HS-6 for pistol

I have used it in 9mm with cast bullets

As noted its a bit dirty but not a serious issue.

It was recommended for the cast, not sure I saw any better than other powders though.

And for what its worth, its not me, its the reloads (though that could be me).

Its rare item but the factory RP Golden Sabre is very accurate, its an odd bullet in its a bore rider (barley touches lands on front and a drive band in back)

Hand loads, not in anything let alone the GS bullet, but nothing I do hand loads does HS-6 or not so accepted I can't load 9mm like factory.

Ok with that, I am not target shooting but also my limitation in 9mm is its not tack driver in 9mm (41 magnum yes)
 
HS6 Seems Like a Poor Average Powder to Me

I have only recently been testing HS6, and so far I have found absolutely nothing that I think it does well. Mid-level loads in .38 or .357 and not particular accurate and have a lot of variation on the the chronograph.

Loaded at MAX published weight in one .357 magnum load behind a 125g JHP it seemed decent, but certainly not great. I still haven't tried it in my .40 S&W loads, but at this point I doubt I will ever waste my time with another pound of the stuff. WAY too many good powders out there. I can't understand why Hodgdon discontinued HS7 and kept this junk - should have been the other way around.
 
so far I have found absolutely nothing that I think it does well.
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HS-6 shines brightest in 9x19 and 40 S&W. It rarely yields the most velocity among its contemporaries (Unique, AA5, Power Pistol, BE-86, Silhouette, etc.). So it's no velocity champ. It's not as energetic as the above-mentioned. But that gives it some advantages. It can be loaded hot with less concern of a pressure spike that is more likely to occur with other powders (Power Pistol by contrast, is highly energetic). And that's good for both the novice loader, and the loader who wants hot ammo, but is loading small cases (9mm, 40) where margins of error are equally small. There's something to be said for the attribute of forgiveness.

What it does well, is deliver good consistent running ammo, that one can shoot with a great deal of confidence.
 
I've used HS-6 in .44 special and magnum, .38 and .357 target loads and find that I really like it in the .44s. It is very consistent and so what if it leaves some residue. It works well enough for me that I bought an 8-pounder to last me a good long time.
 
HS-6 is one of my go to powders 380 through 45ACP. W231/HP-38 is also another across the board go to. H-110 for the 44Mag.

HS-6 also meters very smoothly and consistently out of my RCBS Uniflow powder measure.

Regarding being dirty, maybe a little. But as previously stated, I really don't see any significant difference to the other powders. BTW...no comparison to soot left by Unique.

Lastly HS-6 is very versatile. Nearly all load manuals have lots of recipes for HS-6.
 
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HS-6

My 44 mag Super Blackhawk loves the stuff.I cast a Lee 200gr RNFP that my mold drops at 212grs as I cast them.Lyman lists 16.7 grs for a 215gr gascheck bullet and 16.2 for a 232gr plain base as max that I think they have discontinued.So I started at the bottom and worked up.I found that out of my 7.5in barrel that a load of 13.5 grs is the most accurate load I have ever shot in it.Hogdon and Hornady both list 6.3 grs as a max for a 158 LSWC in a 38 spl and Lyman lists 6.7 gr as a max for their 160 gr round nose,these are some of the fastest loadings I can find 900-1010 fps depending on barrel length and they are all standard pressure loadings for this heavy of a bullet.
 
UPDATE

I'll let you know I'll be testing it for the first time with both 45acp 230gr LRN & 9mm 115gr Rainier plated RN on Monday . Stay tuned
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Well I tested those two loads and found only one worked well .

In 45 acp , 7.4gr through 8.0gr worked good but 7.8gr pushing the 230gr LRN did quite well . It seemed to burn clean and as far as I could tell had very little leading .

In 9mm , Not so much . I was using 115gr plated bullets and all charges were dirty with scorched and sooty cases . My thinking is the 115gr bullet is to light for the slow powder . I'll be ordering some 147gr plated bullets soon and will give HS-6 another try with those . I suspect it will do much better with a heavier bullet .
 
I have a box of 500 berry's 44 240g FP bullets. I use Berry's for 9mm and 45ACP and like them but feel I might have made a mistake buying them in 44mag. Theses bullets have to be loaded under 1250fps and most recipes I find are pushing this limit at starting loads. H110 and 2400 are just to hot for this bullet from what I see. I have a pound of HS-6 that I was going to try for 9 & 45 but it looks like it might work well for a light load 44, besides it being dirty using lighter loads from what this forum is saying. Hodgdon shows a starting load of 12g for a velocity of 1,144. So im cutting it close. Is it safe and should I back this up a bit to 11g or 11.5g? I will be using this in a 10" Contender and a 7.5 Blackhawk.
Thank you for any help you can give me
Tony
 
I am using it on 357 with 158 gr lead. The Lyman Cast Bullet Handbook rates it as giving their best results with that bullet. Current load is 10.0 gr, SPM primers. It pushes real hard but isn't belchy like some pistol magnum powders. That seems efficient to me.
 
In 45 acp , 7.4gr through 8.0gr worked good but 7.8gr pushing the 230gr LRN
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Sounds about right. HS-6 likes heavy bullets. And it runs cool - which is good for lead slugs. (45 ACP isn't predisposed to leading anyway.)

Your results are typical of mine.
 
I have only used HS-6 in my all powders all bullets work up overloads in 9mm project when I started handloading 15 years ago.

HS-6 has a high speed - density- peakyness product. It can actually get brass damage in 9mm, like AA#5 and 3N37.

Most powder cannot fit enough powder in the case, like Bullseye, Unique, Power Pistol, Longshot, BlueDot, RedDot, 2400, AA#9, H110, LIL'GUN, ect.
 
Runs great in my 9mm. Using 115gr berry's plated RN. It seems to be a good plinking round with steel plates, they just disintegrate at 20yrds. As seen above their is some unburnt powder residue here and their. In general burns clean, no sooty cases, gun stays pretty clean.
 
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