Reloading .50 bmg, info for you on the WC867 and WC872 powders

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[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Reloading .50 bmg, info for you on the WC867 and WC872 powders

Posted: 9/25/2011 2:29:14 PM EDT

The powders listed will work in .50 bmg, but do not expect the performance of WC860 these two are from the 20mm Vulcan cartridge and while function in a 50 bmg, will not get you up to velocity, good for plinking low velocity loads, unless you heat up your ammo to 130+ degrees prior to shooting.

FYI

Posted: 9/25/2011 2:52:33 PM EDT

[#1]

What kind of charge are you loading your round to? I would imagine that one could fill the case up to the mouth and then do a compress load. I AM NOT SUGGESTING THAT ANYONE DO THAT. I would like to hear what kind of load you are doing though newcalshooter.

Posted: 9/25/2011 4:26:46 PM EDT

[#2]

A friend uses WC860 with ball, AP, API, APIT and the AMAX projectiles. For a pulled powder, seems to give good groups. I thought about the WC867 and WC872 powders because they were cheap but went with IMR5010 instead. The IMR powder is still out there as new production ( not pulled ) so was more comfortable using it. It is cheap also if bought in the 8 LB jugs from Hi-Tech ammo.

Posted: 9/25/2011 6:39:32 PM EDT

[#3]

Im using wc860 220 gr with 650 gr ball projectiles, the vulcan powder will not burn fast enough to get you up to 2750 fps, my info came from a very good group of Very High Power shooters. I would highly reccomend any 50 shooter to join the www.fcsa.org fifty cal shooters ass. good luck to you all and keep shooting :)

Posted: 9/26/2011 11:15:35 AM EDT

[#4]

Interesting and a timely post, as I am going to test some loads using the WC872 and new manufacture SA 690 gr ball projo's I got from Widener's...

I have loaded up them up in batches of 200, 205, and 210 gr's of powder and plan on chronoing along with accuracy comparision this weekend. Once I have some new empty brass I will load up some 220's for testing with this projectile as well. My Lee manual is saying about 223 gr would be a MAX load, of which I have no interest in testing.

All rds will be fired from my M99.

Posted: 9/26/2011 12:49:05 PM EDT

[#5]

The 867 and 872 Widener's is selling at $39 per 8lb keg is new and not pulled down. That being said, I have only used it, suscessfully I will add, to light and push 820gr spotter tracer bullets. I did not have to puncture the foil and 170grs of 872 worked very well. I did chrono but do not have the data available this minute.

Posted: 9/26/2011 1:09:45 PM EDT

[#6]

Vulcan / WC867 and 872 powder for $39 8Lbs Data Has been posted on the FCSA.org and he showed velocity and pressure spikes, velocity went from 2400-2650 fps, with the same load in a 5 round trial, preassure was also measured and was very erratic. Maybe with 750 gr+ projectiles you would have better luck?

Posted: 9/26/2011 6:48:55 PM EDT

[#7]

I have not shot a lot of the 867 yet, but so far I like it. I would not call them "slow", because it is faster than 5010. 8700 which is the load data to start with is faster than 5010, not much, but faster.

The data I have is limited, but with a 647 gr API that I resized with 225 gr of WC867 gave: 2777, 2766, 2766, 2754, and 2812 fps.

With a 690 gr SA FMJ 222 gr of WC867 gave: 2666, 2693, 2682, 2677, and 2656 fps.

The above was from a 29" barrel. These were all weighed charges.

Accuracy with the SA 690 FMJ was no different than some H5010 I have (minute of gong). I loaded some behind some Lehigh 650 gr ball and have not had a chance to get to the range for an evaluation.

Posted: 9/26/2011 7:12:38 PM EDT

[#8]

What the hell is the difference from a pulled powder or new? I bought a sealed case of 48lbs of WC867 it says for use in loading 50BMG or other ammunition using a slow burning powder "ala 338 lapua " See A8700 data" AS long as your barrel is long enough to burn the powder all is well, there is a lot of dis-information about this powder ( Used , bunk , defective) none of which proves to be true if you talk to olin corp.
That being said try to find load data ! links would help!
I am using 215 grains of WC867 on 705 grain Harlow solid Moly seems fine , no signs of overpressure , Using my RAP-500

Posted: 9/27/2011 4:25:09 PM EDT

[#9]

Quoted:
What the hell is the difference from a pulled powder or new? I bought a sealed case of 48lbs of WC867 it says for use in loading 50BMG or other ammunition using a slow burning powder "ala 338 lapua " See A8700 data" AS long as your barrel is long enough to burn the powder all is well, there is a lot of dis-information about this powder ( Used , bunk , defective) none of which proves to be true if you talk to olin corp.
That being said try to find load data ! links would help!
I am using 215 grains of WC867 on 705 grain Harlow solid Moly seems fine , no signs of overpressure , Using my RAP-500

New - such as I stated is being sold for $39, means it has never been loaded. Safe to assume it's all from the same lot.

Pulled or pulled down meaning it was at one time loaded, the bullet was removed and the powder dumped. Who knows how many lots end up in the jug you buy.

All the load data I have seen for 867 and 872 has been on the forums, I have never seen a postable link, sorry.

Posted: 9/27/2011 4:29:28 PM EDT

[#10]

The only issue I have with pulled powder is that you don`t know truly, how old it is & under what conditions the ammunition in which it was put in, was stored. Many folks have had fine results using pulled powders. It is that element of the unknown of where it has been that bothers me some. Kind of like a woman who puts out sex on a first date that leaves you wondering how many other people before you that she has been with.

Posted: 9/27/2011 8:00:56 PM EDT

[#11]

Thanks for the Info , I am glad mine is new and not "reclaimed"

Posted: 10/8/2011 10:40:37 AM EDT

[#12]

I purchased 24 lbs of 860 for a "good" price and it was pulled powder. I had great varations in velocity and I noticed a lot of dust in the powder and I think it was because of too much shipping and bad storage. I ended up pouring the powder in front of a fan to blow the dust out of it but I'm still not happy. Since then I've moved on to AA8700 and H50 powder. I've learned my lesson on purchasing pulled powder.

Posted: 10/8/2011 4:30:53 PM EDT

[#13]

Ridurall,
I think that 8700 is no longer made. Do you have a source for that powder somewhere? Last results from a friends testing showed very nice low spreads in speed.

Posted: 10/9/2011 11:05:12 PM EDT

[#14]

I was able to purchase 3 kegs from a guy on AR-15.com of AA8700 but Wideners has GI same stuff on sale for $39 an 8lb keg. It uses the same data as AA8700. http://www.wideners.com/itemdetail.cfm?item_id=10000013&dir=278|283|999 Of course start low and work your way up. It's a great price. By the way it's new not pulled powder. It's also called WC867

Posted: 11/27/2011 4:20:21 PM EDT

[#15]

I did a lot of research on the wc867/872 powders when Wideners was first advertising the stuff.

If you guys have a membership to FCSA, there is a lot of good info on the forums...
The long and short is expect extreme spreads in velocity with bullets below 750gr, as much as 300-400fps with barrels under 30", and expect extreme variation in pressure and velocity with temperature changes.

I wouldn't mess with the stuff unless you like shooting the heavy bullets in long barrels, or you are one of the unfortunate fifty owners that are limited to ranges in the 200-400yds range where you probably won't notice the velocity spread nearly as much. They would make some pretty good "budget loads" you can let the gawkers shoot, too!

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Reloading .50 bmg, info for you on the WC867 and WC872 powders

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