and are considering it for use infactory ammunition.

In discussing the characteristicsof PP 300-MP with Alliant's DickQuesenberry and Ben Amonette, itseems the Federal Cartridge labo-ratory developed select handloadsusing standard primers ratherthan magnum designs. Knowingthat switching to a magnum primerwould change pressures, data inthe accompany table was devel-oped with standard primers, withthe exception of the .327 FederalMagnum and .454 Casull, whichwere capped with the CCI 550 andRemington 7Yz primers, respec-tively. At this point it is unknownexactly how much changing to

MAGNUM REVOLVER LOADSWITH ALLIANT POWERPRO 300-MP

Alliant Powder is offering anew propellant known as

Power Pro 300-MP that is spheri-cal (or ball) and designed pri-marily for straight-walled magnumrevolver cartridges such as .357,.41, .44, .454 Casull and similarcartridges, but likewise performswell in .22 Hornet and .218 Bee.There are already many greatslow-burning revolver powders.Notable performers include Hodg-don H-UO (the same powder asWinchester 296), Lil'Gun, Ram-shot Enforcer, Accurate No.9 and4100, not to mention proven ex-truded powders such as Alliant2400and Vihtavuori NUO. To com-pete in this crowd, the new Alliant

powder will have to perform ex-ceptionally.

Alliant PP 300-MP is manufac-tured in the U.S. by St. MarksPowders and is slower burningthan any of the above-mentionedpowders, thus thrives in mag-num revolvers with long barrels.Many propellants start as a com-mercial product only available toammunition manufacturers, thenget renamed as canister powdersavailable to handloaders. Accord-ing to Alliant sources, it is brandnew and intended specifically forthe handloading market. As this iswritten, at least three manufactur-ers are impressed with the per-formance offered by PP 300-MP

In the .44 Magnum, Power Pro300-MP pushed the 200-grainHornady HP-XTP bullet over1,700 fps.

magnum primers will affect pres-sures, so it is suggested to usedata exactly as shown.

This raises the question if stan-dard primers will give proper igni-tion in extremely cold weather? At

this point no one has been able toanswer that question to my satis-faction, therefore I will do someadditional testing in a few months(during the next Idaho winter) andreport the results. Samples willbe taken to a lab to further deter-mine the effects of standard ver-sus magnum primers on pressure.

Like most spherical/ball powders,metering was excellent with noimportant weight variance withthrown charges. One of the firstobservations (and concerns) wasthe bulky nature of PP 300-MP.Many loads were compressed andincluded appropriate powdercharges with light and heavy-for-caliber bullets. This was a con-cern, as it is not normally a goodidea to compress spherical pow-ders in handguns, as pressurescan become erratic. In discussingthis matter with the folks in thelab, however, it seems this newpowder was not sensitive to com-pression. They carefully checkedfor erratic pressure curves or ve-

Using Power Pro 300-MP, Briantried a variety of bullet weightsin the .44 Magnum.

locities, but none was detected. Instudying loads, cases, primers,chronograph tape (as well as mynotes) from data in the accompa-nying table, there was no indi-cation that compressed powdercharges produced erratic pres-sures or extreme spreads.

Handloads with Power Pro 300-MPFrankly, I was impressed by thehigh velocities generated by PP300-MP with light, standard andheavy-for-caliber bullet weights.Lightweight bullets pose certainchallenges in magnum revolvercartridges. Velocities were gen-erally high, but extreme spreadswere often greater than figuresproduced by standard and heavybullets. This was not a reflectionof the powder but is rather thenature of light bullets [lower sec-tional density - Ed.] combinedwith ultraslow-burning propellants.Nonetheless, accuracies were re-spectable.

With standard weight bullets, PP300-MP began to shine, as it of-fered strong velocities and accu-racy. For example, from a RugerGPI00 .357 Magnum revolver fit-ted with a 6-inch barrel, the Sierra158-grain JSP reached 1,405 fpsusing 18.5 grains of powder andproduced an extreme spread of30 fps. From a sandbag rest, this

velocityprimer case spread

(Ips)

CCI550 Federal 473777303732555048

Federal 100 Starline 91856742555253453033308

bullet charge velocity(grains) (grains) (Ips)

.327 Federal Magnum:

90 Sierra JHC 13.0 1,451

I14.0 1,49815.0 1,554

100 Speer JHP 12.5 1,331

I13.5 1,40014.5 1,460

115 Speer Gold Dot 12.5 1,301

I13.5 1,40214.0 1,436

.357 Magnum:125 Speer JHP 20.0 1,360

I21.0 1,45122.3 1,569

140 Hornady HP-XTP 18.5 1,371

I19.5 1,45520.5 1,549

158 Sierra JSP 17.0 1,253

I18.0 1,33518.5 1,405

160 Lyman 358156 HP 16.5 1,420

I17.5 1,47518.5 1,556

.41 Magnum:175 Winchester Silvertip HP 22.0 1,227

I23.0 1,29824.0 1,353

210 Speer Gold Dot HP 21.0 1,275

I22.0 1,32023.0 1,380

226 Mt. Baldy Keith cast 21.0 1,347

I22.0 1,37923.0 1,440

265 0.1 TrueShot WNFP 18.0 1,152

I19.0 1,22920.0 1,277

.44 Magnum:200 Hornady HP-XTP 27.0 1,570

I 28.0 1,635

Starline 68554222281.0364140303560

Starline 155I 146

CCI300

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Cartridge News is aquarterly publication, load proved accurate with fiveconsisting of 72 pages shots clustering under one inch.and edited byBlackpowder Cartridge Switching to a Lyman 160-grainrifle enthusiast, SteveGarbe. Whether you're cast hollowpoint bullet from mouldhunting, collecting 358156 (with gas check), the sameor competing. this

magazine will provide you with a powder charge reached over 1,550reliable source of practical information fps, while yielding pressures that

The Black Powder Cartridge News is J •

written for .hooters by shooters. are within SAAMIpressure guide-• Buffalo Range • Reloading Bench lines for the cartridge. Similar high• Collectors Corner • WSU Center Shot performance was observed with• Cowboy Shooting • Match Results• Gunsmiths Bench • Product Reviews standard weight bullets in the .327• Hunting Trail • Upcoming Events Federal Magnum, .41 and .44 Mag-

• and much, much more nums and .454 Casull. In the .44PG, I••.' P.O. Box 1625 ' Cody, Wyoming 8241 Magnum, the Hornady 240-grain

Ph 307·587·7621' Fax 307·587·7695 HP-XTP reached 1,491 fps withMlZlIUI~~'m'I!fA~(;)~fl~Ui:.DiJ.>..@ 25.0 grains of powder and had an

22 www.handloadermagazine.com

CCI300I

(Continued on next page.)

extreme spread of 11 fps. Evenmore impressive, this load cut aragged hole at 25 yards from asandbag rest.

PP 300-MP produced particu-larly notable performance whenmatched to heavyweight bullets.For instance, in a .41 Magnum(stainless steel Ruger BlackhawkBisley with a 5Y2-inchbarrel), itscooted Mt. Baldy 226-grain Keith-pattern bullets 1,440 fps and theOregon Trail 265-grain wide-noseflatpoint (WNFP) TrueShot castbullets 1,277 fps.

Handloader 274

Handloads with Power Pro 300-MP (Contmuedfrompreviouspage.)

velocitybullet charge velocity primer case spread

(grains) (grains) (fps) (fps)

.44 Magnum:200 Hornady HP-XTP 29.0 1,706 CCI300 Starline 60210 Winchester Silvertip HP 28.5 1,646 43240 Hornady HP-XTP 23.0 1,402 28

I24.0 1,440 3125.0 1,491 11

240 Speer Gold Dot HP 23.0 1,389 23

I24.0 1,423 3325.0 1,480 20

240 Nosier HP 23.0 1,415 37

I24.0 1,454 3525.0 1,502 28

250 Mt. Baldy Keith .cast 24.0 1,270 40

I25.0 1,315 3225.0 1,339 54

270 Speer Gold Dot SP 20.0 1,157 27

I21.0 1,201 2022.0 1,261 54

300 Hornady HP-XTP* 20.0 1,321 11

I21.0 1,397 2222.0 1,434 16

310 0.1 TrueShot WNFP 20.0 1,468 39

I21.0 1,489 4422.0 1,521 67

.454 CasuII:Starline29.0 1,468

30.0 1,54031.0 1,55529.0 1,45030.0 1,52231.0 1,55226.0 1,47327.0 1,50028.0 1,55628.5 1,588

* Cartridge overall loaded length is 1.735 inches.Noles: The .327 Federal Magnum loads were fired in a USFA Sparrow Hawk with a 7~-inch barrel. A6-inch barreled Ruger GP100 was used to fire the .357 Magnum loads. The .41 Magnum loads werefired from a Ruger Sisley with a 5~-inch barrel. The .44 Magnum loads were fired from a 7~-inch bar-reled Ruger Sisley. A Freedom Arms Model 83 with a 7~-inch barrel was used to fire the .454 Casullloads. Be Alert- Publisher cannot accept responsibility lor errors In published load data.

Remington 7'A 27397746405013223224

260 Nosier Partition HP

I300 Speer Gold Dot HP

I3600.1 TrueShot WNFP

I

Incidentally, PP 300-MP is theonly powder I have tried thatmade it possible to duplicate andexceed .327 Federal Magnum fac-tory loads, which uses a pro-

In a .44 Magnum Ruger Black-hawk Bisley with a 7Vz-inchbarrel,25.0 grains pushed a Nosler 240-grain JHP an impressive 1,502 fps,while 22.0 grains pushed a Hor-nady 300-grain HP-XTP with anoverall cartridge length of 1.735inches 1,434 fps and had an ex-treme spread of just 16 fps. Thesame powder charge generated1,521 fps with Oregon Trail 310-grain TrueShot cast bullets.

In the .454Casuli, Oregon Trail 360-grain WNFP cast bullets reached1,588fps using 28.5 grains of powder.

October-November 2011

prietary powder, with 115-grainbullets.

PP 300-MP proved clean burning,leaving only a slight film of pow-der residue that was very fine andshould not adversely affect accu-racy. In shooting several hundredrounds of plain-base, cast bulletsin the 1,200 to 1,450 fps velocityrange in .41 and .44 magnums,there was very little leading. Muz-zle report and flash were certainlyauthoritative but were not exces-sive or unpleasant.

Alliant's Power Pro 300-MP gaveimpressive velocities and seemedto awaken and renew the "mag-num" in these cartridges whilestaying within industry pressureguidelines. It also yielded notableaccuracy with a variety of bulletweights. Clearly it has earned aplace on my bench. •

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