Greek HXP powder

[sscav]

I bought a case of Greek .30 Cal from the CMP in 2008 and ended up pulling the bullets, and saving the powder to use in .308, and then forming the cases into 8mm Mauser.
I have 2 Garands, both 7.62, not .30 Cal, so my question is has anyone used the Greek powder in .308? If so, what would be a good starting point? I plan on reusing the Greek bullets in these loads.

Brian

[USSR]

Brian,

The starting load listed for IMR4895 would be the place to start.

Don

[Litt'le Lee]

I have some that is ball and some that is stick-on the stick,,I'm using
43 gr of stick hxp 1962 for a 150 gr bullet

[Sunray]

"...and saving the powder..." Pitch it. You have no idea what it is.
"...forming the cases into 8mm Mauser..." Not a hope. The 8mm is .225" longer than the .308 for one.

[rider]

I could see pulling the bullets from HXP ammo, dumping the powder and replacing it with a clean burning propellant.

[sscav]

This HXP ammo was originally .30-06. It formed into 8mm nicely. I'm going to have to check out the powder, as I was sure that it was a ball type. If it turns out to be that I mistakenly mixed two types from this ammo, it's going on the lawn come springtime.

Brian

[Parashooter]

The cautions about unknown powder you're seeing expressed here are commendable but not entirely justified when the powder's performance in a similar cartridge is known. If you can determine the average charge weight in the HXP .30/06 ammunition from which the powder was salvaged, you can be reasonably safe assuming that a charge 12% lighter will deliver about the same pressure in .308 Win. Reduce that by another 5 or 10% for a starting .308 load and work up from there.

For example, Hodgdon lists loads for both cartridges with the 150-grain Nosler BT and BLC(2) powder - maximum 54 grains in .30/06 and 48 grains in .308. Reduce the 54 grain '06 charge by 12% and we get 47.5 grains as an estimated .308 maximum. Reduce that by 5% to 45.1 grains for an estimated starting load comfortably near Hodgdon's tested starting load of 45 grains in .308 Win.

This kind of estimation isn't foolproof, especially if the reduced charge fills the .308 case to significantly greater loading-density than the original charge did in the .30/06, but it does offer a reasonable approach for experienced handloaders confident of their ability to read pressure signs during load development.

http://telecom.hartford.edu/images/ql06v308.gif
QuickLOAD model of .30/06 load and 12% reduction for .308 Win.

[sscav]

Thanks for the reply, Parashooter. I guess I can start 5 grains below my regular working load of Win 748 and work up from there. Just have to be careful.

Brian

[Parashooter]

I'm concerned you have misunderstood. Your calculation has to begin with the average charge weight of the unknown powder as loaded in the HXP .30/06 cartridges from which you have salvaged it. This has nothing to do with 748!

If you don't understand the principle involved, please do not proceed.

[sscav]

What is the average powder weight in Greek HXP? I've pulled and dumped all I had without weighing any charges. I didn't know about the info you've posted, so I didn't know to weigh anything.
I could pick up some HXP at a gun show then do the calculations.

Brian

[Parashooter]

If you still have all the salvaged powder, you could weigh it on an accurate scale and divide that weight by the number of cartridges you dumped. If not, someone would have to find some cartridges from the same numbered production lot and pull them down to find the average charge. Cartridges from a different lot might have a significantly different powder.

Based on what you've written here, it seems you may have limited experience with salvaged powder and would do better to use it on the lawn.

[Litt'le Lee]

pulling powder down and using powder and bullets to reload 308 resulted
in my reloads costing around 16 cents each,,this was the result after selling the brass and clips and bando's,,not counting in brass because I have thousands of once fired brass from previous years of cheap surplus and brass given to me..the result's were mind boggling on the accuracy,,this is 1970 ball with 34 primershttp://img.photobucket.com/albums/v630/ronhart/rons%20two/HPIM1471.jpg

[DaveL]

I tried to do the same thing with about 500 1950's vintage FN 9mm that had bad primers. They had a flake powder in them that at first glance all looked the same. they were all within a couple years of each other with the exact same bullets and crimps. I measured about 50 powder charges, took the average, reduced the load by a grain and loaded a few of them up. I fired one and stopped. The recoil was very heavy and the pressure signs were excessive. I then went back to the beginning and pulled more of them and found that there WAS a different powder in them (no flake size difference but a slight color variation). In the end I scrapped the project and used a modern powder that I had loading data for. SO my warning is pay VERY close attention to the headstamps to be VERY certain that all the ammo you are pulling is EXACTLY the same.

[Nevada Shooter]

I had some issues with my M-1 that was preliminarily diagnosed as "hot loads". I checked two different lots (69 & 70). I found the 69 lot to contained between 56.3 and 57.5 grains. The 70 lot contained between 48.8 and 52.9 grains. The TM calls for 50 grains of IMR 4895.

Has anyone discovered what propellant the Greeks used in their HXP?