Well I bought an 8pounder of WC 852 that is labeled "use H380 data". Now hopefully this means I have the "fast" version, the slow version being like H450. Now to test this I am going to start out with an H380 starting load of 46.0 grains and head upward to Hodgens listed max of 50 grains. If I see no pressure signs I will keep marching until I either see them or reach the max llisted load for H450 which is 57.5 grains. Is this a reasonable method of finding which version I have?

852 is labeled for which you cacn use. I wanted and bought the slower...

where did you get yours?

jeffe

I got it and a complete Turkish mauser at the Market Hall gun show today in Dallas. It came in a white jug a bit bigger than gallon size. I have a bunch of slow powders and wanted something for my 308 and 30-30, also the 22-250. I gave 50 dollars for each but the barrel is pretty rough. I already pulled it, cleaned up the action and ground the lip off the front of the action. My next move is to turn and thread the 22-250 barrel I have that is threaded for the standard large ring action and get it reamed as I don't own a reamer.

rickt300,
My lot of WC-852 is 47287 and it is the slow lot. I use 4831 data...BCB

There are advantages to having full ballistics labs and loading to specs of pressure and velocities as the military facilities do with individual LOTS of powders.

In conversations with Jeff Bartlett, there are three distinct burning rates in the milsurp
WC-852.

Loading as was suggested to pressure signs is not unlike what one does with off the shelf cannister powders so IF one is prudent it should be as safe and effective as any other method. Probably not a good place to push past the edge of pressure signs though.

Rickt, you should have bought the WC844. It loads to H335 data. I first bought a couple jugs of it for loading .223, from Jeff Bartlet at gibrass.com. It was new, never loaded powder, but the last 4 jugs I got was pull-down powder. The pull-down powder seems a bit slower, maybe it's "aged" because it was loaded once? Anyway it should be the correct burn rate for what you want it for. I've used it in 7x30 waters 14" contender, .223 AR 15 and contender 16", .308, 30-06 for my Garand, and 30-40 Krag.

I am going to run the test tomorrow. I am hoping it tops out at 50-51 grains. Should I use magnum primers? I would have bought 844 if I could have gotten it at the gun show. A powder like H380-H414 will work fine but much slowe and I am pushing into the AA4350 I have on hand.

rickt300,
What cartridge are you loading? Did I miss it somewhere along the line? And, if your lot of WC-852 is the H-380 burn rate, going to a maximum load using H-450 could be dangerous. H-450 is considerably slower than H-380. My lot of WC-852 MIGHT be safe using H-450, but your faster (?) lot probably won't be safe. With all of my loads, I have used the CCI-200. But, I am only using it in the 30-30 and the 7-30 Waters and charges are at or slightly less than 35 grains. With heavier charges, the magnum primers MIGHT be helpful. Good-luck...BCB

Have question of those who have used
the real slow 852. Is it as slow as the
WC- 860 surplus?Any info would be helpful.Ed

hubel458,
In my T/C Super 14†barrel with the Lyman 287346 bullet, X grains of WC-860 gave a velocity of 1541 and X-1 grains of WC-852 gave 1715 fps.
With the 30-30 in the T/C Super 14†and the Lyman 311041 bullet, X grains of WC-860 gave 1303 fps and X-1 grains of WC-852 gave 1610 fps.
I didn’t post the actual charge as much of this surplus powder is different. But as you can see, 1 less grain of WC-852 gave more velocity than the charge of WC-860. This certainly indicates that WC-852 is quite a bit faster than WC-860, at least in my applications. Good-luck…BCB

Well it is indeed the faster lot. like H380. I used a 270 to do the test as I could start with H380 data and work thru the H450 data if I needed to but when I reached 51 grains of my lot of powder I had the slightest crater show so I fired 3 more using 50 grains on top of a CCI 250 primer topped with a Hornady 150 SPIL. I then worked up from 45 grains to 49 grains in a 308 with the same primer and the 165 grain PSPCL. 49 grains just barely showed slight pressure indications so I backed off to 48 grains. I have not got a chrony but the loads appeared to be pretty powerful with the primers just beginning to lose the radius on the primer. It burns as clean as a ball powder can and the muzzle flash is normal.

I shoot both WC860 and WC852(slow) and the WC860 is clearly the slower powder. I shoot WC860 in my 25-06 with 120 grain bullets and WC852(slow) in by 6.5x55 and 140 grain bullets. Last time I looked, GIBrass was out of WC852(slow), but I wouldn't mind finding a souce for another jug or two.