[2nd Shot]

Hi guys, I'm new to GT and reloading. I've been chomping at the bit to load for my G29SF, but figure I had better proceed with caution and not get carried away looking for mega velocities, so I'm looking for some advice here before I pull the handle and load these up.

I've collected the following:
- 800x
- CCI 300 primers
- Hornady 200gn XTP's
- approx. 200 pcs of Remington nickel brass, once fired with the stock barrel. Already cleaned, primed, expanded, and ready to load.

I found the following load of interest:

HODGDON [IMR]: 800x 7.8 1130 32,500 PSI OAL 1.250"
IMR's website, and the electronic copy of the book I have shows the same exact load. None seem to show a starting load.

I would assume this is a max book load (despite people loading much higher). Should I try to load this down 10% and work up? Is it safe to start here since the pressure isn't anywhere near 37,500 SAAMI max? Does 800x have any unpredictable/unstable behaviors that I should look out for?

I appreciate any help ahead of time. Hearing/reading that it's all been done before, and some pointers will help this n00b out quite a bit!

 

[DWARREN123]

You can start a little lower but the basic info is a good load. I have gone up to 8.5grs of IMR 800-X for that bullet.
The only differnce for my load is I use Starline brass.
800-X is a pain to get to drop consistant charges so weight each charge to get safe loads.
My loads are fired thru a G20SF stock gun. :supergrin:

 

[No Mercy]

If your gonna load with 800x, please weigh each load by hand. Especially if your just starting out. It doesnt meter good in anything ive tried. Keep your eye out for signs of high pressure,such as bulged case's and flattened primers. If you wanna load nuclear stuff you MUST get an aftermarket barrel first!! 800x is really used for top end loads with the 10mm,I would suggest starting out with something that meters alot better first. Blue dot and power pistol are good powders to use. Make sure you know what OAL 1.250 AND 1.260 looks like. Grab a factory round and measure it first to get an idea of what it looks like on your caliper. If you start slinging powder and seating bullets too deep into the case with 800x bad things will happen. I made that mistake when I started out and lost a G20. Just be careful and double check everything for a while and enjoy! Your gonna love reloading for the 10!!

 

[The Pirate]

Blue Dot should be your friend starting out. Keep that 800X around though, you'll love it.

 

[2nd Shot]

No problem guys. I plan to painstakingly hand weigh each charge by hand - all I have right now is a small digital reloading scale, pan, and a jar of powder... No powder throwing equipment yet till later, and I'll save it for powders that meter nicely.

 

[TDC20]

7.8gr should be a nice easy starting load for a stock G29. I have gone up to 9.6gr with an aftermarket LWD 6" barrel and 22 lb recoil spring in my G20 (1330fps). That's a little too hot for me. My standard hunting load for the 200 XTP's is 9.3gr, which runs just a little over 1300fps in the 6" barrel. I have not shot either of these loads out of the stock G20 barrel, so beware!

Stick with the CCI 300's, and be very careful to weigh each load. Work up slowly and learn how to measure brass expansion so you can estimate your pressure and know when to quit.

 

[_The_Shadow]

2ndShot, :welcome: to the forum!

Be very careful using digital scales as they can change and need to be re-zeroed often! If you have check weights be sure to verify the scale's performance. I prefer the beam type scales for hand weighing of powder charges!

The load should be fine as you stated

 

[2nd Shot]

Thanks for the advice guys - Again, I have no idea what to expect, and have tried to keep it conservative and safe to avoid any unseen errors. I appreciate the double check!

I was extremely careful measuring and checking each charge and ended up loading 10 at 7.6 grains just for a safety check, see how my brass responds, etc. The next 30 are 7.8 grains which should give me a lot of samples to shoot and examine. The last 10 rounds are loaded to 8.0 grains, which doesn't seem like pushing it, according to an older Hornady manual which shows 8 as a max load. Probably shouldn't get into the habit of exceeding book max, first time out...

I guess the next thing I should get is an aftermarket barrel, to preserve brass, if nothing else. Is the Lone Wolf barrel ok?

 

[nickE10mm]

2nd Shot - I think its a good idea that you're starting low and conservative. That's the safe bet. I've not shot many 800X loads out of a STOCK G20 barrel but I've shot plenty from a fully supported 6" aftermarket barrel. As others have said, you will need to weight 800X by hand. Honestly there are other better powders that you can use a powder drop with that will yield you more ammo in less time since you're not trying to hotrod it yet anyways. I'd pick up some AA7, Power Pistol, Longshot or Blue Dot so you can really crank out a few with less hand weighing.

I've taken 800X up quite high in a supported barrel and I'm sure you can even get very good velocity from a stock G20SF barrel but whats the rush?

While 800X is probably the most forgiving powder in the upper end, you still still want to work up slowly, follow published loads and DONT PUT YOUR EYE OUT

 

[Taterhead]

2nd Shot. You are on the right track. Your plan is sound and should keep you well within safety margins. I agree with what others have said in that Blue Dot is a nice everyday powder. Also in the performance range of 800-X, but nicer to work with, is Hodgdon Longshot and Accurate no. 9.

Welcome to the fun. The addiction has begun!

 

[2nd Shot]

Thanks guys for all the input! Alright, well I finally got to shoot up my loads, and they shot just fine. I noticed that recoil was indeed very smooth, which must have to do with the slow pressure curve of the powder.

I started by shooting 5 rounds of factory 180gn Remington UMC, which is where I got the cases from. They calipered .4315" or so, which I used as a baseline.

- The 7.6gn powder puff loads calipered a pretty consistent .432"
- 7.8gn load from a recent IMR book calipered .432"
- 8.0gn from a little older Hornady book are approaching .4325"

Primers still all look round edged and completely normal, with the typical Glock rectangular firing pin channel bulge and indent. I really need to bring my micrometer home from work, but it beats eyeballing for case bulging...

 

[2nd Shot]

So following an uneventful workup to 8.0 grains, and considering that load data shows the pressures at these book maximums to be quite short of 37,500 PSI SAAMI max, would it be unwise to carefully creep it up in closely spaced relays until pressure signs begin to show, and then back if off by a safe margin to account for temperatures or other factors? It looks like people have successfully loaded up 9+gn in stock barrels with no apparent pressure signs, and I have to admit I'm rather tempted, though cautious.

I guess what I'm asking you experienced guys, is that with disciplined practices, adequate caution, and careful case inspection, will pressure signs reliably show before being seriously at risk of blowing up the gun with 800x? How about in a factory G29 barrel?

I figure that I don't want to load anything that I can't shoot out of a factory barrel safely, even though I will probably get an aftermarket barrel just to preserve the life of my brass.

 

[Taterhead]

So following an uneventful workup to 8.0 grains, and considering that load data shows the pressures at these book maximums to be quite short of 37,500 PSI SAAMI max, would it be unwise to carefully creep it up in closely spaced relays until pressure signs begin to show, and then back if off by a safe margin to account for temperatures or other factors? It looks like people have successfully loaded up 9+gn in stock barrels with no apparent pressure signs, and I have to admit I'm rather tempted, though cautious.

I guess what I'm asking you experienced guys, is that with disciplined practices, adequate caution, and careful case inspection, will pressure signs reliably show before being seriously at risk of blowing up the gun with 800x? How about in a factory G29 barrel?

I figure that I don't want to load anything that I can't shoot out of a factory barrel safely, even though I will probably get an aftermarket barrel just to preserve the life Of my brass.

There is no reason to start exceeding maximums at this point. While the maxes are less than SAAMI , we can only speculate as to the reason. The problem with being new and reading the subtleties of pressure, is that you don't know what you don't know. Stick with published data.

My recommendation would be to find a new recipe and work up. Then repeat. Get case expansion data for a whole heckova lot of data and learn how cases measure and look at a starting charge as opposed to max book. Get some Buffalo Bore or Swamp Fox and compare spent cases to your load workups.

For us without pressure testing equipment, it is a bit of a mystery. Experience makes it a little less so.

Stick with published data is my recommendation.

 

[momo40]

2nd Shot - It was nice meeting you today at the range. Definitely very cool to meet another 10 ringer. And that was nice shooting with the G29 at 100 yards! I picked some 200 grain XTPs at the reloading store. They have a nice selection of bullets for the 10mm.

 

[2nd Shot]

2nd Shot - It was nice meeting you today at the range. Definitely very cool to meet another 10 ringer. And that was nice shooting with the G29 at 100 yards! I picked some 200 grain XTPs at the reloading store. They have a nice selection of bnutfancyullets for the 10mm.

Hey Momo! Yeah it was cool to run into another 10mm fanatic, especially another reloader. Those Power Pistol loads of your had some mean muzzle blast to them... I might have to try some with 135 Noslers or something for fun - what bullet were you shooting again? Thanks for the compliment, but to be fair that was the G26 I was ringing the plate with - I was still warming up, though once I'm in the groove I can usually hit that thing ok with the G29 as well... Too busy watching brass fly off to focus on the target this time!

It just so happens that I also picked up another box of 200's as well, it seems like a nice all around heavyweight bullet - I shot the rest I had over 8.2gr to 9.0gr 800x in .2gr increments today and took the following measurements:

IMR 800x, 1x fired reclaimed Remington R-P nickel brass, CCI 300, 200gn XTP. Stock Glock 29 with 21lb Wolff steel guide rod and spring installed:

8.2gr: Avrg .4325", one sample .433"
8.4gr: Avrg .4325"
8.6gr: Avrg .4325"
8.8gr: Avrg .4325"
9.0gr: Avrg .4330" .one sample .434"

Primers all look as normal as can be. I think I'm going to stop here and adopt this load as my maximum effort heavy bullet load for occasional use - I was interested in seeing what pressure signs look like when they start to show for educational purposes, but I'm satisfied with the power, and figure I've pushed it far enough already.

 

[momo40]

I was shooting a variety of ammo today (Double Tap and Swamp Fox) and my handloads. For my handloads, I was shooting 135 grain Noslers with 11 grains of Power Pistol and 180 grain Xtreme Bullets (copper plated) with 8.0 grains of Power Pistol.

That was nice shooting with the G26! I thought it was your G29. I'm looking forward to working up some loads with the 200 grain XTPs. Take care and I'll see you out there!