Praise for Higginson's powder's

[JUDES BOUCHARD]

Sorry to learn about Tom he was a true Gentelman. I deal with Andrew from 10 years now and i never had to regret. Andrew has an excellent french language, the first time i order when i gave him my address he told me he comes in my little town for a studiant exchange. So now when i call he name me just by memory my special voice.
Andrew will continue to serve us the best he can, you can be sure.
Judes

 

[purple]

Tom's commercial and military bulk powders were a great deal,altho loading data was slim to none for some of them. He did publish a paper with data for some of them. I believe that a lot of his data was worked up by a gentleman named Bachner, an ex-ballistician who worked for CIL.

A couple of my favourites in the commercial surplus line were both Olin ball powders-X2924 and WC755. X2924 has a burn rate between W748 and BLC2. There was no data for it, but I found it excellent in the .223 Rem/5.56 with the full range of bullets between 50 and 69gr. It was dirt cheap and we probably used close to 100 lbs of it in our .223 gopher guns. WC755 is absolutely outstanding in the .308 Win with 150-168gr bullets. I've always wanted to use it in my 7.62mm gas guns, but had no idea of what the pressure pulse would be in relation to IMR 4895/4064 or W748 and BLC2 which are the proper types for these rifles. I think it was a bit slower burning, perhaps similar to H380, but you don't want to do too much guestimating with propellants.

 

[MEC]

Xelex,Ammomart,Higginsons...

Think I first heard of "Xelex" in the early sixties in classified ads in the "Free Press Prairie Farmer. Right after finding Herters in the late fifties, finally a source of stuff I could afford. Over the years Xelex, Ammomart et al kept me in powders and other stuff.

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Most orders "Old Tom" would add extra propellants with the suggestion "try these out" ( you young guys don't know how lucky you are with these modern day chronographs !!! the old types used to be a proper @$%* SOB@#? to use)

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Remember the periodic newspaper price lists, wish I had kept some, altho I'd probably cry looking at the old prices. Like "Eagleye" I remember the "Bofors ? / Norma line especially the RP 3 (N203) Gawd I loved that stuff ! Used to 'wallow' in CR 17 (IMR 17 ?) eventually that supply ran out. The only downside was the 'crapload' of CR 44 (IMR4475 ?) I had, stored it for a few years during my 'bad times' then found it deteriorating badly. Was informed ( can't remember the source )the probable reason was not proper washing out of the nitric acid during manufacture, apparently not uncommon with military lots, long storage not being one of the primary concerns.

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Anyone remember Xelex offering the CIL "factory second" bullets dirt cheap ? They looked bloody awful, but if not too buggered up they shot quite well at least at the shorter distances ( 100 yds or so) I was fortunate in that I could reswage .308 and .311 if they weren't too oval to get into the forming dies. Mashed up points didn't make much difference at all, surprisingly buggered up bases also did well.

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Had a relative who was a CIL ammo rep in those days, there seemed to be a lot of animosity between them and Higginson , but then CIL really didn't appreciate any competition !!

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One last thing to completly ruin the day of some of you 'young punks' sometime in the late fifties/ early sixties I bought a 20 lb keg of 4831 for .90 cents a pound someplace in Washington state. But then I recently paid about 42 bucks for a bloody can of IMR 4350 Still can't sit down without severe anal pains !!

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Well hope you will forgive a the incoherent ramblings of some senile old fart remembering the 'good old days' guess we didn't realize how lucky we were.
PS ! I know the above crap should be separated into paragraphs but I'm dammed if I know how to do it, sorry about that.

 

[Eagleye]

We had a guy that owned a second-hand store in Salmon Arm who was a self made gunsmith. He used to buy powder in bulk, "repackage" [heavy brown paper bags] it and sell it out of his store. Surplus 4831 sold for 75 cents a lb for a short while and then went to $1.00/lb. He only had about 3 powder numbers, but the price was right! Eagleye.

 

[MEC]

Cheap powder !!

Seventy five cents a pound !!! Here I thought I had the "Mother of all Powder Prices" I wuz raped !! How long ago was this ??

 

[Sly Old Fox]

Higginson, Tom < AmmoMart< ZELEX <

Some of us here were dealing with them even before they were Ammomart. Anyone else remember XELEX?
They are truly one of the best, most customer oriented, companies in Canada.
Ted

I dealt with Tom way back, in Hawksbury, followed him to the sojurn south of Renfrew, back to Hawkesbury again. At the time that he and his wife were in Renfrew, we had to phone ahead to be sure that he would be home. And they never failed to have a pot of tea for us.

Many years ago, Tom had a flyer that he would mail out. In it he took aim at many. It was a pleasure to read but, very confusing. He suggested that reloaders band together in their own area and submit orders to him so that the large order minimizes the shipping costs. And I still have some bulk bullets in .243 back when Tom bought out a bullet factory, all stock and the machinery. I'm unsure is he ever got that aspect of his business off the ground. Also, I have some .308 168 gr. SP BT that shot very well. I forget if the bullets were Zelex or not.

Back at the time of the October crisis in Mtl. and all of the fuss over the FLQ, I knew of some shooters upstream from Ottawa who flew a float plane down to Hawksbury to load up on components for the anticipated revolt. And these people were very serious. TG sanity prevailed in Canada but Trudeau's action at that time caused no small number of Quebecers to become separatists.

Yes, we are truly blessed in having Higginson's still with us.

 

[MEC]

Bullet factory...

Wasn't that the Curry bullet operation out of Los Angeles ? Their product was marketed for a while in B.C. I heard (second or third hand) it was mainly a one man operation and when he passed on, Higginson acquired the outfit. Unfortunately there were too many problems encountered ? Wonder where that equipment is now ? I have made jacketed bullets on old "S.A.S" dies and the old horizontal presses, but trying to set up automated machinery would probably drive me to drink and committing obscene acts !!

 

[johnone]

I think there is some confusion here, Tom Higginson of Ammomart, Xelex and others, passed away a few years, well into his eighties....

His bussiness was bought out and renamed Higginson Powders, by his nephew Andrew and his father, Tom who just passed away three weeks ago at only 61 years of age, a true gentleman.

John

 

[leadslinger]

I think there is some confusion here, Tom Higginson of Ammomart, Xelex and others, passed away a few years, well into his eighties....

His bussiness was bought out and renamed Higginson Powders, by his nephew Andrew and his father, Tom who just passed away three weeks ago at only 61 years of age, a true gentleman.

John

I think i mentioned this in my previous post (#33)

 

[wcat]

I need to join this thread: This afternoon, I just received my order from Higginson's, 13 lbs of powders (4lbs is Varget btw). Very fast and friendly service, I had ordered Friday the 29th (Jan). I talked to a Gentleman on the phone twice, and he even apologized for being a week late on shipping because of some gross law that has them limiting the amount they can send in a day. I don't remember talking to a clerk on the phone that was so friendly and helpfull. They're A+++ in my book now!

 

[toyboy]

i'm sorry to hear about tom's passing.him and andrew were gentlemen and always took the time to help out a customer.
i haven't been there in several months as i got a load of components from someone @ work.

 

[warrenb]

I need to join this thread: This afternoon, I just received my order from Higginson's, 13 lbs of powders (4lbs is Varget btw). Very fast and friendly service, I had ordered Friday the 29th (Jan). I talked to a Gentleman on the phone twice, and he even apologized for being a week late on shipping because of some gross law that has them limiting the amount they can send in a day. I don't remember talking to a clerk on the phone that was so friendly and helpfull. They're A+++ in my book now!

You talked to the owner.