WC845 Surplus powder

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PoFF

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I'm on the market for a good powder to reload my .223Rem, and found Higginson's deal on WC845 surplus powder. However, I have a few questions about it.

1. What is exactly 'surplus' powder? Is is powder from pulled cartridges? Or simply a lot that failed military tests, or simply reserve poweder that's too old for military use? Is it good quality and will the shelf life will be long if kept in good condition?

2. Since it is military powder, does it have flash retardant in it?

3. I've read that the properties of this powder are similar to Hodgdon H-335, maybe a tad faster burning (5% from what I heard). Would it be safe to reduce H335 data by 5% and use these numbers as MAX loads (by working them up, of course), or is there other, more official, data?

Any help will be greatly appreciated.
 
Im useing that powder right now for .223 Im useing 24 grn under a 55gr FMJBT bullet clocked it at 2700 2698,2703 FPS out of a 16" ar15


I can do 2" groups at 75m freehand with an eotec sight(no magnifacation)
 
WC845 is no more. Higginson now carries the replacement WC735. I have used both and they work well. Andrew will supply you with load data.

Brian
 
Here is some reloading data for WC735 that Andrew supplied:


"The replacement for the WC-845 has arrived, it is called WC-735.
I have attached our current price lists as well.

The burn rate of WC-735 is similar to 845, but with greater energy, allowing higher charge weights and more velocity.

The only data we compiled for this powder is for the 223 Remington or 5.56mm NATO round. It goes as follows:
Bullet: 50 gr. Hdy V-Max C.O.L. 2.250" 25.2gr. 3408fps @ 53,000PSI
Bullet: 55 gr. Hdy V-Max C.O.L. 2.250" 24.0gr. 3212fps @ 49,500PSI
" " " 24.3gr. 3253fps @ 51,700PSI
" " " 24.9gr. 3302fps @ 53,200PSI
Bullet: 62gr. SPR FMJBT C.O.L. 2.250" 23.3gr. 3062fps @ 53,800PSI

This powder is very clean burning and very efficient, so with the low charge weights and low per pound cost, the per round cost is very attractive.

Thank you,
Andrew Higginson
Click to expand...

I've tried it with 62gr SS-109 bullets in my Ar15's (20" 1:7 and 16" 1:9) and it seems to work quite well :D :D :D
 
Thanks for the info.

How the muzzle flash of this powder in shorter barrels (I've got 11.5")?

Also, I'm quite curious about the definition of 'surplused' powder, any explanation? (See first question of the thread).
 
Surplus powder is usually powder that was removed from dismantled ammo. Except for age, there is usually nothing 'wrong' with it.

Most old gen ball powders are temp sensitive, can be quite dirty but accurate. Best feature - cheap...

They usually flow through powder measures very well and work great in military cartridges (dah!!! why they were there in the first place). Not the powders I would use for match shooting though as velocity variations may string groups at longer ranges.

Will be interesting to see how the new stuff like the WCC 735 compare. There is some really cool powders being produced for modern day military ammo. Someday we will get them as surplus. Way ahead in tech of our present canister powders.

Can't wait...

Jerry
 
I've used two boxes (7lb each) of WC845 for gopher ammo over the last couple of years. I havn't found it to be dirty at all. The worst thing is I'm down to my last pound :( . It performs very similar to H335. BLC-2 is another one that works well in the .223, .221 and .17 Rem, but it's a third more $$$.
 
I'm down to my last couple of pounds of WC845 then I'll be switching to my 2 7 lb bags for WC735. I've loved every load of the surplus powder. I have a hard time loading with $ 26.00 powders and their super reputation (real or percieved).

Thanks Andrew Higginson for bringing us the cheaper powders.

Cheers,
Barney
 
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