WC-735 in a 308 Winchester - Range Report

Here's some food for thought. I went to the range today and fired 50 rounds in the same rifle, with exactly the same components and the same amount of powder, but varied the powder type. I wanted to guage the relative powder quickness of the Higginson's surplus WC-735, the assumption being that the faster the average MV, the quicker the powder and vice-versa.

308 Winchester, Norma brass, 150gr Hornady FMJ, 2.800" OAL, CCI LR BR primers, Mauser action with 26 1/2" barrel.

41.0 grs WC-735 - 2850 fps
41.0 grs H335 - 2820 fps
41.0 grs H322 - 2800 fps
41.0 grs Benchmark - 2750 fps
41.0 grs H4895 - 2670 fps.

No surprises with the Benchmark and H4895 as I knew they were slower than the WC-735, nor was it a surprise that the WC-735 showed faster than the H335 and H322. I was a bit surprised that the H335 and H322 came up as pretty much a tie (in this gun with this load). The other surprise was when I substituted Win LR primers for the CCI LR BR, I saw no MV increase (they are supposed to be "hotter"). I did notice a tighter group with the CCI primers though.

I consider 41.0 grs of WC-735 under a 150gr in the 308 as a max in my gun. As a general rule of thumb, I will use H322 loads for the WC-735. The WC-735 showed a fairly wide MV variation, but grouped very well at both 100yds and 200 yds.
 
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I like how you guys are all documenting components WITH performance to correlate pressure and safety. Great stuff.

This is an older gen pull down. Love to know how far back this stuff was made. And what it was loaded in.

This powder could do very well in the M305's/M1A's as the burn rate vs speed vs amount of powder used is right in the ballpark.

One thing to consider is that powders were made that WOULD disperse/string. This made machine guns more effective at area suppression.

I got some MG pull down a few years back and yes Martha, it did spray those bullets down range.

If the groups are sig larger then the Varget powder, you might want to shoot further and see what happens.

The stuff I used in my 30-06 shot 1" at 100yds but wouldn't keep on a piece of reg paper at 500yds. A change to H4350 put the bullets into MOA sized groups.

Stuff worked great for its orig intent.

Jerry
 
Jerry,

I think you nailed it. I wish we had some definitive info on this powder (e.g. what was it made for, who made it and when), but that doesn't seem to be forthcoming. That having been said, I think we can do without that. We know its approximate burn rate and that it shows a large SD. My guess is that it was made for 5.56 NATO and it seems most suitable for smallish, small-bore cartridges.

It's not BR stuff, but it's cheap and good enough for many applications. I bought it out of curiosity on the recommendation of others and thought I'd use it in my M305, Garand and SKS - high volume use where losing 1/2 MOA will not be noticed.

For 308 BR, it's hard to beat Varget and (to me) worth paying double for it. Benchmark looked interesting though...... Boy this experimenting can get expensive.
 
All!!

I just wanted to say thank you for the interesting read.

I have AR both in 223 and 308 and 21 lbs of this powder. It was my hope try it in both and see what the results were. I will do my best to share what I find.

regards

AbH
 
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