I was planning to use lil gun powder to load some 300 grain XTPs in my 12 inch 454 Casull Encore but remember reading something on here about someone having trouble with it. What are the pros and cons of this powder?

I do believe that Freedom Arms advises against it because they say it eats the forcing cones on their guns. I don't see a problem in a Encore barrel.

Some folks have had throat/forcing cone erosion attributed to Li'l Gun. Some claim to have used it for years with no problems. I don't really want to find out which I might be so I use H110.

The Ramshot Enforcer and Alliant Power Pro 300MP have showed good results in my 454 revolver, but I kinda just settled for a so so load because of the new Mcgowen barrel coming for it.

Alright I found it....this is a quote from Bob Baker (Pres. of FA) and what he had to say about Lil Gun... I hope this can help some guys get more informed, I know it sure scared me off LilGun. Just not worth the risk for me. And yes I am also one of the guys that used it...I still have 3lbs.

"We have seen numerous barrels damaged by using Lil Gun. According to customers, some had as few as 30 rounds using Lil Gun through them, some had several hundred. Before we figured out what was happening one customer had sent his gun in for a new barrel. Then 600 rounds later it came back for another new barrel.

A couple years ago we did a test with a M83, .357 Mag. using Hornady 180 gr. bullets. We loaded 50 rds. of three different loads. One was a heavy H-110 load and the other two both used Lil Gun in different quantities.

We fired the H-110 loads first, then cut off the threaded end of the barrel. Rethreaded the barrel and shot one of the Lil Gun loads then rethreaded the barrel and shot the last Lil Gun load.

We found even the light load of Lil Gun caused the gun to get extremely hot. The heavy Lil Gun load had the gun so hot the only place we could touch the gun was on the grips and they were very hot.

Under magnification the surface appeared to have heated to a point of flowing using the Lil Gun loads and the heavy load was worse than the light load. This is probably due to Lil Gun having about 10% more nitro glycerin in it than H-110.

I intentionally ran the tests with a cartridge that is less pressure than the 454 just to make sure.

I have also heard of problems with rifles but I haven't tried to verify it by running my own tests."

So there you have it straight from the man who has the resources and equipment to test the powder....

Put me down as also having problems in my FA with LG. My forcing cone is not ruined, but compared to other cones I have seen, mine is not great. Kinda hard for me to find any good reason to use the stuff in my 454 as there are so many other choices that work.

Craig

Could you expand on this please?

RT,

I think that Craig is saying that a number of other powders work well in the 454 (110, 296, even 2400, etc.) so why bother with Lil Gun if it does or might cause problems. I agree.

That is the part I was wondering about: Which powders was he refering to.

I'm getting ready to start reloading for a new MGM barrel in 460S&W and had originaly planned on going with the lil gun. But now I don't think I will. Just wondered what other powders he liked.

Thanks for the help

Add AA#9 to the list as well. Worked really well in my 454 SRH. I loaded up some rounds with lil gun at one time and had the same experiences as others. One cylinder was enough to make the gun too hot to touch.

Great!! Thanks guys. I guess I should start a new topic on powders-- I have more questions about those mentioned above. Don't want to jack the original topice too much!

AA 1680 is "suppose" to be good, but I have not finished working with it yet in my 460 TC.

I have been told by Hodgdon that as a hunter and in a TC platform, I shouldn't have problems with LiL Gun.

I am not shooting 40 or 80 rounds in one session like competition shooters. I don’t know all the details, but my 357 Max is shoots incredibly well with LiL and my cast bullets at 100 yards and recoils significantly less than H110. Now that my load work on the barrel is done, I don’t think I will go threw a 20 rounds a year with that barrel.

Didn't you find that power pro to be pretty dirty?

I found the 300 mp to be fairly clean, but it shines in longer barrels, I use it in my 44 mag rifle and have it has been great. I have always thought it may be a great powder for the big 50's, But there is very little data out there

The power pro hasn't been to bad. I just have one pound and I am playing with it in the 454 before the 44. The bullet that shoots best out of the 44 has to much of the bullet in the case to use H110 to where it likes to shoot. I haven't noticed any spikes with the power pro and it seems to be comparable with the H110 so far in this gun.

I shoot 22 gr. of LIL Gun in my 480 with a 325 gr. Lee cast, no problems, also I shoot 19 gr. of LIL Gun in my 357 Max. Encore barrel, no problems.

RT,

WT was correct, there are so many other powder choices that have never given folks issues that it made no sense for me to keep using LG. I typically use H110/WW296 for top loads and HS6 for Colt 45 eqivalent loads.

You are going to be in a little more unique situation than 454 revolver shooters in that you will not need to crimp for bullet pulling. But, you may need to crimp to help with "slower" powders like H110/296. So you will need to experiment some, as if I had a single shot in 454, I would tend to want to minimize crimp for possible gains in accuracy, and you might even be able to experiment with slower powders as you might be able to seat a little longer if not trying to hit the crimp groove on the bullet.

I guess what I am saying is that you have the flexibility to experiment some, but you will also need to weed through some of the details on loads designed for revolvers.

Craig

I think the Freedom Arms test says it all,I had a good friend of mine trying to convince me to try it and the warnings had just started to come out probably saving me from heartache,because I was just getting ready to buy some and try it out-john

Thanks guys. Sounds like i'll be useing H-110.