700x Lead 45 and 38 suggestions

[Reefinmike]

Hello All, im looking for some insight from those who have worked with both 700x and lead loads of varying alloy. the one pound of bullseye I managed to scrounge up isnt going to do but maybe a quarter of the brass I have been piling up while searching for powder. I settled on picking up a 4# jug of 700x.

45 acp- My current go to load: 3.9gr BE with a lee tumble lubed micro grove .452 sized 230gr LTC cast from ~70% range scrap and 30% wheel weights. Fired from my glock 41 factory barrel, these leave zero leading. I also will be loading for my mech tech glock carbine conversion with a 16" barrel.

38spl- Same load and alloy as above but only with .358 sized lee microgrove 158 LSWC. these are unloaded via a taurus 66, taurus 605 and smith airweight. this fairly toasty load is the only one that wont slick both snub nose bore's in lead.

Any suggestions on where to start as far as powder charge and alloy when working with 700x? I dont know a whole lot on powder similarities and how burn rates dictate the behavior of the powder, but I was a little less apprehensive to buy the 700x and try it after seeing that it is listed right above bullseye on hogdons listing of powder burn rates.

 

[Walkalong]

I used W-231 in .45 ACP with lead because it shot a hair better for me than 700X, but it will work just fine.

I used 700X in .38 Spl where it worked very well and in .44 Spl where it excelled for me.

I used nothing but W-231 and 700X for years back when I only loaded .38 Spl, .44 Spl, and .45 ACP. A S&W, a Charter Arms, and a Springfield.

 

[MifflinKid]

It is somewhat dirty but I use it almost exclusively in my lead .45 ACP loads. I find it very consistent as the load gets towards the top end of recommended loads. It is also pretty inexpensive on a per round basis.

I usually shoot medium cast lead bullets -- 225gr truncated cone, 230gr round nose and 200gr round nose flat points. I go to hard cast bullets in 200gr and 165gr semi-wadcutters. All of these are .452" in diameter.

When I load plated or jacketed .45 ACP, which is pretty infrequently, I use Universal, Unique or HP-38.

In the .38 and .44 Specials it is also good for medium cast bullets which are the only ones I shoot in these calibers these days. I find it very good, equal to W231, with 148gr semi-wadcutters in the .38 Special.

 

[mackg]

Hi there,

I use range lead, after a short spell on wheelweights, and mostly Liquid Alox with standard bullets.

On paper, 700X and Bullseye often look like twins with lead bullets, 700X peaking earlier. I found my lot, bought some eight years ago, softer than same loads of TiteGroup in 45 ACP. Go figure, TG is supposed to be the slower of the three...

I started 700X at 4.4grs with a LEE 45-200-RF, and settled on 4.7, to get a better feel.
I seem to shoot more accurately with higher loads and would like to try 5.0 or so, but I have been caught between primer shortage, time and a troublesome second 1911.

A problem with 700X is that it doesn't meter well at lower loads in the Auto-Disk. I gave up in 9 Luger as I wanted 3.3-3.5grs. I wouldn't recommend less than about 4.0 grs in the Auto-Disk without trying it myself first.
If you use a standard rotor measure, like the Hornady, you should be fine as the problem is caused by narrow cavities.
That's too bad as otherwise it is my favorite powder, clean and fairly fluffy.

Speer Nr 12 (1995) gives loads of 4.3-4.7 for 767-838 fps with a 230 LRN (oal 1.270), but starts at 3.8 with a 200 LSWC.
Lyman 48th (2002) gives 4.0-5.0 grs for 695-855 fps with a 225 LRN (oal 1.272).
Have a look at Hodgdons data center for more:
http://www.hodgdonreloading.com/

 

[cfullgraf]

I like 700-X in 45 ACP. I have used it for decades with 230 RN bullets, cast, plated and jacketed.

I may have used it in the distant past in 38 Special but i do not specifically remember. But I am beginning to try 700-X in other cartridges like 44 Special and 45 Colt.

Back in my younger days when funds were tighter and 700-X came in 1/2 pound tins, I think I tended to save it for just 45 ACP. Sometimes supplies were spotty in rural area that I lived and the internet was merely a twinkle in Al Gore's eyes.

Today's shortages not withstanding, I have a greater supply of 700-X and I am not shooting as much 45 ACP so i have 700-X to burn so to speak.

 

[Reefinmike]

Thanks for the reassurance guys, any suggestions on the alloy to use? with bullseye and 231/hp38 I have found that the softer the better. Straight lead wheel weights have seemed to be a lot of trouble for me. I sold my 1911 to switch to a g41 and I love it. several loads that had badly leaded my 1911 bore left my glock squeaky clean after 300 rounds. I have a little more than three gallons of sized/primed 38 brass and over a gallon of 45 brass. lets hope this powder work, my 38 supply is running low

 

[mackg]

Unsized range lead for me.

 

[Reefinmike]

range report

Thanks for the heads up Mackg on throwing small charges,until today, Ive never seen a powder that will throw a 3 grain charge and then throw a .7 grain charge in the lee pro autodisk. . I charged 20 38 special cases using the .40cc disk and many of them were all over the place, a 5 or so had only a half grain of powder. I may throw a nice fat screw in one of the larger disks to see if I can get a consistent light charge for 38spl. Or I may just work up a "+p" 38 load to shoot through my 357's. the only way I could get my snubs to not slick the bore in lead was to load up a max +p bullseye load with soft lead. Coincidentally that 3.9gr bullseye charge is the exact charge I use in my 45's... time for some experimentation.

It metered pretty darn consistently in the larger disks as you mentioned, so I loaded up 15 rounds each of 4.2, 4.5 and 4.8gr using the .57, .61 and .66 cc disks. They all shot very accurate, and left the bore squeaky clean. the glock carbine conversions barrel was squeaky clean as well. ended up putting 5 boxes of lead through it today. Ive been having great luck recently with lead cast boolits.

 

[mackg]

You're welcome.

I tried to make baffles, roof shaped, flat, 1 hole, 2 holes, and it got worse.
Following some advice found on line, I filled the hoper to the top, without baffle, and things got a little better; but they were still some light loads and stove pipes (this was for 3.4grs).

Since I had 4lbs of Titegroup to use, I was too lazy to try the PPM (which btw, is intended for the Load Master as it doesn't expand cases out of the box, or is fully automated on LEE's Turret).