Can anybody confirm or deny whether the Hodgdon H108 sold by Powder Valley for $50/8lb. is simply relabeled WC820? I'm looking for cheap powder for heavy cast loads for a .454.
Thanks!

[ 11-20-2003, 04:47: Message edited by: Waterfowler ]

For all practical purposes, the answer is YES! Practical means within various lot speeds, and sometimes the lots can vary quite a bit, like 2 grains of powder difference for the same total pressure accumulation. Hopefully, the lot you get will be a slower one for full blown charges, and a quicker one for medium to medium-heavy charges. If you are looking for a large boolit, full blown 300 grainer or better application, and in your 454 almost exclusively, your better choice might be WC680. ... felix

I thought wc820 was closer to H110, And H110 or LIL GUN is the way to go with heavy 454 loads.

What we really need is for someone with the 454, 445, and/or other trully magnum pistol cases, try all of these various powder speeds with nominal and heavy boolits and determine once and for all what the recommendations are. Yes, the H116/WC680 is slow, and perhaps too slow for those large diameter bores. I know 680 is too slow for typical magnum sized cases, because N120 is which I have played with off and on in these pistol cases. When the bore size comes down, these slower pistol powders pick up speed quickly. ... felix

It really gets down to cost/effectiveness. So, 90 percent full velocity? Perhaps, but don't be too surprised if around 85 percent. Accurcy should be enough for beer cans and deer, though. One thing for sure, you won't over tax your gun. ... felix

Okay, somebody send me some H108 and H116 and I'll test them in my 454. I bought a jug of WC820 and it takes 2gns less powder than 296 to get the same velocities in my 6.5" Raging bull useing MountainMolds 340gn boolits. The WC820 is bulkier than 296 so you can't put as much in the case. I also have some WC680, I'll try it next time I'm out, but I'm thinking the WC820 will give higher velocities. My happy velocity range is around 1350 with these bullets. I could load some to see just how fast you can go with 820 and 680. I emailed Hogdons about the H108 and 116, they sent me a sample of load data and said it was primarily sold to comercial loaders. If I can find what they sent, I'll post it here.

I have a pretty good estimation of WC820 for Quickload if anybody wants to look at it.

I've got a Xeroxed gun magazine article somewhere that was sent me maybe 5 years ago from another member of the old Shooters board that said that, yes, H108 was surplus WC820. It needed to be loaded lighter than H110, too.

My lot of WC-820 is a LOT more like AA-9 in behavior than WW-296/H-110. For this reason, it may indeed be similar to H-108, which by its Hodgdon nomenclature should be faster than H-110. This is all educated speculation, mind you.

That said, the WC-820 is one fine magnum revolver fuel. I don't have any of the super/ultra magnum revolvers, just conventional magnums and a Ruger 45 Colt. Since the WC-820 arrived a couple years ago at about 7-8 bucks a pound, the WW-296 sort of looks forlorn and unused--given its Californistan price of 20 bones/pound.