Gentleman,

Forgive my ignorance, but I keep seeing loads listed here using WC 872. I plan on getting back in the habit of burning some powder and would like to try this in a STW with 175 grainers.

Who makes the stuff?

Saludos...Frank

Try gibrass.com WC872 is a surplus powder. - Dan

[ 10-18-2002, 09:20: Message edited by: dan belisle ]

Supposed to be same as H870. Hmmm. Wonder if that means it will make the bore all cruddy like 870 did?

R-WEST

Will be shooting both of my 300 Ultra's and a 7STW tommorrow using that powder.Will let you guy's know how thing's turn out......

Dan, Thanks for the address. I with R-West though will it burn clean, Boyd hopefully you can give us some comments on how it fouls.

Saludos...Frank

Thanks Boyd, I'm still trying to figure out how to get a bunch of it up here into the great white north. Perhaps this info will give me more incentive. - Dan

WC 872 is somewhat slower than H-870 (at least in the 8-lb lot which I have used). It burns cleanly, so long as the load you use produces reasonably full pressures, which is hard to do in most conventional cartridges. I have had good luck with it in .264 Win and 7mm STW. I can't say how it would do with the .300 RUM, although I expect that only bullets above 180 grains would do well.

Proceed with caution, however, as surplus powders tend to vary in burning rate from lot to lot. WC 872 was made by the Olin Corporation, or its successor, at the St. Marks plant and, like the original 4831, was a propellant for the 20mm shell.

Well guy's.WC 872 work's very well in My Ultra's with the 240gr MK's.But I can not get enough in a case with the lighter bullet's.(200gr).It is dirty,but not as dirty as 870.I found it to act MUCH like 870 in my STW.90gr gave me a velocity of 3245 with the 162gr A-MAX in a 27" barrel...Will be doing more testing this coming weekend.........E.S. with the 240gr bullet's is in the single digit's........

Great! Now I have to figure out how to get it up here. Thanks Boyd. - Dan

Boyd:

The lot of WC 872 you are working with sounds a bit faster than my lot. I load up in the mid 90's with a 160 grain bullet in the 7 STW. As I said earlier, watch the burning rate on surplus powders! I also find very consistent velocities with WC 872, even with standard force primers.

I know I don't have to tell you this, but with WC 872, in spite of it being a rather dense ball powder, you can still crowd significantly more powder into the case using a long drop tube. If you haven't been doing that with your .300 RUM, give it a try.

Despite it's presumably being faster, the WC 860 which I've worked with seems a bit slower (and dirtier) than 872. It hasn't been nearly as satisfactory for me.