Anyone loading Lil'gun?

[densa44]

I've been loading my 3" brass .410 cases with 32 grains of 8700 and have acceptable results. I'd like to reload the 2 1/2 AA plastic cases and have been lucky enough to get a pound of Lil'gun.

Wow impressive performance, with 12.2 grains. I'm using my RCBS to get the 12.2 grains.

Has any one been able to use a Mec 650 or jr. to drop this powder?

If not, I know there are members here who can make me some bushings.

Any words of experience would be welcome. I carry a 3.3 lb. yildiz single shot and love it.

[Skytop B]

Don't load shotgun but 29 grains under a 325ftx is a pretty sweet load in the 458 Socom

[catnthehat]

I load it I the 410, yup
I use my Harrel measure when I load it.
Cat

[tchardy1972]

I load it in my k-hornet. Sorry I'm not much help.

[Dean2]

Lil'Gun throws real well. Have used it in Dillon and Lyman throwers with very accurate outcomes loading rifle ammo. No reason the MEC with the right bushing should not throw it just as accurately. If you don't have the right bushing, do like Cat, throw the powder with a thrower, then finish the load as you usually do.

[catnthehat]

Originally Posted by Dean2

Lil'Gun throws real well. Have used it in Dillon and Lyman throwers with very accurate outcomes loading rifle ammo. No reason the MEC with the right bushing should not throw it just as accurately. If you don't have the right bushing, do like Cat, throw the powder with a thrower, then finish the load as you usually do.

I think some of the issues associated with the shotgun measures is the fact that they are not super accurate as far as drops go in the idividual set up.

When a bushing is supposed to throw 25 grains of a certain powder, it often won't because of several variables, the biggest being the amount of consistency used when the bar is pushed over, and the amount of jiggling going on with the bench/loader set up, etc.
Lil Gun is pretty fine stuff and that is why I use my Harrel when throwing it, it is just that much easier to get a more accurate charge weight.
i have seen dramatic differences with the mec charge bars at times, and when you use smaller amounts of powder of course, the need for accuracy goes up accordingly.
The fact remains that it is a great powder for little cases like the Hornet ,
K Hornet, or the 410.
Cat

[densa44]

I don't think I want s lot more than 12 grains. And BTW this is the first powder I've used in a long time that you could have a double charge.

Stay tuned.

[southernman]

I have tried it in the .17 hornet, but blew two primers and flagged it, i have a dozen 28ga rounds loaded up, to pattern test at sum point.

[elkhunter11]

It has been my go to powder for the 22Hornet.

[southernman]

Yea its highly thought of for the .22 hornet, but even with a bottom end load, i blew out two primers in a row, plenty of other choices, for the .17 hornet, having good luck with H110 bit slow but accurate, and playing with H335 and benchmark.

[Robmcleod82]

Use small pistol primers, should cure the piercing problem.

[Dean2]

Originally Posted by Robmcleod82

Use small pistol primers, should cure the piercing problem.

In the 22 Hornet and 22 K Hornet small pistol primers work great. In the 17 Hornet they are NOT a good idea. The 17 H is designed to work at 50,000 psi versus the Hornets 35,000 PSI. Small pistol primers are not going to work well in the 17 H or 221 FB with Lil'Gun loads.

If you are getting primer piercing using Small Rifle primers this will only be accelerated switching to Small Pistol, which have a thinner and softer cup. If you are getting pierced primers with Lil'Gun at min loads in a 17 H then I would suspect there is something wrong with the gun (firing pin not configured right/too long or bushing of bolt face required or too much head space). I use Lil'Gun in the 17 Hornet with CCI SR primers and have had no issues.

[southernman]

Dean, its not piercing the primers, they are loose and falling out of brass, on the odd case, each load was weighed, as was in testing stage.
the point is mute, as i am using H110 and H335 now,
have at least one other powder option on hand, powder choice also depends on how constant, i can get it to throw in a harrels measure.

[Dean2]

Originally Posted by southernman

Dean, its not piercing the primers, they are loose and falling out of brass, on the odd case, each load was weighed, as was in testing stage.
the point is mute, as i am using H110 and H335 now,
have at least one other powder option on hand, powder choice also depends on how constant, i can get it to throw in a harrels measure.

If it is opening up the primer pockets then you clearly have too much pressure. Just out of curiosity, what load were you using, primer, bullet and what speed did it Chrono at. With the small case the 17 HH has you will often find you hit max velocity at loads quite a bit below published max loads. Different brass and gun to gun differences as well as different powder batches all show up much more quickly in the small capacity cases. The only safe way to estimate pressure in small cased cartridges is to use attained velocity, unless you have actual pressure testing equipment to work with.

As to throwing well, in my experience H110 sucks for consistency, it is way too fine, 335 throws well as does Lil'Gun. There are a few other choices like 1680 that throw well too if you can't get the results you want with 335.