I am hoping that you folks will recognize these old powders, and tell me what I can do with them: 3#Win 540, 1#Win 571, and 2#Win473AA

They were given to me by a friend who's Father has passed away, bit he loaded a lot of shotgun shells in his day.

First off, this has been well stored, still has the good ether smell when opened.

I don't load shotshells, but do load a lot of pistol stuff.

Right now I am set up for .38, .357, .45acp, .45LC, and .454Casull.

If I can use these for light plinking, med. or even hot loads, they will be put to good use. (I hate throwing good stuff away!)


Thanks!
Joe

IIRC

571 is about like HS-7 and AA #7 & Blue Dot
540 is about like HS-5 and AA #5 & Unique/Herco
473AA is the fastest of the bunch about like Green Dot, perhaps a bit slower burning.

THANK YOU!!

I do belive I can find A few uses for this stuff!
I just start off a little on the light side, and enjoythe free shootin'

Thanks again!
Joe

Well the 540 was a very good powder for 12ga field loads, the 571 was for magnum loads and the 473AA was for trap loads.
You CAN use them for handgun purposes. I use 571 in .40 S&W plinkin rounds. I found some at a local store fairly cheap.
The Winchester 12th addition loading guide I have only listed some loads for the 45 ACP for these powders..

230 gr FMJ...540 7.9-8.9grs
571 8.4-8.9grs

200 gr JHP 540 8.3-9.0grs
571 9.0-9.8grs

185 gr JHP 540 9.4-10.4grs
571 10.3-11.3grs

That should get you started.. I'm sure someone else could come up with some more data for you.

Speer #11 has WW473AA pistol data. Also from Winchest #15 (1999):

Thanks guys, I was sure someone here would know how to use this stuff.
Looks like I'll be shooting cheap this spring.
The one positive about living in Kansas is I am close to Powder Valley, and can get primers without any hazmat fees.

53 Universal
54 AL-7
55 Base
56 D-20
57 MP-200
58 N-331
59 P-804
*60 W-473

70 HS-6
*71 W-540
72 3N-37
73 SP-2
74 WAP

81 AA-7
82 HS-7
83 Blue Dot
84 N-105
*85 W-571

If you go to Hodgdon's web site and look up HS-6 anf HS-7 you will see a blup from them stating the HS-6 is W540 and HS-7 is W571. You can use use their data. Any differences are solely due to lot-to-lot variation.

JUst as an FYI, I asked one of Hodgdon's tech guys a few years ago and got the above (before it was publicly announced) as well as HP-38 is W231 and H110 is W296. Again only lot-to-lot variation.

Good Luck,
Mark in GA

quote:

Originally posted by acsteele:
I am hoping that you folks will recognize these old powders, and tell me what I can do with them: 3#Win 540, 1#Win 571, and 2#Win473AA

They were given to me by a friend who's Father has passed away, bit he loaded a lot of shotgun shells in his day.

First off, this has been well stored, still has the good ether smell when opened.

I don't load shotshells, but do load a lot of pistol stuff.

Right now I am set up for .38, .357, .45acp, .45LC, and .454Casull.

If I can use these for light plinking, med. or even hot loads, they will be put to good use. (I hate throwing good stuff away!)


Thanks!Joe

I have used both 540 and 571 for high velocity loads in a Colt Model O that was chambered for ther 9mm Steyr round. This round is almost identical to the .38 Super except it is completely rimless, as opposed to being semi-rimmed like the .38 Super.

I made my 9mm Steyr cases out of cut-off 5.56mm military brass, and was able to get up to 1700 FPS from a load of 570 with 90-grain Sierra bullets. With 540, one must settle for considerably lower velocity, but this stuff is still quite capable of giving some interesting performance with the .45 ACP 230-grain ammo.

I believe 540 is quite close, if not identical, to HS 6, and 571 is a lot like HS 7, despite there being several other powders between them on Steve's powder buring rate chart.

quote:

Originally posted by Mark in GA:
If you go to Hodgdon's web site and look up HS-6 anf HS-7 you will see a blup from them stating the HS-6 is W540 and HS-7 is W571. You can use use their data. Any differences are solely due to lot-to-lot variation.

JUst as an FYI, I asked one of Hodgdon's tech guys a few years ago and got the above (before it was publicly announced) as well as HP-38 is W231 and H110 is W296. Again only lot-to-lot variation.

Good Luck,
Mark in GA

You beat me to it, Mark. The "relative burning rate" table above is, like most such lists, peppered with B.S. There are certainly not two powders in between HS-7 and its clone, WW-571, and certainly not Blue Dot, which is demonstrably faster.

Just an obervation here.
I have never found a group of individuals so willing to share their knowledge. Every time I have had a question, it has been answered, and quickly, by fellow shooters who have forgoten more than I'll ever learn.
Thanks again for your help. It appears I'll be able to put all of this powder to good use. I really appreciate you guys taking the time to point me in the right direction!

I too have 3 cans of unopened Winchester 473AA powder that I don't know how to use. I load 9 mm, .40 S&W, .357 Mag, and .38 Spl. I have reloaded for the past 40 years but always used the book for my loads, never used a powder that wasn't listed. 473AA was stated to be about the same burn rate as Green Dot. Can you use the Burn rate charts to come up with a starting load for 473AA if you have load data for one close to it? Do you use the same weight as the starting load listed? Also, it seems like a good idea to start with a mild .38 spl. load and fire it in a .357 just to be sure. Any input on how to use this powder would be appreciated.