tell the difference.
 
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