I heard a few fellows talking about the performance of Li'l gun in the high velocity loads for the 44 mag and the 45 Colt and that it might be taking the place of the somewhat standard loading of H110 for the needs of the high velocity crowd. Any experience with Li'l gun in this application?

Teancum

I'm currently using some surplus H110 which is working very well for me now. On paper Li'l Gun seems to have a very slight edge on it not enough to make me switch. But when Lil Gun gets to be about $56 for eight pounds I'll surely give it a thought. Have about 16 more pounds of the H110 equivalent left so it isn't going to be next week.

Teancum,
I haven't tried it in the 44 or 45 but have used it quite a bit in the 357.

In a rifle barrel, Lil Gun will match but not exceed WW296 velocities when loaded to equal pressures as measured by a strain gage, contrary to what Hodgdon data suggests.

In 2 5/8" wheelgun, Lil Gun is pathetic, running a good 200 fps slower than WW296.

Some of the Hodgdon data for Lil Gun is misleading if not flat out wrong. Bear in mind that their Lil Gun data was probably not tested on the same day or even the same year as their H110 data, so any velocity or pressure differences could be due to calibration issues.

My load for 44 mag is still 24 gr H110/W296 240 gr JHP
My load for 45 Colt is still 24 gr H110/W296 250 gr JHP
But I changed my 357 mag from 16 gr H110/W296 to 18 gr LIL'GUN 158 gr JHP or LSWC

http://www.hodgdon.com/data/pistol/357mag.php

LIL'GUN actually gives LESS velocity with 26 gr than 18 gr in 357 mag 158 gr, 4" barrel + cylinder length.

My standard 45 Colt load is a 250 gr XTP over 24.0 of Lilgun. Performs exactly as advertised

quote:

Originally posted by tnekkcc:
But I changed my 357 mag from 16 gr H110/W296 to 18 gr LIL'GUN 158 gr JHP or LSWC

That is the questionable Hodgdon load that I had in mind. You look at Hodgdon's 357 data and it seems as if Lil Gun gives amazingly low pressures. However, real life testing tells a different story. There is a more detailed discussion on my forum.

I have experimented with Lil'Gun in both .45 Colt and .357 Magnum. It has done well, generally, as long as you keep the bullets heavy and the loads near max. It needs long barrels to function properly.

I have a snub-nosed Ruger .357 in which I tried the stuff. I got unburnt powder stings, much like a bullet shaving, but no metal. Faster powder cured that.

http://mountainmolds.com/

The published load data is BS?
I am so disillusioned

Oh well, I always like the smell of H110 better

I don't think Hodgdon is deliberately lying.

My guess is that when they introduce a new powder, they of course pressure test it, but do not retest all the old powders at the same time. So on the day that they tested Lil Gun, their pressure gun's calibration may have been a little optimistic. On the day they tested H110, which was problably many years ago, the pressure gun's calibration may have been a little pessimistic. Perhaps it was a different technician, or a different lot of SAAMI calibration ammo, or a different lot of copper crushers, or an altogether different barrel.

I'd like to see Hodgdon donate their CUP guns to a museum, upgrade to a PSI system, and if they can't test all the powders at the same time, then at least put a date on the load data.